Trying to Work Out What The Panel Means (1 Viewer)

[Rollin]

I have a couple of little problems reading the control panel on my van (1995 Hymer B544), and am hoping someone here will know what's what.

The first one is the water tank reading. When I click the switch to test the fresh water or the grey water, nothing shows on the meter at all. This could be OK as there isn't a lot of water in either, however should the dial light up even when showing empty? (This dial does light up and read as expected when testing the cab battery)

There's no life shown on this dial when I press the switch to test the habitation battery - no light, nothing. This did work when I first got the van, but hasn't shown anything since I replaced the kaput leisure battery. (I've checked with a multimeter and the habitation battery is being charged and does have a healthy voltage on it as you'd expect from a new one, it's just the reading on the panel that doesn't work)

The last question is the third switch, 'Reserve' and 'Aus'. I know 'Aus' means Off, but what does this refer to? Is it for a reserve gas tank?

Thanks for anyone who can shine any light on this!

Cheers
Rich

 

[MillieMoocher]

Can't help I'm afraid, but there is a classic Hymer Facebook group where you will almost certainly get the answer (if nobody here knows - which is unlikely!).

Failing that there's also a Hymer Owners Group on Facebook where you might get a steer

 

[Rollin]

classic Hymer Facebook group

Good suggestion thanks! I happened upon this group yesterday by chance. I'll have a look for the other one you mentioned, cheers

 

[rosalan]

I have the same switches.
The Reserve and Aus is a spare switch , on mine anyway.
The water levels, mine shows two readings, waste and fresh water. There are only a few levels that will show, a quarter, half etc.
The two battery test switch should be leisure battery and van battery readings. When you changed your battery, did you replace a Gel battery for lead acid? If so did you switch the Electrobloc to the other type?
Let us know how you get on. Your panel is more or less the same as most in the Hymer group.

 

[Rollin]

The water levels, mine shows two readings, waste and fresh water. There are only a few levels that will show, a quarter, half etc.

I have both on the switch, but neither show any sign of life on the dial. Does your dial light up when you press the test switch? Even if empty?

The two battery test switch should be leisure battery and van battery readings. When you changed your battery, did you replace a Gel battery for lead acid? If so did you switch the Electrobloc to the other type?

I don't think my Electroblock has this switch - seems to be older than most people's, a 104-2 I think. I'm pretty sure the previous battery was a wet-acid (I fitted a wet-acid).

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[Rollin]

The Reserve and Aus is a spare switch , on mine anyway.

Yes, once I had the panel out, mine also turned out to be not connected to anything. Another thing fixed, hurrah!

 

[rosalan]

I have both on the switch, but neither show any sign of life on the dial. Does your dial light up when you press the test switch? Even if empty?

I don't think my Electroblock has this switch - seems to be older than most people's, a 104-2 I think. I'm pretty sure the previous battery was a wet-acid (I fitted a wet-acid).

Yes, the dials do light up when battery condition pressed either way.
If the Gel or wet battery are correct on your electrobloc, then I would, were I an electrician which I am not, begin testing every possible fuse. I have a diagram of fuses but my vehicle is an 09 Dethleffs although still part of the family. A Hymer handbook should contain more exact details. You could try Googling for one or ask the Hymer Club.

 

[rosalan]

I googled "Electrobloc for hymer B544" and got loads of information.

 

[Rollin]

begin testing every possible fuse.

I've tested all the external blade fuses, all good, and also cleaned the switch contacts when I had the panel off. Unfortunately still no life! I guess I can live without the water level readouts, but I'm a little worried that without an easy way to check the leisure battery charge level I might be unaware of a developing problem.

ask the Hymer Club

Who are they? Is it like Fight Club?

 

[Rollin]

Yeah I have mate. Don't the water & battery meters give a reading even if the 12V is off though? The starter battery meter does.

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[Rollin]

Your EBL is a bit newer than mine I think - the switch on my EBL 104 only switches off the 230V hookup input, doesn't affect any other circuits at all. The hookup isn't even connected on mine as the Elektroblock's transformer seems to have toasted itself some time in the past, before I had it. Anyway, I'll try your trick with turning it off and then back on again. Suspect that's just a quirk of your unit, but worth a try!

Cheers mate, may your motorways always be downhill and your slow lane free of grannies!

 

[sedge]

If this granny is in the slow lane it's cos she wants to exit in half a mile-ish - but she'll also be cussing the same folk as you, esp the middle lane hogs!

 

[wizza]

Had same problem with my 544 1996 changed leisure battery and panel not working was one of the fuses under the bonnet had blown check fuses by engine battery

 

[Rollin]

Had same problem with my 544 1996 changed leisure battery and panel not working was one of the fuses under the bonnet had blown check fuses by engine battery

Good suggestion, checked all the fuses by the battery, then all the ones on the EBL. All were fine though.

Also tried your off-then-on-again idea @airwave - again no dice.

 

[Rollin]

@airwave Hi mate, sorry didn't reply before, had a minor drama with the suspension top mounting going pop. A local garage has quoted me £170 to fix it which seems pretty reasonable far as I can tell.

Re. the 12V, that is 100% definitely working. Lights, water etc all work fine, and the green LED lights up. Everything on the panel is fine except for those readings for the leisure battery and water. It's hard to tell from the EBL circuit diagram where the 12V reading should come from on the panel connector - best candidate is line 7, marked as 'F?hler B2'. It's bad enough trying to decipher a circuit diagram labelled in German without random letters being replaced with question marks! It's like some demented word quiz. So I think this is 'Fähler B2', which means 'B2 sensor'. My multimeter doesn't read any voltage on this line from the EBL, suggesting the problem with the leisure battery readout is not in the panel at all.

I just had a look at the battery connections - there are just two cables on each terminal, all four of them go to the 'Battery Eingang' on the EBL. I would interpret that as input from the battery, which I suppose makes sense if those cables come from the split charge relay under the bonnet, with the alternator and starter battery on the other side of the relay. My understanding of that may be completely wrong though!

edit: Forgot to mention, my solar panel goes into the EBL via a Schaudt solar regulator. Don't think there's any fuses gone, unless there are some hidden away somewhere that I've not found yet!

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[JeanLuc]

I have both German and English versions of the manual and circuit diagram for my EBL99. From these I can deduce that your mystery ? is ü. Fühler is 'sensor' so your pin 7 'f?hler B2' stands for 'Sensor B2', B2 being 'Battery 2' or the Habitation/Leisure battery.

 

[Rollin]

Holy mother of dog! He's only gone and fixed it!

So I had another look at the circuit diagram, and noticed that there are 2 x 2 amp fuses and 1 x 30 amp fuse shown on the block going in the direction of the leisure battery, while I'd only seen 1 x 2 amp and 1 x 30 amp. Maybe there was another 2 amp hidden away somewhere, so I went out to the van to check. Nope, no extra 2 amp anywhere in sight .. but what's this? One of the wires coming from the 2 amp I knew about was just flopping about, not connected to anything. I connected it to the positive battery cable, and bingo, the leisure battery meter on the panel now works! So do both the water meters!

To be truthful, the wires in this area are a bit of a mess - a previous owner had hooked up two leisure batteries in parallel, and the one near these connections had been disconnected (it is completely dead). I was aware of this, and I was even aware of this 'floating' wire, I just hadn't previously looked where it was going, choosing just to ignore it on the assumption it was intentionally disconnected. When the meter was working previously (but only intermittently), it must've just been resting against the terminal, and when I fitted the new leisure battery, I think I moved it to make sure it wasn't contacting anything.

I am so chuffed! I feel like a proper little motor mechanic

This sounds a very pleasant relaxing scene! Sorry you're not having the best of weather - I got lucky when I was away a couple of weekends ago and got a nice sunny evening, made so much difference to be able to sit outside sharing a drink with my mates in their van.

So is this your first proper outing in the van then? Glad everything is running well, small niggles aside. How's your water? Got good pressure at the taps & shower? Mine was a bit weak so I got a new pump off Amazon & I've now got a pretty decent flow. What about heating - are you using the standard Calor returnable cylinders? I'm leaning towards getting LPG in mine - bit pricey but as I plan to be moving through Europe a lot soon, it'll be worthwhile I reckon.

 

[Rollin]

I have both German and English versions of the manual and circuit diagram for my EBL99. From these I can deduce that your mystery ? is ü. Fühler is 'sensor' so your pin 7 'f?hler B2' stands for 'Sensor B2', B2 being 'Battery 2' or the Habitation/Leisure battery.

Perfect, thanks for confirming that @JeanLuc

edit: just realised I put Fähler in my earlier reply about this, I don't think that's a word, Fühler is what I meant to put! (honest teach)

 

[Rollin]

ha you know what they say, if you don't like the British weather, wait 15 minutes
The underslung would be better, if only because you then get an extra storage locker for more junk! The advantage I see with having bottles - as well as being cheaper to install - is that if I sell the van in a year or two, I can take the LPG bits out and put them on the next van - that would probably save me more money than leaving it on would add to the sale value. However, if you're sure you're going to keep the van for five years or more then maybe an underslung tank would make economic sense.

 

[Rollin]

Actually been meaning to ask what your avatar pic and forum handle are about! I've always wanted to try something like this - the feeling of freedom once you're up there must be amazing. I was kind of toying with the idea of learning how to fly those parachute/glider things (parawings i think they're called? No engine, just thermals) Put off by the amount of storage they'd consume, plus I promised myself a couple of years ago that I wouldn't break any more bones lol

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[pyro]

One thing to be said for owning a French M/H, at least the manual and the controls are in English

I was speaking a few weeks back with a friend of mine who is a ground ATC at Bournemouth, and he told me they declined to accept a French light aircraft on the basis that the pilot couldn't speak enough English to make his intentions clearly known and redirected him to Southampton. Suspecting that the pilot did not have the required licence for flight outside of French airspace, given his inability to speak the legally required language, they notified Southampton where they checked and discovered he was on a restricted licence and his aircraft was impounded on arrival. They only released it after he agreed (through an interpreter) to pay the cost of being accompanied back into French airspace where he probably got a hero's welcome

When I fly in France, I find that half the small airfields can only speak French