**urgent fiat non starter ** (1 Viewer)

[DavidG58]

the biggest confusion here seems to be the draw from leisure batteries at 10A (am I reading right that that was with the engine running as well?)

seems odd that they could possibly charge or feed the cab battery, unless something else has gone wrong

I really am not good at technical, but do like to know what has happened

could it be a solar controller misfunction? ours charges both leisure and cab batteries so both must be linked in some way

also we have recently had an issue with what is called the D+ or 14V output from the alternator, a relay on our Mercedes (I know you have a Fiat but there might be similarities) had failed, stopping all the engine controlled functions on the MH side, so no hab batt charge when engine running, no fridge running and a host of others, simplest check suggested to me was is your fridge switching to 12V on auto if you have an AES fridge with engine running?

might be a red herring but it would at least be another thing ruled out

 

[michndan]

Fridge is off totally of if that’s what you mean?
I have never seen it do what it is doing today so unsure but thought it could not flow that way if you know what I mean. It’s has solar but it is a schaudt and goes through the EBL so no issue there I think. I know from the past that if you disconnect the van batt then there is still a little power to the van side but 10A is massive amount really I think anyway what else could of gone wrong?

 

[michndan]

I will try the fridge but have disconnected the van battery as it’s dead and am going to bench charge it.

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[SandraL]

With engine running the engine and leisure batteries are connected. IF there is no charging from the altenator then the leisure batts will discharge into the engine batt if their volts are higher than the engine batt and the D+ lead has 12 volts.
On ours, ebl101, if i watch leisure batt amps as i start there is a short discharge until engine batt volts get higher than leisure batt because alternator is charging engine batt.
To check alternator is charging engine batt monitor volts on engine batt with meter probes on the actual battery.
You should see over 13.8, probably 14v.

 

[jockaneezer]

Our Burstner has a Reich Ebox fitted, once when we had been parked up for a few days and had the radio and cd on awful lot (running from the vehicle battery) the engine wouldn't turn over due to the battery being a bit low. I went to the remote display, selected the vehicle battery and it was showing low voltage, I toggled across to the leisure batteries and they were fine but showing an 8 amp drain, this was being diverted to the vehicle battery once the ignition was enabled, left it like that for an hour and it started fine, so maybe that's where your 10 amps is going ? Maybe check the readings with the ignition on and off ?

 

[michndan]

Ok that might be it

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[michndan]

I have a battery master fitted how will that of effected things forgot about that? I know the leisure’s are dead so no worries there.

 

[Portland]

Don't know if its been said in this post but most likely engine to chassis earth strap. Replace with a good one not a cheap woven type .

 

[pagey]

i added another strap from halfords only about£5.00 it can be mounted from a gearbox bolt to the chassis

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[michndan]

No first issue was Xmas snowboarding in Les Gets when my leisure’s would only do 10 hours without running the genny and would be full again in anything from 30mins to 2 hours. So I knew they had gone but amazed they lasted ten days doing that. When I got back swapped to some spare batteries just to check it was not an EBL fault as you could time when they shut down pretty much but it was fine with others. even though they were swapped from an old van for not being great so no good long term.
Swapped back to the dodgy ones and parked van back up thought be ok, solar will charge all of them back up as usual even at this time of year, went back to move van a week later to measure up for new battery’s and it was dead.
Looks like I’m spending out on three new batteries.

 

[autorouter]

On my Hymer the alternator output goes directly to the starter battery as normal. The leisure batteries are connected to the alternator when the engine has started, by a large relay (ie the split charge relay). The fridge is also connected, by a different relay. This is all done by the EBL.

 

[eddie]

Virtually all motorhomes are built on chassis designed for delivery vans. The alternator and single battery set up is left unchanged

Again in the vast majority of motorhomes the leisure battery and fridge are simply connected in parallel with the engine battery when the engine is running

The only additional alternator connection is the D+ output, originally intended as the alternator warning light

So you start the engine, the alternator warning light goes out, the relay(s) close and a direct positive to positive connection is established

Arrive and turn the engine off, the lights, heating, TV etc from the habitation side take power from the leisure battery to avoid the engine battery being depleted

Any fault in either battery(s) will have a potentially catastrophic effect on the other. Also if the engine is started and either engine or leisure battery is flat, the chances are that you will pop some fuses as a fully charged battery tries to rush into a empty battery, causing on going niggly issues after the faulty battery has been replace

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[michndan]

@eddievanbits you fitted the leisure’s 10 years ago don’t suppose there still under warranty are they lol

 

[eddie]

@eddievanbits you fitted the leisure’s 10 years ago don’t suppose there still under warranty are they lol

Actually joking apart they may be!

Did you pay the extra £3.99 and get the unlimited lifetime warranty option?

 

[eddie]

you’d like to think so, but in reality given the gauge of cable used and the distance between the engine and leisure batteries, even in expensive looking electrical distribution units it’s normally a cheap old relay on the circuit board and fused at about 20 amps



quite high really, after all they were all probably from the same batch fitted together, charged and discharged together for the last ten years, either looked after or abused together and have probably been failing together for some time masking the effects due to the fact that their is three of them

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[michndan]

Right 1 new van battery 2 new leisure batteries 1 new earth strap all fuses I can find checked all batteries full power! The van will not start dash illuminates everything works. Turn to start nothing not even a click put the old battery with 11.8v and a set of jump leads to positive under bonnet and any earth starts straight up! Come give your best thoughts don’t know what to check next?

 

[chesterfield hooligan]

Earth to engine earth to engine is anyone there.

 

[michndan]

Engine is earthed renewed strap put extra earth on still nothing.

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[sonny]

Ignition switch possibly. Anyway good luck.

 

[eddie]

Right 1 new van battery 2 new leisure batteries 1 new earth strap all fuses I can find checked all batteries full power! The van will not start dash illuminates everything works. Turn to start nothing not even a click put the old battery with 11.8v and a set of jump leads to positive under bonnet and any earth starts straight up! Come give your best thoughts don’t know what to check next?

put the old battery with 11.8v and a set of jump leads to positive under bonnet

What do you mean? on the jump start tab under the bonnet? or on the positive to the starter motor?

 

[michndan]

Jump start tab.

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[andy63]

Has your vehicle battery got a very large fuse on the positive terminal or close to it... it may not look like a traditional fuse... have a look and check with a meter to see if you loose voltage along that wire off the + battery terminal..
Andy.

 

[eddie]

You need to see if you have 12 VDC at the starter motor on the bigger terminal, and on the smaller terminal when the ignition is in the "start" postion

If no to either of these you need to work backwards to establish the fault

 

[Paul & Elaine]

In you original post you mention it has a strikeback immobiliser. Do you mean strikback or do you mean vanbitz non start?

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