Fleetwood Heritage 640

[Clive-Cardiff]

I recently had some warranty work done on the fridge in my 2008 van. The Dometic man noted that when the selector switch on the fridge is set to 12v it is getting power even when the car is not connected. The automatic door locks are also being activated.

I have tried to speak to Fleetwood about this but they are, as usual, being unresponsive.

Have any other Heritage owners noted this problem?

It's not a major issue I know once you are aware of it, but I can see a problem when I put the van into storage and forget to switch the fridge from 12v to off.

 

[Carl-GreyhoundsrUs]

Clive,

I have discovered a number of issues with the fridge in my 2008 640CB. I am aware of the one you mention, but you may also notice that if you switch the fridge off and have the door propped open on the little stays, the light inside the fridge will still be on. This is because it is on a timed delay and goes out after about 20 seconds (no mention of this in the manual). On my last two trips, I have also noticed that the fridge has obviously opened during the journey as there was the odd bottle of beer on the floor. It appears that when connected to the car on 12V, when the fridge is up to temperature, the automatic locks release. This seems to be a common problem, but masking tape on the door edges has fixed this. Last weekend I noticed a new problem which I have no idea what the cause is, but when connected to my car, the fridge was switching itself on and off at a very rapid rate. Its a great fridge when on site and connected to the mains though (so far)

 

[spj]

Hi,

I have just checked my 2008 Heritage 640es, it is parked on the drive with a battery and mains connected, the fridge will switch onto 12v and the light works after the 12v selector is switched off, mine goes out after about a minute. It stays on with the door held on its vent position by the manual locks.

Carl, you say your door opens when travelling, does it have manual locks fitted as well because mine does although it is a new van (June 2008) and maybe they have realised there is a problem with them and changed them. We have only used our van for one weekend so far and the door locks were clicking away all the time when the car was plugged in, I thought it was a bad connection on the cars 12v supply, before reading this thread tonight I have stripped out the rear interior panels of the car and I was going to run a heavier wire through a relay to supply the fridge, but maybe the caravan is at fault and not the car.

My last caravan was a 2007 Heritage 640es which developed a serious heating system leak at a month old and took Alde 3 attempts and 8 months to repair, the caravan was changed at 18 months old under warranty after many conversations and arguments with Fleetwood, the person I dealt with was Richard Allen and his phone number is 07940 859138 he is very polite and proffesional when you speak to him but he rarely rings back when he says he will, I documented every phone call and email as he will deny speaking to you later on. It took me 17 months to get a result so you have to keep on to them.

Please keep us posted on what happens.

spj.

 

[Clive-Cardiff]

Yes Carl I noticed the rapid switching of the door locks, I was thinking that it might be a relay problem!!

I also found the same problem you mentioned with the door opening, it was the Dometic rep repairing this that pointed out the problem with the 12v supply. He changed the circuit board and then found that sometimes you need to apply a little push to the door to compress the door seal when you want it to lock.

The main point was that when you turn the switch to 12v, the led on the selector switch comes on and the door locks operate. This should not happen until the 12s plug from the car is connected and the engine started.

 

[TheTurk]

Hi all, I have a (2008)640ES since March this year and my fridge also seems to operate in the same way you describe. The electric door locks operate once I choose battery when the car is not connected. I also think that when the car is connected the door locks unlock. I am unable to check at present because the van is in the dealers again for other work to be carried out. Also the manual fridge door catches do not engage adequately with the pins and the door has opened on at least one occasion. The dealer is going to try to rectify.

The locking arrangement in my previous 2004 Heritage was much better.

Question: Does the 12v electrics in your Heritages switch off such that the blue control panel shows "Fleetwood Heritage" in the display when you are towing? It does in my van!!

I tried to question the dealer but he does not understand at present!!!!

 

[Carl-GreyhoundsrUs]

I collected my Heritage in October last year so it would have been one of the very early 2008 models and the fridge has no manual catches at all, which is where the masking tape comes in, so they may well have realised a problem.

SPJ/Clive, you may both be on to something regarding the wiring/relay issues though. I have spoken to my dealer about the rapid switching on and off when connected to the car, (my dealer has been fantastic since I bought my van by the way) and they believe that because of the amount of current that the fridge requires, if the cable which feeds the fridge from the car electrics has been taken from a sub standard feed then a relay (can't remember which one)will trip on and off. They have put together a rig which simulates the fridge being connected to the car and when I get chance to go over, they will try it out and see if it is indeed the car electrics or the caravan. I will keep you up to date when I get it tested. Not quite sure where I go if it is the car though.

 

[Carl-GreyhoundsrUs]

Hi all, I have a (2008)640ES since March this year and my fridge also seems to operate in the same way you describe. The electric door locks operate once I choose battery when the car is not connected. I also think that when the car is connected the door locks unlock. I am unable to check at present because the van is in the dealers again for other work to be carried out. Also the manual fridge door catches do not engage adequately with the pins and the door has opened on at least one occasion. The dealer is going to try to rectify.

The locking arrangement in my previous 2004 Heritage was much better.

Question: Does the 12v electrics in your Heritages switch off such that the blue control panel shows "Fleetwood Heritage" in the display when you are towing? It does in my van!!

I tried to question the dealer but he does not understand at present!!!!

Yes, mine does too.

 

[oldievanner]

Our May 640CB Fridge works on 12v with car disconnected, but I have not yet tried it with mains lead disconnected,so it may be working off of charger.The light in the fridge goes out after about 2 minutes with the door open and every thing turned off. It says this this in the book.Ours has the manual & electric locks so we have not had anything on the floor.One more problem:- does your satellite TV work off the cable in the van when plugged into the connector in battery box? Ours does not, but works ok with the cable through the window.The really good point is with every thing that is on with van powered down; the digital display and the radio I left on for three weeks!! the solar panel keeps the battery charged.

 

[TheTurk]

Our May 640CB Fridge works on 12v with car disconnected, but I have not yet tried it with mains lead disconnected,so it may be working off of charger.The light in the fridge goes out after about 2 minutes with the door open and every thing turned off. It says this this in the book.Ours has the manual & electric locks so we have not had anything on the floor.One more problem:- does your satellite TV work off the cable in the van when plugged into the connector in battery box? Ours does not, but works ok with the cable through the window.The really good point is with every thing that is on with van powered down; the digital display and the radio I left on for three weeks!! the solar panel keeps the battery charged.

Strangely enough the reason my van is in the dealer at present is that I am having the cabling replaced for the satellite. I have compromised that the cabling will run from the battery box, into the van and then through the floor and under the van and back through the bottom of the wardrobe and up to the shelf. (I only use this outlet). I thought that the van would be with the dealer less time by doing it this way. Fleetwood have agreed to pay for this.

This is my second Heritage and I had minor problems with the satellite in the other van as well. First check the white connection box in the wardrobe as the wires here are often transposed as were both my vans and my dealer said that he has had to change several. If it still does not work the it is a case of checking all the connections. The splitter at the back of the battery box can also be suspect. Having eliminated all but the most necessary connectors I did manage to get a signal though much weaker than if I connected direct. Consequently the compromise and Fleetwood paying, though they seem reticent to admit a fault.

If you cannot sort it post again and say what you have done and I will see if I can help.

Ian

 

[Clive-Cardiff]

My Heritage is also one of the early 2008 ones, I collected it last November.

The readout on the LCD panel will go to "Fleetwood Heritage" when you connect the 12s plug. I think this is all part of isolation of the electrics to cut out all non-essentials when you are towing.

I found a problem with the satellite wiring while we were in Spain, in my case it was a loose connection behind the outlet at the cable point by the front windows. This was obviously left loose at manufacture so how could it pass any checks or even PDI.

How did you get on with the connection in the battery box? Mine is tucked away so deep inside a small access hole it took ages to connect.

Who is your dealer Carl? They sound a lot more interested than mine.

I couldn't find the max noseweight for the van so I enquired with my dealer and they said it didn't matter because I have a Landcruiser and that would take anything.

Sounds like the usual "dealerspeak", dream up an answer that you hope will pacify the customer.

Reading through the bumf I found that the max for the ALKO 3004 is 100kg so that is it.

 

[Carl-GreyhoundsrUs]

My Heritage is also one of the early 2008 ones, I collected it last November.

The readout on the LCD panel will go to "Fleetwood Heritage" when you connect the 12s plug. I think this is all part of isolation of the electrics to cut out all non-essentials when you are towing.

I found a problem with the satellite wiring while we were in Spain, in my case it was a loose connection behind the outlet at the cable point by the front windows. This was obviously left loose at manufacture so how could it pass any checks or even PDI.

How did you get on with the connection in the battery box? Mine is tucked away so deep inside a small access hole it took ages to connect.

Who is your dealer Carl? They sound a lot more interested than mine.

I couldn't find the max noseweight for the van so I enquired with my dealer and they said it didn't matter because I have a Landcruiser and that would take anything.

Sounds like the usual "dealerspeak", dream up an answer that you hope will pacify the customer.

Reading through the bumf I found that the max for the ALKO 3004 is 100kg so that is it.

It is APK leisure in Alrewas Staffordshire. I have had a number of little niggles with the van since I have had it, but nothing has ever been a problem for these guys, even available for advice when I have been on site. Fantastic.

 

[TheTurk]

See my comments under "Peter (Fleetwood)", re loose and incorrect connections.

Fleetwood told my dealer that the last thing they do when releasing caravan is test the tv connections so it had to work. Of course they only test the Status connections and the RF outlets. Had they tried to test my satellite connections it would not have worked at all. Two reasons, as I stated earlier the white box in the wardrobe had transposed wires, and the silver connector ( I presume you all have one as well ) just before the white junction box had not been stripped back and therefore was not making any connection. Of course they could have checcked it and said yep that's OK it doesn't work, that'll cause the poor customer some problems!!!!!!!!!!!!

To be fair to the dealer I don't think the tv, or at least the satellite, is part of the PDI. Not sure what is though.

Ian

 

[TheTurk]

Should have added to answer Clive that yes the input in the battery box is impossible. I originally made up a small flylead, undid the screws behind the mains input, connected the flylead and connect the dish to that.

With the caravan being rewired now I will have a lead with no connectors in the lead only on the ends and they will protrude through the back of the battery box and through the round hole where the plastic bung fits and then the dish will connect to that. The original wiring for both outlets has just been coiled up and left in the van!!

I have also taken the opportunity for a second cable to be run to allow me to use my Sky+ box with a twin LNB. Hope it all works when I get it back.

Ian

 

[spj]

Hi all,

I have today tested my car electrics and found the split charge relay was pulsing on and off causing the fridge locks to click away, I removed the relay and fit a standard relay supplying an ignition positive to the red wire in the 12s loom, the fridge now works fine. This is the third caravan I have had with my current car and none of the others had any fridge problems on 12v although my 2007 Heritage would not charge from the car even though it had power into the van. My fridge does not seem to work on 12v with the 12s plug disconnected but the green led does light to show it is on.

My display panel also says 'Fleetwood Heritage' on it when towing, and the radio also works with the power off.

My satellite connections are also difficult to get to but I leave a long sat cable connected permanently coiled up in the locker, so I only have to access it once. I have also had bad connections with satellite plugs, they are not designed to be put in and out and the ends do come loose, unscrewing the ends and remaking the connections normally works.

spj

 

[spj]

Should have added to answer Clive that yes the input in the battery box is impossible. I originally made up a small flylead, undid the screws behind the mains input, connected the flylead and connect the dish to that.

With the caravan being rewired now I will have a lead with no connectors in the lead only on the ends and they will protrude through the back of the battery box and through the round hole where the plastic bung fits and then the dish will connect to that. The original wiring for both outlets has just been coiled up and left in the van!!

I have also taken the opportunity for a second cable to be run to allow me to use my Sky+ box with a twin LNB. Hope it all works when I get it back.

Ian

Hi Ian,

where do you put your tv?

The only place my 15" lcd tv will fit is on the flap by the kitchen or in the bedroom, in the kitchen there is no sat or dvd connections, I went to Maplins and got some sat cable and phono cable, made up some leads and swapped the kitchen blank plug with the bedroom phono/sat plugs and ran the cables to the front dvd connections and connected the sat to the input splitter on the back of the battery box, now we can use the dvd and sat from where it should have been put.

spj.

 

[TheTurk]

Hi Ian,

where do you put your tv?

The only place my 15" lcd tv will fit is on the flap by the kitchen or in the bedroom, in the kitchen there is no sat or dvd connections, I went to Maplins and got some sat cable and phono cable, made up some leads and swapped the kitchen blank plug with the bedroom phono/sat plugs and ran the cables to the front dvd connections and connected the sat to the input splitter on the back of the battery box, now we can use the dvd and sat from where it should have been put.

spj.

Hi spj, Have been following your exploits with Fleetwood for some time now!! Isn't Richard Allen a really nice fellow but needs chasing. I understand that he has retired now.

My lcd tv sits on the chest of drawers in the front which we bought as an extra both in this Heritage and the last one. We find it useful both for the tv and for meals as there are only two of us now that the kids have left. I don't have the kitchen blank as I had Aircon put in again, so I am glad I had the chest otherwise I would have been tempted to do what you did. Obviously these caravans are designed by people who never actually use them and I wonder how many dealers actually caravan.

Consequently all the necessary connections are to hand both for tv and dvd. I always, as you may have gathered, place my Sky box in the top of the wardrobe and feed everything from there but the system in this new van is far far from perfect. In fact it is downright useless and I know a bit about TV and video etc.

Am expecting the van back from the dealers by Friday at the latest this week as I am away at the w/e and maybe I will be able to watch Sky effortlessly this time for the first time.

 

[Clive-Cardiff]

I found a simple solution to the tv problem. We have the front chest of drawers option, so I made a small shelf out of mdf that fits onto the shelf that runs around the base of the front windows. The shelf hooks onto the bottom curtain rail by way of a couple of battens tacked onto the underside of the shelf.

I'm not sure if the cushions would stop this working becaue we dont use them at the front.

 

[TheTurk]

Well, received van back from dealer and all now working. The satellite connection rewired under the van as previously described is giving me the best reception ever and even better than the previous Heritage.

Fridge catches are now all working and the blinds stay where thay should be, up rather than a mixture of up and down when joined together.

spj, I have responded to your query as a comment to your comment but not sure if you have seen it.

Clive, Did you buy your van in Wales?

Ian

 

[oldievanner]

Just back from holiday,satellite still no good.It appears to be a short circuit on one of the cables,if it stops raining I will have a further look at it.As it was raining I decided to read the handbook(there was nothing on the TV).I have now found out that when you turn off your 12V, buy pressing the square button to display Fleetwood Heritage,if you hold your finger on the button for about five seconds it goes blank.It is designed to do this cos it says so in the book!All I've got to do now is to work out how to dim it at night,so it's not like Blackpool Illuminations inside van.Currently the answer is to put a DVD case or a paperback in front of it!! Any other suggestions would be appreciated.Again I read the book, but can't see anywhere in it that tells you how to dim it,without turning it off completely as above.(SHE then can't put lights on in toilet so moans!!)Other than above niggles it would appear to be a really good van with a really good comfortable fixed bed.Will have another look at satellite at weekend and will report any findings.

 

[Clive-Cardiff]

Interesting point on turning the screen off. I've been wondering how much battery power we lose while the van is in storage with the screen switched on.

I must remember to read the book!!!

 

[Clive-Cardiff]

Well, received van back from dealer and all now working. The satellite connection rewired under the van as previously described is giving me the best reception ever and even better than the previous Heritage.

Fridge catches are now all working and the blinds stay where thay should be, up rather than a mixture of up and down when joined together.

spj, I have responded to your query as a comment to your comment but not sure if you have seen it.

Clive, Did you buy your van in Wales?

Ian

No I bought mine at Stowford Caravans. At the hand over I think they knew as much about the van as I did.

Not a lot of help!

 

[TheTurk]

Mainly for the attention of Peter (Fleetwood). As previously noted there are clearly problems with the wiring of the satellite system. Take the white sat box in the wardrobe apart and check the wiring in there, apparently they are often transposed, as they were in mine. Easily sorted though.

The wire under the van and back up into the wardrobe is a really good idea as you cut out all the connectors. This only works of course if you place your Sky box in the wardrobe and distribute the signal from there.

Where do most people place their box? Would appear to be a problem to place it anywhere else unless you have the optional central chest.

 

[oldievanner]

Fixed it!!The screen was touching the centre at the satellite connector in TV cupboard between kitchen & bedroom (640CB Model)My satellite box fits in this cupboard standing on its end with the TV next to it.

 

[TheTurk]

Congratulations!! Usual standard then. Shows that the test on your van, like mine, which Fleetwood do to make sure tv works either was not carried out or as I have said before they laugh at the lengths we will have to go to to fix things!

Nice caravans though aren't they. They must be as I am on my second Heritage now, and from comments on this forum they are no worse than Swift et al.

Enjoy your satellite from now on.

Ian

 

[spj]

Hi all,

Does anyone see the point of the display panel in the 2008 Heritage? I have just returned from 17 nights on a rally field with no EHU in rainy Cornwall and all the panel does is light up the van at night unless covered and seems to drain the battery.

After checking the voltage daily with a multimeter we had to run the generator every other day, on the 2007 Heritage we could last 5 days in winter with 2 110Ah batteries, all our lights have been changed to LEDs and the tv has hardly been on, the level indicator takes too long to use, I use a small spirit level, the onboard tank level can be seen quicker by opening the cupboard door, the tank fill is pointless as you just swich the switch on and the charge/discharge can read charge in darkness with lights on and discharge in bright sunshine with every thing off.

I think it is a step backwards, the 2007 vans battery guage and pump switch was far better, the 10w solar panel puts less in than the display panel takes out.

Apart from this the 2008 van is much better than the 2007, the door on my 640es is far better than the Hartle door, the bathroom door is a massive improvement, the metal bed base is much better and the led kitchen and awning lights are excellent.

With a little more thought the Heritage would be superb, the tv/dvd points should be at the kitchen or put at the front if the optional chest is fitted, and why put led awning and kitchen lights in and halogen lights everywhere else? The onboard water tank is usefull but smaller than an aquaroll.

My 2008 van has a few faults, the bathroom sink drains onto the floor, the fridge manual lock does not fit its striker and the kitchen window rear catch will not reach the frame, all of which were ok on the 2007 caravan, hopefully Fleetwood will not take 18 months to sort it out, on the whole it is very good and the satellite connections have been fine on both vans.

spj.