hard to explain pain in the bottom problem with electrics---p...

[dazicki]

hiya had a great easter but broke the electrics in our van heres what happened

yesterday we had a tv on and a kettle which has always been used and often at the same time when the electric went off so our van is 20 years old it has a trip box which is connected to 2 sockets at the front of the van thats all we also have a fridge which we havent found the wiring for but it runs on elec or gas anyway we went to trip box and 1 switch of two was down as it has many times when its tripped so flicked it up but it wouldnt stay up so checked all the appliences in parents van they are fine checked site elec box thats fine swapped leads with parents thats fine but the switch still wont flick back on

any clues??????????????????

thanks nicki

 

[sparkes]

You need to check for a direct short in the wires. Normally this happens if a live wire is down to earth etc

 

[antrimboy]

Remove the plugs from all sockets and try again. Kettle has to be suspect.

 

[dazicki]

checked kettle removed all plugs still no joy

 

[rob_jax]

Either:

1. A defective MCB trip

2. Defective wiring connection - as pointed out by Steve - maybe a wire in one of the sockets has become loose and caused a short

3. Defective appliance that is still connected - maybe the fridge has a faulty heating element

The safe way to find this fault is to let a qualified caravan electrician do the fault finding.

The DIY approach - where you don't have access to all the necessary test gear (maybe just a digital voltmeter or DVM) - and you need to know how to use a DVM and localise a problem - and then try rectification by substitution. If your first diagnosis does not hit the spot, then you could waste a bit of money buying replacement MCB trips, or heaters, or sockets or whatever when the original unit is OK

Robert

 

[dazicki]

neighbour is an electrician and gonna see if his meter thingy will pick it up first if not im gonna get someone in dont like messing with electrics

just out of curoisity in the trip box there are 2 switches i assume one is fridge and one is plug would that be right??

if so would that mean the fault is on the line that the switch wont go down and that the other is ok

 

[rob_jax]

Power supply box has two MCB trips - one will be for the 13 amp sockets; the other may be for the fridge, may be for the lights, may be for the fridge and the lights. Check documentation.

Robert

 

[dazicki]

we dont have electric lights we only have a fridge and a socket so as the sockets arnt working i will go and check them tonight for dodgey wiring

thanks robert