Ive just bought a 1990 cotswold celeste and it has 3 switches on a panel inside the door. Its not obvious what they do, can anybody tell me what each is for?
Help identifying switches
- Thread starter col9876
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Had to load pic as my avatar as couldnt seem to load photo! For future reference how do you load photo from device? I could only see add photo by URL!!
Anyway... The 3rd switch (furthest) right makes lights go off. Other two switches make volt meter jump around.
Incidentally the water doesnt come out of taps, so not sure if pump is controlled by any of those switches???
Anyway... The 3rd switch (furthest) right makes lights go off. Other two switches make volt meter jump around.
Incidentally the water doesnt come out of taps, so not sure if pump is controlled by any of those switches???
If only three switches then mess around a tad - on/off - off/on - surely won't take long to suss em out
I think we're going to need a slightly bigger picture but I'm certainly not the one to explain that.
It's likely that one will be for checking battery charge so that will make the needle jump around.
The other should be the pump for the water. A quick try with taps open should solve that. Why that's making your needle jump around I don't know.
Good luck and hopefully someone will come along this morning and be better able to help you out with a better memory of the '90's
Congratulations on buying such a nice van. Enjoy using her.
It's likely that one will be for checking battery charge so that will make the needle jump around.
The other should be the pump for the water. A quick try with taps open should solve that. Why that's making your needle jump around I don't know.
Good luck and hopefully someone will come along this morning and be better able to help you out with a better memory of the '90's
Congratulations on buying such a nice van. Enjoy using her.
Tried all that, water not flowing with any combo. The right switch has faded word 'pump' written above it, but flicking this only seems to affect lights.
How do the motors in these pumps work, do they run all the time?..., or how would it detect when somebody has turned a tap?
How do the motors in these pumps work, do they run all the time?..., or how would it detect when somebody has turned a tap?
col9876 said:
Hi and welcome to the forum.
If you look in the "our website" section near the top you will find a yellow topic near top " how to - photos"
You have given us a few clues. Back in the early 1990's caravans were only fitted with fairly rudimentary battery chargers and as such to ensure a proper smooth Dec supply it was important to have a battery installed, do you have one fitted?
Without a battery, the charger will not have enough power to run the pump, as pumps do need 4 to 5 Amps current capacity to start. Certainly without a battery trying to run the pump would dim the lights.
There are generally two types of pump that might have been fitted. The most common type is a submersible one that you drop into a water container and plug into a fitting on the out side of the caravan. The other type is an inboard diaphragm pump which has hose you put into your water container or possibly it's plumbed to an internal tank.
There are two common methods of controlling the automatic operation of the pump in earlier caravans it tended to be a micro switch fitted into each tap. Open any tap and its micros witch will activate the pump. But more more recent systems tend to use a pressure switched system in conjunction with a non return valve. When ever the water pressure in the caravans pipe is low, the pressure switch will turn on the pump to raise the pressure. If a tap is open, the water pressure will be reduced and the pump will run. When the taps are closed, the pump runs to build the pressure until the pressure switch reaches its set pressure when it will turn off the pum. The built in non return valve prevents the water pressure from being lost back through the pump.
Most pressure switches are fitted close to the water inlet fitting, and are adjustable for different pressure settings. You may need to adjust the pressure setting if your battery voltage changes, for example when using a mains electric hook up and the battery is on constant charge.
Submersible pumps must not be run dry for more than just few moments. They rely on the flow of water through them to cool their motors and to keep the motors shaft seal moist. It is possibly your pump is faulty and has seized. This could also be the reason your lights dim and the battery voltage drops when your pump is turned on.
As for all the switches, the one marked pump, is a master switch for the pump. This should only be left on when you are using the caravan. It's advisable to turn it off at night and always when leaving the caravan and when towing.
With out seeing the detail of the other switches, it's difficult to be certain, but is the second meter on the panel a water gauge? If so it probably means you have an internal water tank, to avoid unessesary power usage the gauge may only be activated by one of the switches.
Bearing in mind the age of the caravan, it was quite common to have a battery selector switch, You could choose to use the caravan or the car battery to run the 12v items with a middle "off" position.
So there are some starter ideas
Thank you Prof John for all that info. You are correct that no 12v battery connected, and one of the switches does say 12v/240v. Also the water gauge does have push button so it lights up and says about 2/3rds full when I press that red button.
I didnt realise the water pump wont work without a battery, even when on hook up.
Incidentally does that go for the fridge too which doesnt work with any combination of switches
I didnt realise the water pump wont work without a battery, even when on hook up.
Incidentally does that go for the fridge too which doesnt work with any combination of switches
I have three switches fitted to our 1998 abbey iona - one is for the submersible pump - one is for the battery to switch between car and caravan incorporating a needle meter to indicate battery charge state and finally one is an auxiliary switch for 12 volt appliances
That's because you can only incude a picture here by linking from an URL. You cannot upload a picture directly to this website. I put pictures in a spare area of my own website and give a link to them. Other people put them onto a photo hosting website like Photobucket and link to them there.col9876 said:
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