Help! No 12v

[Parksy]

We were inside the caravan on the drive giving it a clean before going to Stowford in the morning and I'd plugged in the ehu at home to power the caravan up.
The caravan is an Abbey 620 with the dreaded Nordelettronica battery charger although it's never given any problems before.
Everything was working fine the fridge was on 240v, and both 12v and 240v circuits were on and working but for some reason the 12v has gone off and won't come back on again although the 240v interior lights and sockets are working.
I've checked the obvious fuses and they're ok, the rcd's haven't tripped but the NE190 led control panels isn't showing any lights or numbers at all.
Am I missing something obvious or is it a new charger and possibly a cancelled holiday?

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

Parksy - sorry to hear about your predicament.

Stowford do repairs on your van on the pitch. Perhaps you could ring them and book a repair for when you get there. Get PCv to pull a few strings as you are a Moderator of theirs.

 

[Parksy]

Thanks Graham, we were wondering about having a repair done at Stowford but I was hoping it might be something like a fuse that I've missed or perhaps an overheat cut out.
If (as I suspect) the charger is kaput then I'd be better off having a repair done by Apauljack Engineering, but that would mean staying at home to send off the charger and get it back after the repair.
No 12v means no fridge, no ignition for the heater, no water pump or toilet flush etc so I'm wondering whether to stay here to get it sorted or take a chance

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

Can you run 12v off a standalone charger eg Cetec?

 

[Parksy]

Great minds!
I've just been out and connected the C-Tek and it's charging the battery.
The fault may lie with the battery if I'm lucky, it's about 6 years old and it's been on the caravan in storage for a couple of months since it's last charge.
I'll know more later on if the battery charges up so fingers crossed

 

[Damian]

Hi Steve,
If it is the charger, which it sounds like it is, you can get by with a stand alone charger if you have EHU at Stowford.
Paul will repair your unit on your return home.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

No 12v means no fridge, no ignition for the heater, no water pump or toilet flush etc so I'm wondering whether to stay here to get it sorted or take a chance

You can't use the charger as an excuse for not going to Stowford, 'cos you will be missed.

 

[Gafferbill]

Hope you get things sorted........2 years ago the charger in my caravan gave up just before the off to Stowford and I had to rig up my trusty old car battery charger for the trip.
It all worked well so good luck.

If it turns out you need a new charger these are good and are well priced.
I bought and fitted the 18 amp version and it works well

 

[Dustydog]

Steve.
It's not the end of the world. Bring your charger. I have a smart charger you can link into the battery. I agree with Damien.Sort the main charger out with the experts when you return.
my old Avon leisure battery managed 10 years. I replaced it. It's now in my mates motor home and still going strong.

see you tomorrow night.

 

[Gabsgrandad]

When it happened to me Parksy a few years back. I was away on holiday, went to Halfords bought automatic battery charger stood it under the van out of the weather was there for a fortnight, connected to the battery through the cable slot. Nothing clever. Sorted in about 2 hours from it going down, ran all holiday no problem.

 

[midnightlist]

Hi,

I am new to caravanning, having just sold our trailer tent.
More to follow on that ...

However when I collected the van and got it home the 12V completely went on me, leaving just the 240v.
After checking the wiring diagram and looking for a few obvious things I found that the 6.3mm push
on connector had fallen off the main inline fuse from the battery under the seat.
A quick fix and everything working again.

Just mentioning it in case it is something as simple as that in your case.

Gary

 

[Dustydog]

Paul is in Somerset.
A day put perhaps while he fixes your unit?
I'll drive.

 

[Gagakev]

Hope it doesn't get you down too much Parksy, a trooper like you will soldier on.
See you Thursday.

 

[Parksy]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, couldn't reply earlier because I had to *** out.
I'm not sure what the problem is because I've had my C-Tek charging the battery all evening and I've just checked and it's fully charged. I'm on ehu at home and the 240v is ok.
Still no 12 volt though, the control panel led's don't light up, the fridge won't work and neither will the water pump, but strangely enough the alarm is working and that is 12v from the battery.
I'm in a quandry now, none of the local service engineers have returned my calls after I left answerphone messages and neither did Paul who fixes the chargers so I'm unsure whether to take a chance on Stowford fixing the problem because the standalone charger isn't making any difference even on ehu.

 

[SirRogerFFS]

Hi Steve I hope you manage to sort your 12 volt side ok My idea is much like some of the suggestions.Some years ago I had battery charger give up on a Compass while we were away luckily I had one of those starter packs/ linked that to battery terminals and served our holiday well When we got home it cost me £70 not quite the way I wanted to lose weight .
Sir Roger

 

[Parksy]

Hi,

I am new to caravanning, having just sold our trailer tent.
More to follow on that ...

However when I collected the van and got it home the 12V completely went on me, leaving just the 240v.
After checking the wiring diagram and looking for a few obvious things I found that the 6.3mm push
on connector had fallen off the main inline fuse from the battery under the seat.
A quick fix and everything working again.

Just mentioning it in case it is something as simple as that in your case.

Gary

Thanks Gary, I'll check that first thing in the morning.

 

[Gafferbill]

.........I was also going to suggest checking the main line fuse which will be where the 12 volt main supply enters the caravan from the battery box.
That would be my first check.

 

[Parksy]

The fuses are all in one fuse board close to the battery box I think Bill, and they are all ok. The manual is useless with no relevant information. There might be another fuse somewhere that I haven't found.

 

[Parksy]

Steve.
It's not the end of the world. Bring your charger. I have a smart charger you can link into the battery. I agree with Damien.Sort the main charger out with the experts when you return.
my old Avon leisure battery managed 10 years. I replaced it. It's now in my mates motor home and still going strong.

see you tomorrow night.

It will be tomorrow now, there's a mobile engineer coming round this afternoon to check the 12v system so fingers crossed we'll be at Stowford on Wednesday. The fuses are all ok, including the main battery fuse.
I've had the leisure battery on charge (with my C-Tek smart charger) and the panel lit up with a fault code showing low voltage this morning.
The battery is still on charge via the C-Tek , the solar panel low voltage cut out prevented the solar panel from charging but it's also charging the battery now.
Still no lights, fridge etc so far though, but I think that the caravan control panel also has a low voltage cut out so we'll know soon when the battery voltage rises, the problem could be either the charger, the leisure battery or both.
We let Stowford know that we'll be a day late so no worries there.

 

[Parksy]

Bit of an update, we'll be at Stowford on Thursday if all goes to plan
Mick from M D Mobile Caravan Services was good enough to check the electrics at very short notice, if you live in the Midlands Mick is highly recommended for servicing etc; and he diagnosed that the charger is not working at all.
We're setting off tomorrow but will stay at Greenacre Place Touring Park and Paul from Apaujack Engineering, Brent Knoll is collecting our charger and possibly the control panel, and will upgrade and repair them both so that we can be on our way to Stowford in plenty of time for the Quiz night :cheer:

 

[Dustydog]

That's good news Steve.
see you Thursday. However I will be seeing my mum so it might be Friday.

Best wishes

 

[Parksy]

Thanks Alan, have one for me tonight!

 

[Gagakev]

Yippee, good news for you and Carole Parksy, seeing as you haven't been away yet this year. .
Another day of WORK for me tomorrow!! Then set off Thursday. See you soon.

 

[Parksy]

It is good news Kev, especially because the Mick the local caravan engineer and Paul at Alanpaul Engineering have gone out of their way to try to help us.
If we'd have gone away earlier somewhere more local I wonder if the charger would have given up the ghost then?
Moral of the story - go away in the caravan more often! B)

 

[ApuljackEngineering]

We have collected the charger, fuse board and control panel - looks like they are all a bit suspect!

We are working on them now. The charger will receive our infamous repair and upgrade which will then give it a 2 year warrantee and the control panel/fuse board power problem will also be resolved, A pretty normal repair for us!

We should refit these tomorrow and then Parksy can enjoy a beer from the newly working fridge in the correct location!

Regards

Paul Wright
BSc MEng PGDip CEng MIET
Chartered Electronics Engineer