swift charisma 540 wont do caravan mode nord 189.1

[cypher007]

my friends caravan has a weird problem.

first he thought it was the charger playing, up but ive checked it and it is outputting 12v control signal to the fuse board and 14.4 to the fuse board/caravan. but the relay that connects the batteries and charger together with the caravan wont engage when carvan mode is selected. indeed if the mains is removed all power to the van is lost, also im guessing the problems with the batteries were caused by them not actually being used/charged.

weve tried removing the lid of the relay and it appears to be a toggle type made by hella, but I cant find any info on it. if I toggle it manually it will hold for about 2 seconds and we have caravan mode then it clicks off.

so to override the problem, weve disconnected the car supply from the fuse board, which the controller seems to always want to use, and bridged the relay with a 30a fuse. this has given us back battery power and charging, but the relay can be heard ervey 2 secs trying to disengage the battery circuit.

what gives? the circuit diagram in the manual is not much help. I fear there is a problem with a surface mount component in the control circuit. its just strange it keeps toggling off as if its being controlled. one thought is could it be the control circuit doesn't realise the batteries are connected?

 

[Willi-Wonti]

If it is a Nord unit there have been issues with them in the past
My mate Paul Wright of Apuljack eng (you can Google him) repairs them.
He repaired the Nord in my sons van Phone No 07904195354
See 12 volt at car but not at van

 

[cypher007]

thank you ill give him a call.

 

[Parksy]

If it is a Nord unit there have been issues with them in the past
My mate Paul Wright of Apuljack eng (you can Google him) repairs them.
He repaired the Nord in my sons van Phone No 07904195354
See 12 volt at car but not at van

Our Nord circuitry was also repaired by Paul in May, it's better than new now

 

[cypher007]

my friend sent the units off to Apuljack, who said they could fix them in the time frame, but he had to chase them and when he got them back the same fault still exists. so now hes going to send them back again. hes not a happy chappy. just to make sure its not a fault with the van electrics, is there any way with the car cable disconnected from the car and the fuse board, that caravan mode can be locked out?

 

[cypher007]

some more detailed info.

ive probably spent a couple of hours on the fuseboard trying to trace how it works. it seems to have 2 latching relays, which create a changeover setup from car to batteries/charger. with the car totally disconnected, both ends, it is still not possible at the control panel to select caravan mode, the 2 relays latch then about 1-2 secs later latch back to car mode.

in response to the fuse question. I checked all fuses, and there is battery voltage on the board and when mains is connected voltage from the charger. they seem to be connected together by one of the latching relays. as a test I bridged the relay with a 30A fuse, and voila we had lights and the batteries charging. trouble is I can hear the circuit trying to latch the relay continuously. its like the logic circuit is stuck in car mode.

 

[ApuljackEngineering]

Cypher

Presumably we are talking about a certain Mr G? There are a few things that I think the forum needs to be aware of with regard to this particular issue as you are not quite telling the whole story! As you are no doubt aware, the particular relays in question have had the tops cut off them which has left them full of swarf, prone to ingress/corossion and now completely unsealed!! Not a good move on these particular type of relay.

We are very busy at the moment and had been trying to discuss this with Mr G to establish how we were going to resolve the issue with the relays. When Mr G placed the order there was no urgency/'lastest date to receive by' listed on the order and the fault described was not the one that still exists!

We tested the units, found the fault that was described, repaired it and all tested OK here in the lab. The fault you describe did not manifest itself when we had it here. It could be that cutting the tops off the relays has now caused an intermittent fault as these relays are particularly sensitive. These boards are complex and you really need to understand what you are doing with them rather than just guess and open sealed items 'just to see what is going on'. I am afraid that this sound like a case of 'a little bit of knowledge is dangerous'!

We spoke to Mr G on Friday and resolved his issue on a temporary basis so that he could go on holiday and have told him that we will resolve the issue when he returns. We have an almost 100% success rate with the repair and upgrade of these units so sorting this one out should not be a problem. We are now concerned that more 'fiddling' is going on and that we may end up not being able to repair it! Please leave it alone and leave it to the experts as you are barking up completely the wrong tree!

 

[Damian]

Thanks to Apuljack Engineering for giving the other side of what is normally a one sided thing.
It would seem that whoever cut the tops off the relays is at fault and it is totally wrong to cast any negative comments about a company and engineer who I know from personal experience does an amazing job repairing Nord and other makes of Electronics to better than new in most cases.

If it was you, cypher, who has had a go at something you have no knowledge of , then it is you who should pay for causing more damage than was originally present and refrain from blaming others for your failure.
It is obvious that you have no idea how the units work as you spent , in your words, two hours trying to trace how it works, when in fact it takes less than 5 minutes to identify the problem, WHEN you know what you are doing !!!!

 

[Willi-Wonti]

well said Damian

 

[Dustydog]

I'll second that Damien.

Amazing how Jack of all Trades know more than the experts!
I know what Paul did for Parksy a few months ago.
Good job there are companies like Paull's who can help us caravanners.