Battery not charging on 240V hook up.

Tallpaul

Guest
Just been out today to plug in the 240v hook up on my motorhome ready for using it this weekend. And noticed that the 240V light on the control panel didn't come on like usual. Checked the fridge and that was working fine on 240 but no charge going to my battery.

Things checked so far:
Checked all external fuses on main power distribution/charging unit.
Checked relevant wires to see whether it could be a loose cable somewhere.
Removed cover from the main consumer unit again just to see whether a wire had come loose, all seemed ok.
Removed 240 plug from main charging power unit and blew it and plugged it back in, just in case there was some dust etc in the way.

Anybody got any ideas on what the problem could be please. Would really appreciate your comments.

Wondering whether it could be the glass fuse for the charger inside the main 12v/240v power distribution and charging unit
 
shortcircuit said:
A clue as to the type of motorhome and psu would be a good start.
Click to expand...

Sorry I have a 1997 1.9TD Fiat Ducato 5 berth AutoRoller Motorhome.

With a Nordelecttronica NE13GT 12v/240v power distribution charging unit.
 
hey

just a though regarding your problem, i have a 1989 ducato knaus, just check to see if the red switch over lever is in the right position my is situated at the side of the driver seat, just a though
 
I'm not sure about a van that age but later ones had a large fuse (40ish Amps) and a 2 Amp fuse located near the Hab and Engine battery. The 2 Amp fuse is for the charging circuit.

Looking on the worst side, the Nordelectronica chargers had a poor reputation for reliability, it could be u/s.
 
Thanks for the reply

maingate said:
I'm not sure about a van that age but later ones had a large fuse (40ish Amps) and a 2 Amp fuse located near the Hab and Engine battery. The 2 Amp fuse is for the charging circuit.

Looking on the worst side, the Nordelectronica chargers had a poor reputation for reliability, it could be u/s.
Click to expand...

Hi thanks for your comment, trouble is it charges absolutely fine when I switch engine on. Just not charging when plugged in to 240v. Really weird, not even sure it's the internal fuse for the charger now as surely it wouldn't charge via the alternator if it was this. Would it?

Regards
Paul
 
In a caravan I had the charger stopped working, but there was no way of finding this out until it was checked at a dealers.
 
Non charging

Hi the glass fuse that is on the unit that powers the distribution unit ( lots of switches ) is probably blown.
It can be blown and the light will still be lit ? All the 240 sockets will work with the fuse blown but the leisure battery won't charge but it will by running the engin. My fuse is 15 amps hope this helps
 
Martingrant said:
Hi the glass fuse that is on the unit that powers the distribution unit ( lots of switches ) is probably blown.
It can be blown and the light will still be lit ? All the 240 sockets will work with the fuse blown but the leisure battery won't charge but it will by running the engin. My fuse is 15 amps hope this helps
Click to expand...

Hi thanks for the reply, having right problems with my 240 charging. The charger always use to work with no problems. Wondering whether the battery has had it, and causing all the problems. As even when charging with engine running from alternator, the other day for an hour or so. Showed 4 led lights with engine running but once switched off engine only showed one light. Then really weird as went out the other day and plugged in the Electric hook up cable and the battery was charging. The 220V mains LED light was on and fridge was working so thought all was good. Then for no reason the led light went out and checked battery with multi meter and battery stopped charging. But fridge was still on, so I knew it wasn't anything to do with the 240v supply or consumer unit. But problem must be in the unit itself. The 15amp blade fuse for the charger had blown. Changed it, connected it to mains again and within a few seconds the15amp fuse blew again.
Do I had a good check around the unit with my multi meter checking for broken wires, loose connections etc obviously checking fuses first. But couldn't find anything out of place. But I noticed that the mains neutral wire (blue) looks to be connected to the glass fuse housing. Thought that doesn't seem right. Live is always usually connected to fuses. So removed the mains connector and swapped the cables around. And heard charger working but still no mains led light. Waited for 5 mins to see if all was OK. Then went in doors and left it charging, when I came out a couple of hours later. The charger had stopped working and looking inside the unit the glass fuse housing plastic cover had melted. But the wire in the glass fuse had not blown.
Shouldn't have messed with the original set up of the cable wiring. As like I said it always use to work.
 
Thanks for the reply

Yes I'm afraid I've learnt that lesson the hard way. The charger is a Nordelettronica NE13GT_CI model. Would a faulty battery cause the charger to keep blowing fuses, not work etc.
 
Changing

Hi
This is probably obvious but if you disconnect the battery charging unit from both in and out feeds plug in the mains cable then plug in a normal battery charger into one of the 240 sockets in the motorhome and connect to the wires that are connected to the out feed of the charging unit if it charges ok it will be the onboard charging unit if it blows the fuse in the plug of the battery charger then you have a 12v fault somewhere.....if nothing is turned on and it blows the fuse while charging it has a short.and sorry but you have to start dis connecting things..... just a thought if you have the mains lead plugged in and turn the ignition on you get power from 2 sources so this will blow a fuse.
Cheers & good luck
Martin
 
Thanks for the reply

Martingrant said:
Hi
This is probably obvious but if you disconnect the battery charging unit from both in and out feeds plug in the mains cable then plug in a normal battery charger into one of the 240 sockets in the motorhome and connect to the wires that are connected to the out feed of the charging unit if it charges ok it will be the onboard charging unit if it blows the fuse in the plug of the battery charger then you have a 12v fault somewhere.....if nothing is turned on and it blows the fuse while charging it has a short.and sorry but you have to start dis connecting things..... just a thought if you have the mains lead plugged in and turn the ignition on you get power from 2 sources so this will blow a fuse.
Cheers & good luck
Martin
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply, yes been out and yes disconnected the main power/charging unit, as the charger is built inside the Nordelettronica 12v/240v power management/charging unit. Connected mains hook up, and fridge works perfectly, so does the 240v sockets inside the motorhome. So then plugged separate independent charger into the 240v socket and connected to battery and it shows that it's charging and after an hour or so was showing 3 out of 4 lights from only having one light before charging. So looks like my internal charger as died. Checked the unit schematics and it shows the correct glass fuse for charger is a slow burn T 3.15A so ordered some new ones, popped one in, but still nothing. But now wondering if the fuses are correct, as the old one I took out had coloured stripes on it, just like a resister. Never seen glass fuses like that before.

Maybe I will just buy a separate multi stage mains battery charger like the ctek MXS1o pro or the numax version. Sargent also do a very good leisure battery charger. And hard wire in my motorhome.
.
Sargent PX-300 Intelligent Leisure Battery Charger

CTEK MXS 10 Pro 12v 10A 8 Step Fully Automatic Car Van 4x4 Smart Battery Charger | eBay

Numax 12V 10A Leisure Battery Charger Caravan Camper Motorhome Marine Boat

Oh and one last thing to point out, all works ok, when engine is running e.g fridge works on 12v, battery charges from Alternator, so just the charger fault really.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Tallpaul said:
Thanks for your reply, yes been out and yes disconnected the main power/charging unit, as the charger is built inside the Nordelettronica 12v/240v power management/charging unit. Connected mains hook up, and fridge works perfectly, so does the 240v sockets inside the motorhome. So then plugged separate independent charger into the 240v socket and connected to battery and it shows that it's charging and after an hour or so was showing 3 out of 4 lights from only having one light before charging. So looks like my internal charger as died. Checked the unit schematics and it shows the correct glass fuse for charger is a slow burn T 3.15A so ordered some new ones, popped one in, but still nothing. But now wondering if the fuses are correct, as the old one I took out had coloured stripes on it, just like a resister. Never seen glass fuses like that before.

Maybe I will just buy a separate multi stage mains battery charger like the ctek MXS1o pro or the numax version. Sargent also do a very good leisure battery charger. And hard wire in my motorhome.
.
Sargent PX-300 Intelligent Leisure Battery Charger

CTEK MXS 10 Pro 12v 10A 8 Step Fully Automatic Car Van 4x4 Smart Battery Charger | eBay

Numax 12V 10A Leisure Battery Charger Caravan Camper Motorhome Marine Boat

Oh and one last thing to point out, all works ok, when engine is running e.g fridge works on 12v, battery charges from Alternator, so just the charger fault really.
Click to expand...
Glad to hear you have found a solution, nice and straight forward.

:goodluck::goodluck::goodluck:
 
Charging

Hi
That seems sorted then, well done ( if you hardware one in don't forget that it needs a fuse or a RCD )
Cheers
Martin
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who viewed this discussion (Total:0)

Back
Top