Erbaspacher heater problem

Pioneer

Guest
During the last couple of outings since New Year, our heater would run for a few hours, then stop, the blown air fan still runs and blows out cold air.

An Auto Electrician, tested the circuits, and said that one of the leisure batteries was defective, so I replaced it.

At Hayfield this weekend, the same thing happened. The Voltage appears to drop from 12.8v ish to 12.1v, when this happens. After a while the voltage gets back up to 12.8v and it can be reset:confused:

Any idea's of what to look for would be appreciated.

It is an Hydronic version, that does the water as well as the heating.
Do they have a thermal cutout?

Cheers,
Bill.
 
Had the same problem with mine over some wild camping weekends in Jan and Feb. I put it down to the voltage dropping somewhere between the control panel reading and the heater. It also takes a lot of juice to start the thing up and when you reach the temp setting it is switch on and off to maintain it...better to set a high temp then let it cool down before swtching it back on...if that makes any sense....but I am looking forward to hearing other peoples opinions.
 
My Webasto did the same thing this weekend - worked fine when generator was on, so it's the battery charge I reckon.
 
Yes, sounds like low voltage at the heater.

I have a Webasto which cuts out when the voltage drops below about 11v. It used to cut out, or fail to start, quite regularly. I found out there was about a 1.5v drop between the battery and the heater, mainly due to the way it had been wired up through the van fuse box as well as its own fuses. A quick rewire sorted it.

AndyC
 
AndyC said:
Yes, sounds like low voltage at the heater.

I have a Webasto which cuts out when the voltage drops below about 11v. It used to cut out, or fail to start, quite regularly. I found out there was about a 1.5v drop between the battery and the heater, mainly due to the way it had been wired up through the van fuse box as well as its own fuses. A quick rewire sorted it.

AndyC
Click to expand...

Hi Andy,
what happens is, when the heater is running, after a couple of hours, there is a massive drain on voltage, lights start to flicker, then it cuts out. The batteries when tested are reading 12.8v, but the blown air fan is still running and blowing cold air. About to ring the auto electrician in Carlisle who tested the system during a recent trip north, charged £65:mad:
Will check all the wiring and fuses today.

regards,
Bill.
 
Hi, Eberspacher UK are based just up the road from me in Ringwood.My previous van had one fitted & I found them very helpful people to deal with, might be worth giving them a ring.Although past experience seems to indicate its not your unit its your batteries or wiring (possible loose connection)

Dezi

Eberspächer (UK) Ltd
Headlands Business Park
Salisbury Road
Ringwood
Hants
BH24 3PB

Tel: (01425) 480151
Fax: (01425) 480152
 
Pioneer said:
Hi Andy,
what happens is, when the heater is running, after a couple of hours, there is a massive drain on voltage, lights start to flicker, then it cuts out. The batteries when tested are reading 12.8v, but the blown air fan is still running and blowing cold air. About to ring the auto electrician in Carlisle who tested the system during a recent trip north, charged £65:mad:
Will check all the wiring and fuses today.

regards,
Bill.
Click to expand...
Which Eberspacher unit have you got? Can you measure the actual current drawn? Had it been running ok previously?

Might be an idea to phone an Eberspacher service agent, list here: www.eberspacher.com/downloads/dealers/jn98_heating_dealers.pdf

AndyC
 
AndyC said:
Which Eberspacher unit have you got? Can you measure the actual current drawn? Had it been running ok previously?

Might be an idea to phone an Eberspacher service agent, list here: www.eberspacher.com/downloads/dealers/jn98_heating_dealers.pdf

AndyC
Click to expand...

Hi Andy,
It's an Hydronic, does the hot water as well as heating.
It's been running now for almost 2hrs, thermostat set to 18deg and it's still blowing hot, and drawing 2.6amp according to the control panel. Battery reading is a constant 12.7v.
I did notice some quantity of fluff on the fan grill so cleaned that off, maybe it's been overheating?
Going to keep an eye on it for a few more hours, then if it does start to blow cold again will contact a service depot, I think there is one at Buckley, Nr Mold.
I checked the fuses and for any loose wires, all appears ok.
Thanks for your help.

regards,
Bill.
 
Update: after 5hrs running, decided to put the TV on and a few Led spots to test, and straight away the voltage dropped from 12.6 to 12v, with the resulting Ebaspacher dying almost, but can't find out why?
Soon as the TV and lights turned off, voltage back to 12.6v:confused:
 
I had weirder things than that, Kevin was watching Armageddon and it died, when the channel was moved to watch Aviator it worked for the film and then the heating died. How weird is that?
 
Thanks to all you Guys who replied, I think it is now sorted, say's he keeping fingers crossed.
Firstly I spoke to GeoffW on the phone this morning, and he was very helpfull, then I rang an Eberspacher service engineer, who basicaly said if the heater as run for more than 3 mins, then look elsewhere for the problem, in particular the batteries.
I found a slightly loose battery connection:D
Got the heater running, and switched everything else on as well. Lights, extractor fan, TV, the lot and it appears ok.
Thanks again.
Bill.

Happy Camping:)
 
Pioneer said:
Update: after 5hrs running, decided to put the TV on and a few Led spots to test, and straight away the voltage dropped from 12.6 to 12v, with the resulting Ebaspacher dying almost, but can't find out why?
Soon as the TV and lights turned off, voltage back to 12.6v:confused:
Click to expand...
You need to check the voltage at the heater whilst it is running - not at the battery. If you have underrated cables or a loose connection as in your case you will not see the true voltage that the heater is running at. I checked out a Webasto that was being used with a fully charged battery but had problems running - the cables were undersized leading to a large voltage drop.
 
oldiebutgoodie said:
You need to check the voltage at the heater whilst it is running - not at the battery. If you have underrated cables or a loose connection as in your case you will not see the true voltage that the heater is running at. I checked out a Webasto that was being used with a fully charged battery but had problems running - the cables were undersized leading to a large voltage drop.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, the cables are the originals fitted by Autocruise, so I presume are within specification. I have had the heater running again today, and switched everything on and off from time to time, and all appears well, maybe it was the looseish battery terminal that was the problem. Time will tell.

regards,
Bill.
 
Eberspacher problems

Sorry to open up old wounds, I see this thread is from last year but there is an important point that hasn't been mentioned that should help people figure their problems out.

The Eberspacher, at least the D2 & D4 needs the voltage to be over 12.6V when starting up. If it drops below when the Glowplug is on it will cut the fuel and blow cold air for a few minutes.

The D2 was designed for a running engine and they put in this feature to stop you flattening your battery. If you can maintain 12.6V until the heater is running and the Glowplug shuts off, it will continue to run until the voltage drops to about 11V. It's a design flaw as far as I'm concerned because running on the Leisure battery it should run at 12V because the circuits will still run at that voltage. They put in this interlock as they thought it should only be ran on trucks with the engine running, never thought about Motorhomes.

You can flatten the battery fairly fast if it doesn't start up the first time so wait for the battery voltage to read about 13.2V with the engine running and charging from the alternator before you turn the heater on. Once it starts the voltage will drop down as low as 12.6 but it will run normally afterwards. Depending on the size (current capacity) of your batteries you may need more than 13.2 or less, the important thing is what the voltage is at with the Glowplug on.

If the heater starts and runs normally for a few minutes it usually indicates a fuel problem, either lack of or contamination. I found another cause, if you disconnect the plug at the wiring harness beside the heater and reconnect it, it will clean the contacts on the connector. take it off and put it on several times and this cleans the contacts. Don't use abrasives to clean contacts.

As an Electronics Technician I'm going to find a circuit diagram and modify the circuit to get it to run at any voltage, I suspect that placing a capacitor in the right place will do the trick, I'll let you know how it works out. They are beasts of a machine when they are not working but great when they are. Hope this helps.

Cheers, Joe

ps; here is an excellent resource for everything you need to know about Eberspachers Eberspacher D2
 
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with respect to battery charge and condition the following table may be useful

10-11V would indicate a dead battery

State of Charge/Specific Gravity/Voltage12V..6V
100%.............. 1.265........................ 12.7.. 6.3*
75% ................1.225 ........................12.4.. 6.2
50% ................1.190 ........................12.2.. 6.1
25% ................1.155 ........................12.0.. 6.0
Discharged .......1.120 ........................11.9..6 .0
 
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Experimets on Eberspacher D2

I played around with the voltmeter and an infrared thermometer and found a problem with mine. I found a connectionn heating up and restricting the current flow. I installed this with a 30A circuit breaker and an on/off rocker switch. The voltage at the battery was 13.2v (fully charged), the voltage I read directly at the heater was 10.8V but it still started up. I bypassed the breaker and rocker switch (which was supposed to handle 10A) and the voltage at the heater crept up to 11.6V, there was also a high temperature at the rocker and warm at the breaker. After bypassing I was able to start the heater when the voltage at the panel was 12.6V (before starting, it dropped to 11.9V when the glowplug was on but still started)

The lessons I learned were;

Don't use a cheap rocker switch, get one rated for 30A and a good quality one, better yet don't bother putting a switch on it.

As a general practice, keep all wires short and use heavy cables. If you don't have heavy wire you can double up on each wire.

I prefer circuit breakers to fuses on high current items. Fuses for cars are usually fast blow to protect electronics and most breakers are slower to blow. Again, buy the best or don't use any.

Torque all electrical connections that use high current, don't just snug them, tighter carries more current.

The design flaw in the Eberspacher is that when you start up, the glow plug draws a lot of current. If the connections are even slightly bad, the electronics doesn't have enough power to power the electronic circuits. There are a lot of interlocks built in for safety which is great but ideally the glow plug would be powered by the car battery and the fan and the electronics powered by the leisure battery.

I've (unwitting) become an expert on the D2/D4's so if anyone has a problem I should be able to help, pm me. The real measure of voltage should be directly at the heater during startup, what it says on your electrical panel doesn't really count,

Stay warm!

Cheers, Joe.
 
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