shake out trip

[malagaoth]

After replacing both engine and habitation batteries and having some work done on the electrics (by a reputable company) I set out on a month tour of the south west of England.

just before I left I noticed the 12v socket in the habitation area didnt work - I initially blamed a loosend connection in the wiring but with hind sight that may be wrong.
Second day out I discovered the fridge wasnt working on 12v - traced to a missing fuse (I now suspect that the other fault was actually a fuse not fully inserted)

Then on the third day out after driving 150 miles I got an alarm telling me that the habitation battery was very low (7.5v) so suspecting that the battery wasnt charging from the engine we went to a campsite and paid for a hook up.
over the next few days the onboard control panel was giving very bizzare readings for both batteries the habitation would often show as completely flat (1.5v!) but if you put the panel on its emergency setting all the electrics worked, the engine battery showed 26v when on hookup.
all in all it made for an unsettling trip - having to pay for campsites twice a week to recharge the habitation battery didnt help.

Any how home now all appears well - the control panel just needed a good talking to (a complete reset) the company that did the work (and neglected to reinstall the fuses correctly) also got a good talking to.

I am now stress testing the system - charging everything up and then turning all the lights on and checking what the REAL voltage is with a multimeter every couple of hours.


BTW any one fully conversant with a PC200 control panel?

whilst doing the reset I came across a setting (which isnt mentioned in my hand book) which appears to show the ampage being used (it displays a number followed by a capital A) is this what the setting is? can you get it to show all the time?

 

[QFour]

Found a manual for you ..

View attachment PC100_PC200_DS300_ENcircuits.pdf

We have one of the CBE panels in our MH. Lots of settings that are not used. Think you may find that its a [ One Panel Fits All ] and builders decide which bits they want to use.

FROM ANOTHER SITE .. The panel will switch off if battery lower than 10v and charging up again should switch it back on. Someone suggested disconnecting the leisure battery and then reconnecting with clean terminals. Another suggestion was disconnecting the panel from the Control Box

Manual has some wiring diagrams so should give you some help if needed in the future.

Don't think the vehicle battery should be at 26V

We have a large RED KEY in our system that switches the Habitation System Off / On and Isolates the Leisure Battery.

..

 

[malagaoth]

The vehicle battery ISNT at 26v the control panel just says that it is! and I cant get it to say otherwise, it reads 12.8v off charge (although I could set it to read anything) but on charge my multimeter says 14v (give or take) and the control panel reads 26.6v (again give or take)

thanks for the link but that is the same manual that I have - as you are probably aware it is almost completely useless!

 

[Discokegs]

The vehicle battery ISNT at 26v the control panel just says that it is! and I cant get it to say otherwise, it reads 12.8v off charge (although I could set it to read anything) but on charge my multimeter says 14v (give or take) and the control panel reads 26.6v (again give or take)

thanks for the link but that is the same manual that I have - as you are probably aware it is almost completely useless!

12.8 normal when charged and 14v charging sounds right to me.