CBE panel fault.

[Brian Kirby]

One for Allan, really, if you have the time, energy, and inclination! :-)

 

I know you do not specialise in CBE, but I'm puzzled so, with my apologies, I'm wondering if you could give your opinion.

 

I noticed way back that when the control panel (CBE110-KN) on our van was switched on, the low water level warning flashed continually. (This is apparently a characteristic of the panel. Presumably the designer assumed that it would be switched on when the van is in use, on the simple assumption that under those conditions the fresh water tank would always be filled! Durrr! :-))

 

I later noticed that if the panel was left in this state for an extended period, it locked up completely, and would not respond to any controls, including the on/off switch. The only way I could then get it to re-set, was to pull the main fuse at the habitation battery, wait a few seconds, and then re-insert the fuse. I could then switch the panel back on. The low level warning still flashed, but providing I did not leave the panel on too log, it behaved normally - until I again forgot and left it on! :-)

 

OTOH, if there was sufficient water in the tank to register on the level gauge, the panel could be left on indefinitely without the fault occurring.

 

I recently had to take the van for its annual damp check, so told the dealer (Southdowns) about the fault, and asked if a) this was normal behaviour, b) they had as suggestion as to why and c) they could look at it and test it while they had it in.

 

They said that the continual flashing of the low water level indication was normal, and that disconnecting the water level probe at the CBE DS300-KN Distribution Box might be helpful as they had experienced some problems with the probes.

 

I therefore pulled the main fuse, unplugged the feed to the probe at the DS300, waited a few seconds, reinserted the main fuse, and switched the panel back on. All normal with the low water level flashing.

 

Following this I switched the panel off, again pulled the main fuse, waited a few seconds, reinserted the probe plug, reinserted the main fuse, and switched the panel on. All as before, so I left the panel on in this condition for several hours during which it did not lock up.

 

So, can you suggest any logical reason why merely unplugging the tank probe and plugging it back in might clear a fault that was causing the control panel to lock up? It just seems far to simple to be a cure, and I don't trust faults that magically fix themselves! In short, do I possibly still have the fault, or do you think this could have caused some kind of reset that has, actually, cleared it?

[aandncaravan]

Brian, When reading through this, before I was even part way through, I had formulated a theory that the continual alert was causing the Display unit to overheat and lock-up,

But the last section where it continues to alert for hours, but from a different 'start point', crashed that theory.

 

 

As you point out our knowledge of the CBE kit is scant and I have no idea why this one behaves as it does, sorry.

 

[Brian Kirby]

Thanks Allan - no need to apologise, no-one else knew either, so, in the nicest possible way, you were a longshot! :-)