Pedrogee Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 I have an Easycool EC1500-AC/DC air con system fitted to an Autocruise motorhome I purchased recently. The vehicle was registered in 2006 but I have no information regarding when the system was fitted except that it was prior to 2012 when the owner prior to me, purchased it. The system was demonstrated at point of sale and worked fine. However, since then the hot function fails to start working, the switch area emitting a buzzing/clicking noise and the sound of possibly the fan trying to start. This lasts a second or two before stopping for a similar time, and then repeating. Sometimes an audible alarm can be heard from the inverter, (1600w), itself, and a red light shows on the front edge of the inverter, 240v side. The adjacent green light is illuminated permanently. The leisure battery has on a couple of occasions, drained completely whilst the van was not in use, and also on one trip this week whilst we were travelling. The cold function works well, not that I need that function much at the moment! The starter battery was changed in December for a new Varta H3 12v 100Ah 830A item and the leisure battery is a Red Power RP95 12v 95Ah 720A item. I believe this 'leisure' battery is actually a starter battery and may have exceeded it's lifespan, although it holds full charge for days usually, but has discharged quickly twice recently, leading me to believe there is an unknown power drain in the installation, possibly the Inverter. This, according to the EasyCool manual should only be on when the on/off switch on the air con is switched on, yet the green power light is on permanently. It is my intention to have the leisure battery tested next week and replaced if necessary, but with what I am not sure, other than a dedicated leisure battery and not a starter type. I would appreciated any information or advice from yourselves as I have been unable to find an engineer locally who knows anything about the EastCool system. Alternatively, the details of an approved engineer who covers the Northants area would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinM50 Posted January 19, 2019 Share Posted January 19, 2019 Would I be right in thinking you're trying to run the a/c from battery? If so I reckon that's your problem. A/c uses a lot of electricity and whilst will work fine if the engine's running it will struggle on just the battery. Again if you're on EHU and charging the battery at the same time, then it'll be fine but not just off battery alone. Though I don't know your system, I've had a/c in various boats over the years, and it's always been the case of NOT battery alone. BTW, Easycool is now marketed as a Dometic product and their website shows Engineers throughout UK including one in Daventry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted January 19, 2019 Share Posted January 19, 2019 If you follow this link http://tinyurl.com/y8nxkp6f it will take you to Dometic's (who took over Waeco) document archive. If you don't see your Easy Cool about three down, just type easy into the search box on the right. Don't know if this will help, but if you don't already have a manual, it might. For further technical assistance e-mail Dometic customer services here http://tinyurl.com/y9qz76m9 (scroll down the page to get to "Contact us". They don't always respond that fast, but in my experience they always respond and are vary helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrogee Posted January 19, 2019 Author Share Posted January 19, 2019 Thanks Colin. The mo-ho was on ehu when it was demonstrated initially and when we have tried to run it. Roadpro technician tried last week, on just battery, battery and engine running, and ehu, to no effect. I do not intend to run it on battery alone, more whilst travelling to maintain cabin temps, so would normally be when engine running, or occasionally on ehu. I have contacted Dometic who have kindly sent me the full manual for the system. They also informed me that they do not provide support any longer for this model and do not have any engineers who are trained on them either. They did provide me with details of another company, Conrad Anderson ltd in Birmingham, who they say had an engineer who had worked on EasyCool products. They have yet to respond to my email. Today, whilst cleaning the mo-ho, and on ehu, we tried to operate the unit. There was no response from the unit itself this time, but the inverter alarm sounded and could not be silenced. I had to disconnect the battery feeds from the inverter in order to silence the alarm. I also removed the power supply relay, located between battery and inverter, with a view to replace this first off, as at only £24 it is worth a try as it seems to me that something is stopping the required power getting to the inverter. The only parts of the system controlling this are the switch on the ac unit and this relay. I will report back when I have further news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrogee Posted January 19, 2019 Author Share Posted January 19, 2019 Thanks Brian for your information. As you will see from my reply to Colin, Dometic have been as helpful as they could and I am still looking for an engineer to get this sorted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weldted Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 Not sure what the current demand is for you heat side of the unit. But roughly you will need 28 amps at 12 volt dc to produce 1 amp at 240 volt ac. This is allowing for inefficient losses in the inverter and voltage drops in the supplying cables. If you can unplug the lead that goes from the inverter to the ac unit. Then plug in a similar load (fan heater) and see if the inverter copes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jb6981 Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 Pedrogee - 2019-01-19 8:12 PM I have contacted Dometic who have kindly sent me the full manual for the system. They also informed me that they do not provide support any longer for this model and do not have any engineers who are trained on them either. They did provide me with details of another company, Conrad Anderson ltd in Birmingham, who they say had an engineer who had worked on EasyCool products. They have yet to respond to my email. I have a Waeco EC2500 air con unit which was supplied and fitted by Conrad Anderson in 2006. It stopped blowing cold air (in France in 40c heat), on my return to England I contacted Conrad Anderson and they said bring it in for diagnosis. They found a corroded pipe which had allowed the refridgerant to leak. They could not fix it straight away because they were too busy (August 2015), so I took it back in October 2015. They kept the van for a week and removed the unit and fitted a new pipe and added a T piece to allow regassing (these are sealed maintenance free units). If they can't get the spares they will improvise and use a local air con specialist. The invoice states "Fully pressure tested and regassed, Low on refridgerant. Repaired roof seal. Labour to remove test and regas + refit 5 hours". Plus one hours labour for diagnosis @ £50 an hour, total plus VAT £350.00. I was well chuffed the unit is now as good as new and saved the £1500 plus cost of a replacement unit. If they can't fix it no one can, highly recommended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrogee Posted January 21, 2019 Author Share Posted January 21, 2019 Thanks JB6981 for your contribution. Having disconnected the power supplies to the inverter I went on to remove the relay and then the leisure battery. A new relay is on it's way and the battery, part-tested today, is now on charge in the garage. It only registered 6% of capacity so will be taking it back for another test on Wednesday. When I removed the battery I found a small live wire from the battery terminal that was tucked down the back of the battery. It had an in-line 20amp fuse in it which had blown. There were also some loose wires in the control box next to the relay. The next chapter is to fit the new relay, refit the battery (or new one if required), tighten all connections and see what happens. If no joy then a trip to Conrad Anderson will be on the cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weldted Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 Not sure what current your heater unit requires, just been in the van with my new d.c. current clamp meter, for the 1 kW setting on my Alde heating the current draw at the inverter from the battery was 90 amps. Not the normal way of powering it just to show the demand for 1 kW 240 a.c. From 12 volts d.c. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrogee Posted January 26, 2019 Author Share Posted January 26, 2019 Hi Welted. According to the manual the Air-con draws 75amps at the inverter. I have replaced the power supply relay, re-made all the connections between battery and inverter and inserted a new 10amp fuse in the battery monitor feed cable. I had the battery checked, off - motor and fully charged, and it read 694amps out of a possible max of 720amps, so I am assuming that this is OK. All this appears to have done the trick with regard to the air-con as it now works fine, both on EHU and on battery power with the engine running. No alarms and hot air from the ducts when demanded. However, as soon as I disconnect the EHU, the control panel shows the leisure battery state to be poor, 0.0v. The instant EHU is connected then the display reads 13.8v. Looks like I need a motorhome specialist to check out all the electronics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weldted Posted January 26, 2019 Share Posted January 26, 2019 How did you measure your 694 amps? When on ehu if I remember correctly a relay switches off the inverter and then is powered by the mains. Whilst the engine is running the alternator is supplying the power to the inverter with little input from the battery. Some systems link the engine and leisure batteries together whilst you are running the engine. Something to try is to stall the engine as opposed to turning it off to see if the air con still functions. Others are only linked when there is a signal from the D+ when the alternator is charging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrogee Posted March 2, 2019 Author Share Posted March 2, 2019 Update on my Ait con system. Having renewed the power supply relay and checked all cables & connections I can confirm that the air con is now working fully. That wasn't the end of the problems though as new Van battery was being drained over 3 to 4 days. After a lot of fuse pulling and a visit to a vehicle electrical specialist, we found a non-supported gps tracker had been installed on the van, for which no mention had been made nor paperwork supplied. On having this removed completely, all systems are now functioning correctly. I have complained to TrafficMaster who have opened up a case and will get back to me soon. Hope to get back out and about this next weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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