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Rapido control panel issue


drsfevans

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We recently took delivery of a Rapido Disinction i86. Great van but we have issues with the habitation battery display on the control panel. Our dealers swapped the original two 90Ah betteries for a single Lithium battery - the van is advertised by Rapido as being 'prewired for lithium'. Now the habitation battery display only randomly displays correctly - most of the time the bar graph appears to show the battery as discharged and will not show 'hours remaining' as it should. Going into the battery software there doesn't seem to be an option for 'lithium'. The display does show voltage and amps, and the battery appears to be working normally.

 

Has anyone any ideas about what to do with this? The dealers seem a bit flummoxed!

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Does the display return to normal if two original batteries are replaced ?

 

Or two lithium batteries?

 

Is there a software reset ?

From experience my much older CBE unit is still live after disconnecting the leisure battery, to reset it the vehicle battery has to be disconnected . Found that out by accident/ trial and error.

 

Solar panel wiring thrown a wobbly ? I read that some controllers seem not to work to well if integrated with the pre installed Rapido solar panel wiring.

 

The unit might have been damaged by static or a voltage spike when changing the batteries?

 

Just pulling some thoughts out of the air.

 

Rgds

 

 

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Welcome to the Out&AboutLive forums, Steve.

 

Looking at Rapido's (French) 2020 Technical Guide

 

https://www.rapido-camping-car.fr/rapido_historique-technique_les-anciens-guides-techniques-rapido.phtml

 

I note that - for the Distinction i86 model - the “Energie Confort” section on Page 20 indicates that the vehicle has

 

"Pré-équipement batterie cellule LITHIUM - SUPER B READY”

 

and that, when the lithium battery option is specified when a Distinction i86 is ordered, a SUPER B EPSILON 90Ah lithium battery (or a pair of these batteries) will be fitted.

 

The 2020 English-language Rapido Technical Guide says much the same thing

 

LITHIUM battery setup - SUPER B READY

90Ah SUPER B EPSILON LITHIUM in-house battery

2nd 90Ah SUPER B EPSILON LITHIUM in-house battery (total capacity = 180 Ah)

 

These lnks relate to the SUPER B battery and Rapido’s use of it.

 

https://www.super-b.com/en/products/epsilon-12v90ah

 

https://www.aboutcampbtob.eu/super-b-selected-as-exclusive-lithium-batteries-supplier-to-rapido/

 

http://www.rapidocz.cz/rapido_news_the-2019-collection-is-packed-with-new-features.html

 

As far as I can make out, the standard habitation battery would be a single 100Ah wet-acid ’no-maintenance’ type, with two of these as an option. The make of battery is not given, but Rapido has historically fitted Banner products for habitation use.

 

The first question needing to be asked is whether your dealer fitted a SUPER B EPSILON 90Ah lithium battery or something else. It would also be worth knowing whether your dealer has carried out this wet-acid to lithium battery swap on a ‘pre-wired for lithium’ Rapido motorhome before and, if so, which lithium battery was fitted and whether any extra work was required.

 

I’m a mite wary that - just because the Rapido Technical Guide says that an i86 is pr-wired for lithium - this means that a retro-fitted lithium battery can simply be ‘dropped in’ and everything will immediately function as one might expect without any modifications being made.

 

Rapido has tended to fit CBE electrical equipmnt systems (control panels, battery chargers, distribution boxes) and these have often been bespoke for Rapido. I notice that CBE now markets a charger for lithium batteries

 

https://www.cbe.it/en/cbe-introduces-the-new-cb522-lt-battery-charger-for-lithium-batteries/

 

so does a ‘pre-wired for lithium’ Rapido have one of these or would it only be installed when the lithium battery option is factory-fitted?

 

Without being able to read your Rapido User Manual, or know what electrical equipment your i86 has (eg. which make/model of control panel), or see how the control panel is misbehaving, I don’t think it will be realistic to try to offer focussed technicsl help..

 

Rapido has made the lithium option available for 2 years, so it’s not a real novelty and (one might think) the Mayenne factory should be able to advise your dealer about trouble-shooting. The obvious first step would be to replace the control panel with a new one under warranty, as this should be easy to do and MIGHT cure the fault.

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Thanks - I don't think they have tried refitting the two original batteries. They have been trying to contact Rapido but apparently without success so far. The auto-electrician is in again tomorrow and will have another go at solving the issue. We had a day out yesterday (off grid) and the battery did show a charge current of about 0.5 amps, which must be from the solar panel. The solar panel icon on the control panel wasn't illuminated, though. They did have some issues in connecting a single lithium battery as the van is wired for a pair of batteries. I don't really want two lithium batteries - because of weight and expense!
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drsfevans - 2020-09-23 12:54 PM

 

Thanks - I don't think they have tried refitting the two original batteries. They have been trying to contact Rapido but apparently without success so far. The auto-electrician is in again tomorrow and will have another go at solving the issue. We had a day out yesterday (off grid) and the battery did show a charge current of about 0.5 amps, which must be from the solar panel. The solar panel icon on the control panel wasn't illuminated, though. They did have some issues in connecting a single lithium battery as the van is wired for a pair of batteries. I don't really want two lithium batteries - because of weight and expense!

 

My older CBE PC200 / DS520 system also indicates habitation battery current, however it can be calibrated in 0.5A increments, to give a correct reading. The procedure is detailed in the CBE handbook. I would not attach much value to a charge reading of 0.5A, as it could be a false indication of zero.

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The Rapido handbook for my 2015 motorhome covers the CBE PC380 control-panel and the CBE DS450 Distribution Box (but not the CBE DS480).

 

In his original posting Steve said

 

...Now the habitation battery display only randomly displays correctly - most of the time the bar graph appears to show the battery as discharged and will not show 'hours remaining' as it should. Going into the battery software there doesn't seem to be an option for 'lithium'. The display does show voltage and amps, and the battery appears to be working normally.

 

So it appears that sometimes the control-panel displays 100% correctly, but most of the time it does not.

 

I’m not too surprised that there’s no ‘lithium’ setting in the control-panel’s menu as, if a ‘lithium’ battery-charger and the ‘just drop it in’ SUPER B EPSILON battery Rapido uses were fitted, the system might be expected to function little differently to if wet-acid batteries were used.

 

I think this may be the TN Power lithium battery that was fitted to Steve’s motorhome

 

https://www.batterymegastore.co.uk/product/tn-power-tn110-lithium-leisure-battery-lifepo4/

 

https://www.batterymegastore.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/TN-Power-TN110-Data-Sheet-CLICK-HERE.pdf

 

TN Power products seem to have a good reputation and a 110Ah version apparently is a LOT cheaper than a 90Ah SUPER B EPSILON lithium battery. I’ve no idea if fitting an alternative lithium battey to the SUPER B product would have potential knock-on effects, but the Rapido factory might quibble over the TN Power choice.

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Replacing the control-panel would be the logical way for your dealer to address this fault.

 

The standard PC380 panel doesn’t appear to be outrageously expensive

 

https://www.justcaravanparts.co.uk/products/113800

 

but it would be necessary to check that your motorhome’s panel is generic and not a ‘bespoke special’ where one or more of the buttons has a non-standard function that Rapido has asked CBE to provide. (eg. turning 12V sockets ON/OFF). Anyway, as your motorhome is under warranty, the price on Rapido’s parts-list shouldn’t affect you...

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