rooster63

No fault codes although the airbag failure message has re-appeared. Got nowhere with asking Fiat for a contribution towards the considerable cost, they said they would look on a case by case basis for vans just out of warranty but not 11 year old vans. It would appear reading other posts that a low battery can trigger failure. I usually monitor the battery states and if the solar panel isn's putting enough in will use the EHU. Over Christmas went to start the van and had a flat battery which I recharged and it has been fine since (I might have left the light that comes on normally when the sliding door is opened/closed, its easy to knock it to the permanent on position). I used the van a few times after the flat battery with no issues, the fault didn't appear until much later. Hope it was just a one off. Starter battery was reading 12.9V yesterday and haven't used hook up for a while so it would appear that it hasn't suffered any damage.

Interesting that a low starter battery can cause the ecu to fail. Over Christmas I left the van off EHU and the voltage dropped below 12, after about a week, I think I must have left something on as previously I’ve had the van off EHU for 3 or 4 weeks at a time with no problem. However after charging the battery I it used it a few times and didn’t have any issues. The airbag warning just appeared one morning when I went to start the van .

Slightly puzzled by the readings I am getting on both my starter and leisure batteries. Van has hardly been used so far this year and rarely on EHU although I do have a 120W solar panel that gets some sun. Have been monitoring batteries and according to my Sargent EC328 the starter battery is at 12.9V and the leisure batteries are a very healthy 13.9V (they are 110AH AGM batteries). Have checked the starter battery with a meter and get the same reading. Haven't checked the leisure batteries as they are under the front seats with very difficult access to the terminals. Are these readings normal (I'm sure over most of last year after a week or so of inactivity the readings were more like 12.6 for both batteries). The reason I am asking is that I am currently waiting to get the air bag ECU replaced and have read that too high a voltage from the batteries can 'blow' it.

Picked up the van from the sparky, he was very apologetic he couldn’t fix it and didn’t charge me anything even though he had spent time on diagnostics and had sent the ecu away to see if it could be repaired. Interestingly the warning message “air bag failure consult handbook” doesn’t come up anymore but I have 3 warning lights lit up. The one that says seat belt not done up (although it doesn’t flash or beep which usually happens if the belt is not done up), the red airbag failure light (little man with the balloon on his tummy) and the yellow light next to it, something to do with the passenger air bag being disabled. Might check the fault codes before taking it to Huttons as don’t want to get there and find they can’t do it whilst I wait.

Yes I did, they don’t accept vans any more. Likewise Hendys Poole. One company Southern Motor-homes I think they were called couldn’t fit me in until October

Got the dreaded air bag failure warning a couple of weeks ago. Local auto sparky had a go at fixing it, sent off module to be repaired. Was told not possible to repair, need a new one something he can’t do as he hasn’t the equipment to reprogram it. Spent most of today trying to find a Fiat professional garage in Dorset. Most local ones don’t do vans but managed to get van booked in at a garage near Weston Super Mare, Huttons who I think are a Fiat garage. My van is a 2013 model is it worth contacting Fiat to see if they will help with cost as it is a well known problem? The module is about £400 I believe, can’t remember the quote from garage but it only takes about an hour so labour cheap.

We have an electrically operated awning on our van. Besides being useful when shade needed it is also very useful when tipping down with rain when returning from a walk as we can remove wet outer clothing and hang up in awning before entering van. Would emphasise the need for caution if there is any chance of wind. We were once at a campsite in the mountains near Pamplona, not a breath of wind when there was a sudden gust lifted the awning right over the van. Luckily no damage but later on in the Picos same thing happened, although we were ok as I had fastened the storm straps. Two other vans weren’t so lucky, their awnings flipped over causing quite a lot of damage to one van. A Dutch neighbour was able to wind in the un damaged awning ( I couldn’t help as didn’t have the right design of winding in pole).

If wheel spin is an issue getting off grass pitches I have found grip mats do a wonderful job. Nearly got stuck on a pitch in Spain this summer as hadn’t realised that my attempts to get up onto levelling blocks had caused one wheel to gouge out a rut 6” deep. Grip mats made getting off the pitch a piece of cake.

My insurance went up from £230 to £340 with Staveley Head. Managed to get it for £280 with Caravan Guard, spent a lot of time on comparison sites and contacting specialist brokers. Quotes varied from £255 (not sure about the company, had poor reviews, so avoided), to well over £600.

I have a Timberland Destiny van fitted with the Sargent 328 psu with a solar panel. I suspect my vehicle battery is on its way out as it was completely flat a couple of weeks ago. When parked up at home I use EHU to keep the batteries charged but by default only the leisure batteries are charged on EHU, a button on the control has to be pressed to get the starter battery on charge. Looking at info on the Sargent psu it suggests that if wired up correctly both the vehicle and leisure batteries are charged by the solar panel with a 50/50 split. It also seems that is possible to adjust this split but can’t see any info on how to do this. I would like to adjust the balance so more goes to the vehicle battery as if I am away I can leave the EHU on timer knowing the leisure batteries are being kept topped up and leave the vehicle battery in the care of the solar panel. As my van is parked on a shady north facing drive it doesn’t get much direct sun but there is some electricity being produced, although only about 0.3amp if the control panel meter is to be believed.

I have one of the standard orange EHU cables and I find it is worse when the cable is cold, kinks like mad. In warm weather it seems to kink far less. I use one of those cable tidies a (flat rectangle with prongs in each corner) as it takes up less room than a reel, especially if the cable is warm, it wraps around really tightly as it is very flexible. I have found it helps to lay out the cable avoiding any tight coils.

Pamplona is a very interesting place, bull ring worth a visit. We stayed at Area de Trinitarios. Not a camp site but an aire 5 mins walk from centre. Only €10 for night

San Sebastián is worth a visit, very interesting old town and fabulous beach. We stayed at Camping Iguelda up in the hills but there is a regular bus from right outside the camp site into the town. Be warned though that the swimming pool isn’t open in May. We have stayed there twice , once in September, the 2nd time in May and when we enquired why the swimming pool wasn’t open the receptionist replied that it is too early, we are in the north you know.

Mine seems to run for about 10mins and then gradually comes to a halt. After about 5-10 mins with no output it starts up again and then seems to keep going until either I switch it off or the thermostat cuts in as the temperature is reached. Haven’t checked battery readings, not sure if it runs off the leisure batteries (2 x 95amp AGM) or the starter but was on EHU at the time which keeps the leisure batteries charged but if I need the starter battery on charge need to push a switch on the control panel.

The pretty, although touristy village of Santillana del a Mare is not very far from Santander and has a purpose built aire on the edge of the village. 10€ I think for the night. Also you can check in at Santander from about 9.30am and leave your MH in the secure area and explore Santander. We crossed on Pont Aven and I think we had to use continental plugs.