Bluebird

Does the padlock light stay illuminated? If it does, it's the age old Ducato problem with the immobiliser. I'm sure there will be plenty of references to possible remedies. Mine was to sell the van and buy a Merc.

If you have a look at Leboincoin.fr which is the French equivalent of Gumtree including trade sellers, you will see that the vast majority of motorhomes >3.5 tonnes here do not display angles morts stickers.

We've lived in France for 15 years and am sure that it is only the height of a vehicle that is of any interest at a toll booth. When you enter an autoroute in a MH you will be often be presented with a ticket dispensed from the higher level slot. That is what determines your class. Weight doesn't come into it, otherwise the Gendarmes would be camped at every station waiting to pull over anything of more than 3.5 tonnes.

A lunchtime update .......... The blanked off feed I found under the floor of the locker is indeed live and bizarrely is on the TV switch on the control panel. The circuit isn't completely dead, so it may be the 12V cigar outlet that is faulty. For the time being, I have connected up the newly discovered feed to a new outlet I have screwed to the wall of the locker and we are back in business............. whooopeee !! Next job is to try to find that pesky Astra 2 satellite 😵‍💫

As a youngster I worked for two motor dealerships washing and preparing vehicles, so 50 years experience further on, I regard myself as a bit of an authority. I use this kit from Amazon with plenty of hot water and good quality car shampoo, but always hose the van over first and do so repeatedly throughout the washing process. I'm lucky in that I can wash the roof of our A Class from our first floor terrace so can do the entire van without the need for a ladder or steps. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71a8sVyffQL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

It wasn't faulty until I snipped through both wires at once thinking they were dead. The other thing I have thought today is that I have blown the illuminated on/off rocker switch in the locker. I will look at that tomorrow, once I get the multimeter working again.

Hi Tony Not from personal experience, but I am reliably informed that the Cello range of TVs is worth considering. Friends have one in their Rapido and our daughter has one on her narrow boat.

No nearer resolving the issue with the original cable, but I have realised that there is working 12V feed under the floor in the same locker for the zone 2 led lighting. There is also a blanked off feed which I will investigate tomorrow when I get a new battery for my multimeter - yep, it's been one of those days - May Day public holiday here and everything closed all day !

Hi and thanks for the detailed response. Yes, that is my control panel and I have just found the fuse box in plain sight under the bench seat in the salon. The not so good news is that the TV fuse was intact. I had a horrible feeling it would be okay as the LED on the control panel still lights up. I have swapped it anyway, but the circuit is still dead. I'm thinking that there must be an in line fuse somewhere, but I have traced the cable so far as I can see it, but no fuse. Thanks for the link to the Esterel forum. I do use that quite often and the owner, Charlie, is the font of all knowledge on the brand. I have a question out to him already, but it is a very quiet site and it might be a few days before he replies. As both the TV and decoder are both dead, I can't think what else might be causing the problem, which is a bit more of a general question for the forum.

........... on a Merc Sprinter chassis. 2.2l with proper autobox.

The Alden dish we have is a semi-auto, so it selects an elevation based on approximate latitude, but that's about it. It appears that it's down to us to point the dish in the correct direction. Can pick up Eutelsat 5°W no problem for French TV, but still trying to fathom out the Astra signal. I have three different unlocked FTA decoders to try, but me being a muppet has complicated matters by losing all the power to the decoder and TV. The dish still functions. Back to it tomorrow, I think the live feed must come from the fuse box under the driver's seat.

Good point ! It's a 2008 Esterel 21 A class, so basically a Rapido layout.

Greetings from France ! I have only recently found this forum being something of an aged novice at this motorhoming malarkey ! I hope to be able to contribute constructively as we go along, but today I am looking for some inspiration having reached screaming point with a problem that is entirely of my own making. I have been trying to get the Alden sat dish on our van to align to Astra 2, but that's a discussion for another day. What I have managed to do is snip through a cable that I thought was dead, but wasn't and have lost all power to the TV system. I am guessing that I have blown a fuse, but so far I haven't been able to locate one. The installation looks like an aftermarket addition in the salon. I have traced the cable to a point where it disappears through a bulkhead and into the undersink compartment that houses the Truma boiler. This is on the opposite side of the van to the hab batteries and control panel. Before I dismantle the cupboard to access the boiler space, I was wondering if anyone had an idea as to what the 12V feed might have been taken from. There is a TV switch on the control panel. Please be gentle 🫣