tezza Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 I have an Ace napoli 2006 model and my question is, when on site using EH which way should my 12v swich on the control panel above the caravan door be, should it be up for Vehicle, down for Leisure or in the middle and off. Up to now it has always been in the off position and i have had no issues. Tezza Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 Down for leisure as you want to charge the leisure battery would be my selection. However it is possible that the charging system charges the leisure battery irrespective of the switch setting. I would never set the switch to the vehicle position as when not on hookup all your 12 volt equipment will be powered from the starter battery - which sort of defeats the object of having a leisure battery. C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 Tezza: It really depends what the switch is for... It used to be commonplace on motorhomes to have control-panels hijacked from caravans. These allowed a caravan's interior 12V equipment to be powered either from the car's vehicle (ie. 'starter') battery or from the caravan's (often optional) leisure battery. In recent years it's become virtually unheard of for a motorcaravan not to have a leisure battery and, because the consequences of accidentally flattening a motorhome's vehicle battery can be dire, right-thinking motorhome manufacturers won't install a control-panel with this capability. So, as Clive suggests in his first sentence, there's a good chance that the switch selects which battery (vehicle or leisure) is charged when the motorhome is connected to a 230V mains hook-up. Arguing against this assumption is that you've apparently encountered no problems when the switch is in the central Off position, when one might reasonably expect that you'd end up with a well-depleted leisure battery if the Off-position switch is stopping it from receiving charge. Nevertheless, this is probably the best bet as, if the switch were to select which battery provided 12V power for your motorhome's interior equipment, one might anticipate that the interior lights, water-pump, etc. wouldn't function when the switch was in the Off-position. I suppose, whether the switch selects a particular battery for charging or to obtain 12V power from it, the switch should logically be set to the Leisure position. (A 'rocker'-type switch is sometimes used to produce a charge-state read-out for the vehicle or leisure battery, but I don't believe that's the case here as a) it would be obvious from the read-out appearing what the switch was doing and b) you'd have to hold down the switch in the Vehicle or Leisure position rather than have the switch remain in one of those positions until it was deselected.) I assume there's nothing in your Napoli's handbook that describes the purpose of the switch, otherwise you wouldn't be asking the question. Ace is a Swift Group brand and it's likely that the control-panel fitted to your Napoli was used on similar models in the 2006 Swift and Bessacarr ranges. Hopefully an Ace/Bessacarr/Swift owner can provide a definitive answer to your enquiry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
libby Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 Contact the previous owner or agent perhaps. LB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 Tezza: I notice that, on page 129 of MMM May 2004, there's a photo of the above-the-caravan-door control-panel of an Ace Novella Firenze. The panel is said to be "simple to operate, but somewhat dated". It is in two sections with (as far as I can make out) the rightmost section carrying two switches - an illuminated switch for the water-pump and another switch for the 12V lighting. The leftmost section has (according to the MMM report) warning lights for the status of the waste-water tank and an analogue-meter to show levels. To the right of the meter is a switch marked "Test" that, when depressed, almost certainly displays on the meter an indication of how full the fresh-water tank is. To the left of the meter is another switch and it looks like this has 'motor' and 'caravan section' symbols respectively above and below it. It's possible that, with this switch in its central, Off, position, the test switch provides a read-out of the water-tank level, but when the switch is moved to the 'motor' or 'caravan section' position the meter provides a read-out of the charge state of respectively the vehicle or leisure battery. As usual, there appears to be nothing in writing on the panel (except the word "Test") to indicate specifically what the switches are for, or what the lights mean. If your Napoli's panel meets this description, then try moving the mysterious switch to its Vehicle and Leisure positions and press the test switch to see what happens. (If the meter is capable of providing read-outs for water level and battery charge states then it will have a dual scale.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philman Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 The centre position on the charging control switch in my M/H allows the 12v electrics to run from the battery charger but charges neither of the batteries. The charger doubles as a Power Supply so that it can be used as a stand-alone, if desired, when the Leisure Battery ( or Cab Battery ) is fully charged. Phil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Dwight Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 Tezza, we have a Milano which is basically the same as your M/H We put the switch to leisure for that battery to charge and run, if we need to charge vehicle battery switch to vehicle. We have just used ours for 5 days on the leisure battery no hook ups. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tezza Posted August 12, 2008 Author Share Posted August 12, 2008 Thanks guys, i think i have the gist of it, up or down to charge or use that particular battery or in the middle to use the charging unit as a type of power source. Thanks for taking the time to help me. Tezza Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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