Mel B Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Hubby has asked me to post this as he's a bit stumped! All help appreciated. On Sunday the alarm went off in the camper, the problem appeared to be a flat engine battery - nothing would work. We disabled the alarm eventually and put it on hook up for 24 hours but there was no change. Control panel showed it was on hook-up and the charger itself had a red light illuminated to show it was on, although it does give priority to the leisure battery. The engine battery still remained flat and nothing worked. On Tuesday hubby took the engine battery out (it lives under the driver’s seat and took over a hour to extract!). Using his multi-meter it read 2.8v so he put it on boost charge for 2 hours then trickle charge for 12 hours (good quality RAC charger), and at the end of this the charger gauge showed the battery was at 100% (ie fully charged). After it had stood disconnected from the charger for an hour it read 12.89v with a multi-meter. He put the engine battery back, everything worked okay, it started ok and read 12.7v on a multi-meter. The control panel has 8 ‘blob’ lights to show the state of the leisure and the engine batteries. The leisure battery showed 7 blobs, but the engine battery only read 1 blob. There is also a warning light which flashes to show when the engine battery is discharged - it is on at present. It appears that the control panel thinks the engine battery is discharged. When the ‘van is put on hook-up this warning light goes off and all the 8 blobs illuminate for both batteries. He then ran the van and the charging sign on the control panel does not light up (ie to show when the alternator is charging the batteries) but it did previously. Ran van for 30 mins but the control panel in still only showing 1 blob for the engine battery so it either doesn’t appear to acknowledge that a charge is going to it, or there actually isn’t a charge going to it and the panel is correct. Using a multi-meter on the engine battery whilst the van was running, it gave a reading of over 14v. The van continues to start okay and everything works, including the alarm, so there must be enough juice in the battery otherwise the alarm would sound. Hubby doesn't know if he should take the 'van out for a run but is wary of doing so in case it conks out (ie flat battery) and he gets stranded somewhere. Any ideas!!! 8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Mel, As it is still under warranty phone the dealer and get them to come and collect it and repair it. Say you are not prepared to drive it in case it breaks down or does further damage. As an aside it sounds to me like a faulty connection between engine battery and control panel, possibly causing a drain on the engine battery but almost certainly preventing the control panel from charging the ENGINE battery. Keith. Edit. Wrong battery! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhorsf Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 it must still be under warranty Mel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Sorry Mel - no experience of this problem, but - Do you have a spare battery to take as backup in case it fails on the move - or at least jump leads to use from the leisure battery? Given that the engine battery is buried under the seat is there a jump start connection point under the bonnet? That said if the battery has recovered from 2.8 v to 12.8 you have been very lucky to get away with it - but whether it has damaged or shortened the battery life is anybody's guess? What does the handbook say about jump starting as some modern electronics don't like a sudden voltage surge up 'em? I don't suppose the fridge relay has any part to play in this does it? Does the control 12v system maker have a website or helpline? Have you asked the dealer for advice? Sorry I can't be more help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Looks like the link between the habitation charger and engine is broken, hence no charging and no battery state indication working. Check for a fuse between battery and the charge controller. The alternator side of affairs appears ok as you are reading 14 volts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawcara Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 I know nothing about this, but out of curiousity, when the van is on hookup does only the leisure battery get charged or do both engine and leisure battery get charged? (^) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Hawcara - 2011-01-13 8:25 PM I know nothing about this, but out of curiousity, when the van is on hookup does only the leisure battery get charged or do both engine and leisure battery get charged? (^) Hawcara, Some do and some don't, there should be a switch on the control panel to switch between leisure and vehicle battery, whichever is chosen should also get the 'mains charger charge'. Some charge both, some only the leisure battery, Thats why i think ALL vans sold in the UK market should have a 'Proper' habitation/vehicle wiring diagram. Otherwise it is very 'Suck it and see'. Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RhinoInstalls Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 On the chausson there is a fuse which protects the circuit. On memory theres a small white box with a fuse in it. Normally near to the leisure battery or the main Hab fuse box. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 Thanks guys, to answer some of your questions: On our Chausson the leisure and vehicle battery do get charged when on hook-up so long as the control panel is on. We do have a wiring diagram but it’s in French, however, we did do French for 2 years at night class so can work out what’s what fortunately. :-D The vehicle is still under warranty (not a year old yet) but getting it collected by the dealer is not an option ... they’re down past Bristol and we’re near Hull! Yes, I know it's a long way, but as we are not novices to motorhome-ownership and can sort most problems out ourselves (of which we’ve had very little), it was a risk worth taking especially since it saved us a load of dosh by buying from them and they are very nice people to deal with too. Hubby took the van out for a short jaunt earlier this afternoon, after he’d refitted the driver’s seat, and it was fine so the battery appears to be okay. :-S Hubby had already contacted the dealer (Highbridge) late yesterday and was expecting a phone call today. They rang back this morning but needed to check with their techie chap who wasn’t available earlier so rang back around 4.00 pm and believe they know what the problem is - it appears that there are some ‘hidden’ fuses and relays next to the RCD and charger unit (under the side facing seat just behind the driver’s seat). There are 2 plastic covers, about 3 inches square, which you are NOT supposed to touch/remove the covers of! Within these are 5 amp and 50 amp fuses and a relay, with the 5amp fuse being in line between the engine battery and the relay to the control panel. Highbridge have said that they have had this problem on a few Chaussons and to date it has always been this 5 amp fuse which has blown, replacing it normally sorts out the problem - whether it’s a bad batch of fuses I don’t know. *-) This is what a few of you on here have said it probably was (and to be honest I said I thought it was a fuse somewhere that had gone but hubby was adamant he’d checked them all!). Anyway, he’s going to have a look tomorrow as it’s too dark now and he’ll have to take out the 2nd leisure battery to get at the screws on the covers, so a little ‘something for the weekend’ for him!!! Hopefully this is the problem and if so we’re sorted - well, apart from the radio that is ... unfortunately we haven't got a code to get it going again after hubby re-fitted the engine battery, but Highbridge have said they'll pay the bill for Ford to sort it for us as it was their mistake in the first place for not giving us it. I’ll report back on progress! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Hi Mel. Two thoughts. 1 Is there any likelihood your additional leisure battery causes the charger to pass a higher than anticipated charge current, and that has overloaded the fuse? If this is possible, both wiring and fuse may need to be uprated to totally dispel the problem.2 Assuming the radio is a standard Ford fit, the code should be on a card in your Ford handbook pack. Surely Highbridge gave you the Transit owner's handbook (in a neat black Ford folder) plus the Audio system owner's handbook, with the service record and guarantee booklet? In that folder should be a plastic credit-card sized card with Ford on one side and a "key code" on the other, plus serial number and unit type. That key code is the code for the radio. If you don't have that, Highbridge should have it and should post it to you. Potentially far simpler (and cheaper) than trying to get a local Ford dealer to get the code out of the van's electronics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted January 15, 2011 Author Share Posted January 15, 2011 Update. One thing hubby noticed after I'd posted yesterday was that the fridge wasn't working on 12v when the engine was running. According to Highbridge this, along with the other problems, are the tell-tale signs that the 5 amp fuse has blown. Hubby has replaced the fuse and put everything back together and it all works perfectly, the engine battery is showing that it is being charged on the panel now and the fridge works on 12v with the engine running. Wel happy and at least we'll know in future if we have any other problems that there are fuses under the covers to check! Brian, to answer your queries: 1) The fuse problem is a known fault with some Chaussons - Highbridge know their vehicles and were able to tell us virtually staright away what they thought the fault was, and we have found exactly what they said was true, we have no reason to think there's a problem with the leisure battery charging. Plus, we've had the 'van on hook up many times since we got it in April last year (that's first time I've said 'last year' this year! 8-) ) and have never had a problem like this previously. This shouldn't be confused with the problem we had with our 2nd leisure battery when a cell in it had failed (a known fault and exchanged without quibble by the local dealer we bought it from) so I'm not unduly concerned about them. 2) Radio code - We've searched the documentation and have everything except the radio code card, Highbridge have already checked and they don't have it hence why they are willing to pay for us to get Ford to reset it. So all we now need to do is get the radio code sorted and we'll be fully operational again. :-D So if there are any Chausson owners out there and you have similar problems, you know what/where to look for the cause! :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 Finally got the radio code yesterday - hubby took the van to Evans Halshaw, a local Ford dealer. The technician removed it, got the number of the radio, found the code, reinstalled the radio, input the code ... nowt! Eh-hem ..... Try again ... now works - it turns out that he had been entering 'o' in stead of '0' !!! *-) One thing he did say that if you remove the Transit radio there is some sort of clip to detach once you've pulled it out a few inches, and if you don't know exactly how to release this clip which is fiddly, you'd never get the radio out! Glad we decided to let them do it rather than try to remove it ourselves. It cost £30+vat for the job so hubby's scanned the receipt and sent it off to Highbridge for reimbursement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarkus1000 Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 A big thank you to Mel B for providing a solution to this problem. I had the same indications on my 2011 Chausson Flash 08 and this has saved me a lot of time fault finding (and probably may not have found the sensing fuse in question). The only difference with my set up is that one of the safety boxes is under the side facing seat behind the driver (for the vehicle battery) and the other is under the bed (for the leisure battery). Also, my fuses are 50 and 1 Amp (not 5 Amp). My problem seems to have been caused by having a Battery Mate fitted to the NE206 Control Unit so that my solar panel could charge the leisure battery and vehicle battery simultaneously, particularly during the winter months when the van will not be in use. I have lost faith in the company that fitted the Battery Mate as they was looking at the possibility of having to sending the Control Unit back to NordElettronica. While I am on this forum, I was hoping someone could provide me with some info so that I could have a go at fitting the Battery Mate myself. As mentioned, I want the unit to transfer excess charge from leisure to vehicle battery when the van is layed up during periods on non use (without having to switch the control panel on if possible). The company I used to fit the unit connected the 3 wires to earth, B1+ and B2+ in the control unit (at 3 connections at the bottom of the circuit board). Is anyone able to tell me whether this is correct and that the sensing fuse blew coincidentally or should the 3 wires be connected to earth and both battery positives in a different location? If so could you provide me with the easiest location? I was thinking of connecting the earth and leisure battery + wires at the battery terminals on the solar controller (fitted in a cupboard above the bed) and the vehicle battery + at the saftey box above located in the seating behind the driver but that seems like a lot of routing and hard work!!! Any help in providing better locations to connect these wires would be of great assistance. Regards Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k11ngy Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 I am having exact same problem with Chausson 79 EB but I really cant find the hidden fuses? Any ideas? In my Chaussson fuse box area I see panel with 3 switches, a panel with fuses and a black charging box with red light on? and that's all I can see? Thanks Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witzend Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 k11ngy - 2016-03-06 5:15 PM I am having exact same problem with Chausson 79 EB but I really cant find the hidden fuses? Any ideas? In my Chaussson fuse box area I see panel with 3 switches, a panel with fuses and a black charging box with red light on? and that's all I can see?Steve Did you read this it appears that there are some ‘hidden’ fuses and relays next to the RCD and charger unit (under the side facing seat just behind the driver’s seat). There are 2 plastic covers, about 3 inches square, which you are NOT supposed to touch/remove the covers of! Within these are 5 amp and 50 amp fuses and a relay, with the 5amp fuse being in line between the engine battery and the relay to the control panel. Highbridge have said that they have had this problem on a few Chaussons and to date it has always been this 5 amp fuse which has blown, replacing it normally sorts out the problem - whether it’s a bad batch of Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliffy Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 tarkus1000 - 2014-09-06 12:44 PM While I am on this forum, I was hoping someone could provide me with some info so that I could have a go at fitting the Battery Mate myself. As mentioned, I want the unit to transfer excess charge from leisure to vehicle battery when the van is layed up during periods on non use (without having to switch the control panel on if possible). The company I used to fit the unit connected the 3 wires to earth, B1+ and B2+ in the control unit (at 3 connections at the bottom of the circuit board). Is anyone able to tell me whether this is correct and that the sensing fuse blew coincidentally or should the 3 wires be connected to earth and both battery positives in a different location? If so could you provide me with the easiest location? I was thinking of connecting the earth and leisure battery + wires at the battery terminals on the solar controller (fitted in a cupboard above the bed) and the vehicle battery + at the saftey box above located in the seating behind the driver but that seems like a lot of routing and hard work!!! Any help in providing better locations to connect these wires would be of great assistance. Regards Paul Is it a Battery master from Van Bitz? If so the instruction are here. http://www.outdoorbits.com/Brochures/Battery_Master_Customer_instructions.pdf On our van the box is stock to the side of the engine battery with double side sticky tape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k11ngy Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 I have same problem, I still cant find HIDDEN fuse???? Chausson 79EB Thanks for any help if anyone solved this let me know as my engine battery is def FULLY charged Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 This forum thread commenced in 2011 when Mel B owned a 2010 Chausson Flash 04 motorhome. (Mel is only an occasional participant here nowadays.) The thread was resurrected in 2014 by ‘tarkus1000’ (last forum logon was 27 October 2014) and has now been revived again. The snag is that the electrical system chosen by Chausson can be based on Nordelectronica and/or CBE equipment and may not conform to other motorhome manufacturers’ conventions. This became evident a couple of months ago in this discussion http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/CBE-PC200-control-panel/40668/ and makes life difficult when attempting to remotely trouble-shoot Chausson-related electrical problems unless (or even if) the motorhome’s owner can provide details of the exact make/model of electrical equipment installed in his/her vehicle. (Photos of the installation could also help.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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