cviclark Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Hi Brian I am going to have another look at mine today but as the hook-up is protected at both ends it is not really an issue. Cable thickness is also not really relevant as the van is protected by a two pole 13A trip however in my van there are a total of eight spurs after the trip. The cable from the van wall to the trip is 2.5mm, after 1.5 mm. Although polarity blind I noticed my two pole trip was wired in reversed presumably from new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cviclark Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Thanks for all your advice on this. I have finally rewired mine so it is inside the 'trip'. I set the undervolts delay to 0 as if it drops below 200v I want it to switch off straight away. Undervoltage pop's switch mode PSU's as quick as over-voltage. It looks as if people are confusing smoothing circuits with fluctuating mains. Smoothing (dirty mains) is taken care of by capacitive circuits that need a good earth but should not damage a PSU. Fluctutions in the mains are taken care of by relays and solid state switches should be independant of earth. Connect the van to a decent earth and you should not hear 'mush' and clicks on the radio, but in a plastic van few get good noise free reception. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 Hello all, We repair the Schaudt Elektroblock and there is not an issue with Mains 240v Spikes and Surges. We have repaired over a thousand units now, and only 5 have had an issue with Mains power. Contrary to the information above the Elektroblock DOES already have exactly the same type of Spike/Surge suppression as used by almost all Power Supply/Charger manufacturers. It works extremely well. The OVP01 is not designed to address Spikes and Surges. Hymers response was spot on when they said there was not an issue. The problem is a misunderstanding of the functioning of the OVP 01, which is about controlling overvoltage from Portable Generators or the type of raw power you get on Ferries, hence Schaudts email response which clarifies this and does not mention Spikes or Surges. In almost all of the failures we have seen, poor batteries or an inappropriate battery bank is the issue. Every one of the 5 failures we did get, were picked up in either Italy, Spain or Portugal when the owners were aware that the remote rural Electrical infrastructure was poor yet did nothing when they became aware of a Electrical storm nearby. In all cases the Motorhome suffered damage to each 240v appliances, Fridge, Laptop, Sat TV, etc. Two of the Motorhomes had an OVP 01 fitted but these did not help the Elektroblock. The Elektroblocks in-built circuitry worked as best it could even to the point of sacrificial failure to protect the majority of the internal electronics. In the Italian based incident the Laptop on charge and the TV were both destroyed; the TV caught fire. The OVP 01 was blamed for lulling them into a false sense of security. They threw it in the bin. Our advice is use an OVP01 if you have a generator, but don't rely on it (or any other device) if you know there is an Electrical storm brewing. Pull the mains hook-up cable from the MH to protect ALL 240v devices/appliances. The MH in the Italian incident had well over £2,500 of damage, the Elektroblocks share of that bill was just £80 to repair the charger board. What does cause damage to the Elektroblock, and every other charger we have seen from Arsilicii to Reich, is poor batteries. Don't let them get beyond their best, see our website on Battery Technology to find the best batteries at a cost effective price : http://www.aandncaravanservices.co.uk/battery-technology.php Before you think it, we don't sell batteries. Also see our Schaudt Elektroblock web page for info on looking after the Schaudt devices, they are extremely well made and a delight to work on. There is also a page informing on exactly what the Over Voltage Protection (OVP) device does do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 Hi A and N, I have read your website page on liesure batteries with great interest and I wil now explain why. A few years ago Varta introduced the professional range of leisure batteries and unless opting for the much more expensive AGM or Gel the standard flooded is really a dual omarine type battery. This seemed to be a big step down compared to the previous Hobby range for Motorhome habitation use. The new flooded ones rated at about 100 to 150 cycles at 50% dod, whilst the Hobby range gave around 400 to 450 cycles at 60% dod with one or two of the higher capapcity ones being Hybrid batteries and rated I believe at 50% dod. The only alternative readily available on the market for an ecomomic price appeared to be the Banner Leisure batteries with similar life cycles but the penalty of higher water consumption and also being antimony technology the inevitable aging process of antimony migration through the acid to the other plate reducing its life even when well looked after and hardly used. So, are the S5 (silver calcium lead alloy battereis ) possibly the 'real' replacement for the old Hobby batteries. I find this hard to believe as why else market the Professional range or are the professional range indeed just a rebadged S5 type and is all marketing stategies. Do you know what the cycle life at a 50% or even 60% dod would be for the S5 range? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 We currently have an OVP attached to our current van with a 99 EBL and we are changing to a new van with an Elektroblock 101 EBL. Should we remove and transfer the OVP to the new van and the EBL 101 ?? Is this still recommended or not as we will be having 2 new batteries installed. Thanks Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 chris - 2014-04-22 12:40 AM We currently have an OVP attached to our current van with a 99 EBL and we are changing to a new van with an Elektroblock 101 EBL. Should we remove and transfer the OVP to the new van and the EBL 101 ?? Is this still recommended or not as we will be having 2 new batteries installed. Thanks Chris As far as I can tell the EBL 101 does not have the OVP protection circuit built in so in this case would be wise to swap it over or fit a new OVP to give the additional protection it offers for over or under voltage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Our last van had a EBL101 no OVP built in. For normal use not really necessary but for the couple of minutes it takes to unplug you might as well swap it over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Looking at the Sollatek AVS30 on Amazon, I see they also offer a Sollotek Air Conditioner Guard, which provides a time delay before reconnecting after a power surge or voltage drop, which is necessary to protect an air con unit - presumably because it shoud not be switched staright back on. I have a Dometic Roof Aircon unit on the MH - should I be fitting one of these Sollatek A/C Guard units instead of an AVS30? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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