macca59 Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Hi all, can anyone help us understand the workings of this control panel in our Auto Trail Excel 640G please The panel shows 4 amber lights & 4 green lights our understanding was this that when the battery is full the panel will show 4 green lights & then go down to 3 then 2 & so on once it gets to amber your battery is starting to get low, with me so far?! Now recently we have only been getting 2 green lights on the panel even though we have had the van plugged in for the last 2 months, we have asked our dealer where we brought it from & they have now told us this "The panel will only show 4 green lights if you have a very high powered battery, because yours is 110ah you will not get the full 4 green lights reading 2 green lights is the level for the power of your battery" Surely full is full regardless of the power level of your battery?! The Macs :-S :-S :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madmaggott Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 My advice is to give Sargeant a call. They are extremely helpful people and will be able to talk you though anything that you may be concerned about. We had occaision to call them last year and IMO their customer service is second to none. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macca59 Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Thanx Madmaqqott, will give them a call at least then we will get the correct answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Dealer is talking a load of poo poo....and you are right. Check your battery Electrolyte levels and top up with distilled water if required. You do not say how old they are, but sounds to me like problem is batteries are just not getting charged up. Usually when batteries are getting old though the charge voltage rises easier while under charge, but falls back quickly aftewards when left standing. If you have a voltmeter check the voltage at the battery terminals both on charge and when left sitting with no load over night. If not then worth buying a cheap multimeter, almost an essential part of tool kit for when you have a motorhome. Edit - added "... and you are right" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dikyenfo Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Very common these days all these faults in what should be kit that is good for the life of the vehicle. Makes you afraid to switch it on 8-) I think if mine went thingies up I would build my own and make it bulletproof. Looking at the circuits being controlled there should not be this level of failures and the prices charged for thes bits of kit is outrageous. >:-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macca59 Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Yes thats we we think that the dealer is talking Poo Poo! The battery is less than a year old as is the van, we have checked the battery and it is giving a reading of 12.74 Thanks Brambles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flicka Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Hi Macca Sargents website has lots of useful information & includes tekky stuff. http://sargentshop.co.uk/epages/eshop328964.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/eshop328964/Categories/TechData Also dedicated Autotrail Technical support line, "For support on Auto-Trial entertainment equipment please contact SCS Components on 01924 893656" Or Autotrail Top 10 Questions. http://www.sargentltd.co.uk/SES080_Top_10_Technical_Questions__2.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 macca59 - 2011-02-12 5:21 PM Yes thats we we think that the dealer is talking Poo Poo! The battery is less than a year old as is the van, we have checked the battery and it is giving a reading of 12.74 Thanks Brambles Which panel is it? If it is the EC100/101, (which seems likely) then the instructions indicate that you will only get two green LEDs at this voltage. 3rd at 13v, and 4th at 13.5v. It may well all be in spec. HTH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macca59 Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Thanks for the reply and the websites. Will definitely look into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Many vans have the split charging relays and fuses that control the alternator charge to the leisure batteries just at the edge of the engine bay close to the main battery but also close to where all the wet and road muck comes in where the bonnet opens and you might check the fuses are all clean and making good conatct. It's a design 'feature' for easy access - not a design fault for easy assembly by the converter - yeah right!!!!! Even when working to full capacity I doubt you will get more than 10 amps charge from the alternator so if two 110 ah batteries are well down it will take a lot of miles to fully recharge them but even so the alternator should be charging at well over 13.5 v and hopefully nearer 14.4 v. An at rest reading of 12.74 v on leisure batteries is not bad as 12.8 v is about as much as you will ever get even from new batteries fully charged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macca59 Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Yes, I think it is the 100, but not 100 per cent sure as the van isn't with us at the moment. Thanks for the information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterjl Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Hi Our Autotrail has a sargeant control panel with same layout. We are are second panel as first failed after 8 months and in so doing both batteries fully disharged and also had to be replaced - all under warranty - Sargeant were super efficient. That being said 4 amber and 2 green is usually the max i get unless it is plugged in on mains or i have just completed a long distance in which case i may briefly get 4 green but it soon dropps back to 3 then 2 green. This was the case both with the original control panel and the replacement. I only have one habitation battery and there is still plently of power left after a couple of nights on an aire and without running the vehicle albeit we do not use a TV - only the radio/cd player in the cab so no big drain on the system. To me it sounds as if your system is working ok (in that it seems to mirror mine) so I guess the question is not how many lights you have up on the board but do you have sufficient power for your needs. Hope that helps Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterjl Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Hi Our Autotrail has a sargeant control panel with same layout. We are are second panel as first failed after 8 months and in so doing both batteries fully disharged and also had to be replaced - all under warranty - Sargeant were super efficient. That being said 4 amber and 2 green is usually the max i get unless it is plugged in on mains or i have just completed a long distance in which case i may briefly get 4 green but it soon dropps back to 3 then 2 green. This was the case both with the original control panel and the replacement. I only have one habitation battery and there is still plently of power left after a couple of nights on an aire and without running the vehicle albeit we do not use a TV - only the radio/cd player in the cab so no big drain on the system. To me it sounds as if your system is working ok (in that it seems to mirror mine) so I guess the question is not how many lights you have up on the board but do you have sufficient power for your needs. Hope that helps Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Dwight Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Lionel, Yes your dealer is talking out of the top of his head. We have an Excel 670B so it will be the same panel as yours. Ours shows Green when the Battery is full both Leisure and Vehicle when the power drops over time the panel then the green go down and Amber appear. Give Sargent a ring they are very helpful and will give good advice, I spoke to one of their staff at the Factory rally last year and he was very helpful and knowledgeable. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Given similar behaviour from a similar installation, and the display specification as appended below, everything appears to be working as it should be. Except when on charge, or for a short time during stabilisation after charging, I wouldn't expect a fully-charged battery to show much more volts than you've measured (12.75 volts), and certainly not 13 volts. Two LEDs seems spot-on. Your battery appears to be charging fully, and the display appears to be aligned to the correct voltage. There is, however, little doubt that the dealer is being "économique avec la vérité", a volt, is a volt, is a volt, regardless of the installed Ah capacity, and a larger battery would be expected to exhibit exactly the same behaviour. Edit for spelling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I can see what Sargent have done with how they have specified the LED's. At first I thought it strange and really the top two green leds are worthless and tell you not a lot. However, they exist as they are using a 10 LED system and so makes sense when you give it some thought. They want red to be the absolute bottom line at 9.5 volts (below 10) which is the point the alarm will sound as battery under no circusatmces should be teken lower. It is logical to go up in 0.5V steps so we end up with the top level being 13.5 volts. The important ones are the 12 and 12.5 volt levels. 12 volts being approx 60% discharged. The top two leds will give some indication when charging from being well discharged but not for long. Basically if the two top green leds are lit you are charging or just switched off from charging as could take an hour or two to settle back to 12.8 volts. So it is not really giving an indication of a fully charged battery. From a techical point of view it would be better if the green leds switched at 12.8 volts not 12.5 as then you could tell if battery was still holding an absolute full charge . But as this is all a bit variable anyway then the 12.5 is good enough, especially in winter when battery max charge voltage will be a bit lower anyway due to low battery temperature. So it is all kind of logical even though at 1st the impression is what a load of nonesense these Leds are. They are not really. Agree with Robin over a volt is a volt whatever the battery bank size. What I do not agree with is in the Sargent instruction book it say you can use the engine battery down to 10.5 ( I might be generous here and was less but does not affect what I am going to say) and the alarm sounds and leisure equipment can no longer be powered. They say this level because it leaves enough to start the engine. Well , would like to see them start a diesel engine with a battery as low as 10.5 volts when it is cold. A hot engine maybe, but a cold no way. So be careful if ever using the engine battery for powering leisure equipment, keep it with at least the yellow and 1st green leds on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macca59 Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Thanx to all for the info it has been helpful, I am going to cal Sargent tonight and have a word with them too. The Macs :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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