goodheart23 Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 hello all can anyone help me with advise about the electric problem I am having on my van. I have just found that when i hook up the electric to the van I can not charge any of the batteries, two for van plus one for engine, I have electric to 13 amp plugs, also to water heater and heating, No electric to fridge or lights, I do have electric to fridge and lights from batteries. I cannot find any problem with fuses one in top of charger, one before batteries, bank of them in wardrobe by charger, I have also disconnected charger incase it needs to reset itself. My van is a swift lifestyle 2006 I have had it from new, I did have to change the on board charger about 3 years ago, I would like to know is this the problem again before i spend money on a new charger. All was well at the end of november when I last used the van, I was charging the batteries with a generator honda eu20i I have had this for 3 years and all has been well up to now, I have not been having any problems on ehu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike B. Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 goodheart23 - 2011-12-29 5:38 PM hello all can anyone help me with advise about the electric problem I am having on my van. I have just found that when i hook up the electric to the van I can not charge any of the batteries, two for van plus one for engine, I have electric to 13 amp plugs, also to water heater and heating, No electric to fridge or lights, I do have electric to fridge and lights from batteries. I cannot find any problem with fuses one in top of charger, one before batteries, bank of them in wardrobe by charger, I have also disconnected charger incase it needs to reset itself. My van is a swift lifestyle 2006 I have had it from new, I did have to change the on board charger about 3 years ago, I would like to know is this the problem again before i spend money on a new charger. All was well at the end of november when I last used the van, I was charging the batteries with a generator honda eu20i I have had this for 3 years and all has been well up to now, I have not been having any problems on ehu. It sounds like something simple like a fuse or loose wire connection. If you are getting 12 volt to fridge & lights, then it must be the 240volt part that is faulty. If you are getting 240v to heating & plugs but not fridge (are your lights 240 or 12volt?) then it must be some sort of split circuit or relay.There must be another circuit braker somewhere that you have missed or a simple loose connection. If the charger was the problem you would just not charge the batteries-this would not knock out the fridge but leave the heating/sockets live Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodheart23 Posted December 29, 2011 Author Share Posted December 29, 2011 thanks Mike for your help, the lights are 240 and 12v i will have another look tomorrow for another curcuit breaker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 If I'm understanding correctly (not confident! :-)) you have 230V to your mains power sockets, but not to your fridge or 230V lighting, and your batteries are not being charged. Most vans have fairly simple 230V installations with just two, sometimes only one, circuit breakers, alongside their mains switches, usually in a small consumer unit. From what you say, I would suspect that your van has two, with mains lighting, fridge, and battery charger all all fed from one breaker (probably about 5A) and the sockets from another (probably 10A, possibly higher), and that the 5A breaker has tripped. Unless something has caught the test button on the breaker, that would point to an overload. You may find all is OK if you re-set the breaker on. If it is OK and holds in, check whether the 230V lights and fridge are now working, and then check whether the battery charger seems to be charging the batteries. If all is OK, it was probably no more than something catching the test button on the trip. However, if it happens again, there is an intermittent problem in one of the circuits fed from that trip that will have to be investigated. If the breaker immediately trips out again when you try to re-set it on, don't try to hold it on! There is a definite fault that is causing an overload. I suspect you may not be that au-fait with electricity, at least with the 230V stuff and its installation, so all I'm going to say is to get someone who is to start looking for the source of the problem. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodheart23 Posted December 29, 2011 Author Share Posted December 29, 2011 Thanks Brian On the electrics coming into the van there is left side mains switch and black test button next to this is the circuit for the 13 amp plugs only, then the switch for charger,fridge,water heater,space heater, all three switches are up which is the on position, circuit breaker button switches of when pressed and lever puts electrics back on with the same problem, so I think there is two items working from this one circuit only. Water heater and space heater has electric to them and working, so far as I can tell the light in the fridge is the same brightness when ehu is connected as when it is not, very low light as the on board batteries are nearly spent, as far as I remember the fridge light is a lot brighter on mains electric, normally when ehu is connected the dial above the door will show batteries on full charge that is not happening now, awning light and internal lights are only on from batteries and not mains electric as it should be with ehu. The three switches are protected by a plastic rigid front so they can not be hit on or off. Its starting to look to me that I will need a professional to check it for me and put right thats wrong. Goodheart. goodheart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flicka Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 There has been a simialr thread on the Swift Talk forum site They are usually good at responding to problems quickly & often Sargents Electrics will also respond. http://www.swift-talk.co.uk/forum/topics/autocruise-rhythm-ec400-battery-charger-not-charging-batteries Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rupert123 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I had a similar problem couple of years ago on a Swift. Sargent electrics told me to disconnect all electric supplies, mains and hab batteries, leave for five minutes and re-connect, this reset the system and all worked fine. They are worth a call anyway if problem is not solved, very helpful company even if your van does not have their systems in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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