andy mccord Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Last W/end whilst on Hawes CC site I encountered a problem with my main fuse on the Elektroblock unit, with the Truma 6E on full power I switched on my kettle (700w) which tripped the main switch, I reset it and all was fine, the next day the same thing happened again twice, on leaving The site I asked had there been any reports of voltage spikes etc, the warden told me no one had reported anything. Once I got home I created the same situation as on the site and everything worked fine, no tripping of the fuse, So what is the likely cause of this tripping is my question? and will fitting an Schaudt OVP1 prevent this in the future? Regards Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snail Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Hi, i fitted the ovp unit to my elektroblock on our hymer, as far as i'm aware it's function is to protect the elektroblock from fluctuations in mains power? don't think it would have helped you in this situation? did your elektroblock fuse/trip or the mains in rcd? lets hope it was something on the ehu post/socket? snail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebishbus Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 If there is no earth leakage from the kettle, it could be that switching the extra 700w load of the kettle on top of the Truma heater + the charger load, caused a sudden voltage drop from the EHU, the Schault detected this and tripped. Brian B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy mccord Posted May 1, 2013 Author Share Posted May 1, 2013 Thinking back it may of been the RCD that tripped, the large wide trip switch, which is very near to the elektroblock, all 240v lighting went off leaving just 12v lights working. The only difference between the test at home and on site was i used a smaller hook up lead....wonder is the other has a fault somewhere? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Are you confusing the RCD or MCB mains trips with the Electrobloc as far as I am aware there isn't a resettable trip in the Electrobloc. If the Electrobloc had been subject to over voltage it would have probably blown up. You don't say how old your van is, the newer Electrobloc's have an option of a built in OVP and some manufacturers fit that version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy mccord Posted May 1, 2013 Author Share Posted May 1, 2013 Yes you are right, it must be the RCD not the Electroblock, van is 61 plate Coral but the EBL documents I have appear to be rubbish so I am unaware as to whether it has built in OVP. More concerned as to why it kept tripping, only issue I have had up to date is a blown fuse which affected the charger Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Firstly the OVP, AFAIK if the EBL has built in OVP this will be marked on unit so it will be marked as (say) EBL 99 OVP. Fitting a OVP will proboly not help you with this problem. If the MCB is tripping it will be because it is overloaded or it is 'worn out' or you have an earth fault with the kettle, it's not uncommon for MCB/RCB to become 'sensitive' with age and need replacing, but first you need to check the kettle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tugga Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 We have this problem of the RCD tripping out. I have to remember that our van is only 10 Amps not like the UK ones. I have found that if the Truma Heating knob is set to Gas/1800 W Elec and I switch on the kettle just as the fridge starts to work, it is enough to trip it all out. If the fridge doesn't come on, it is ok. It could just be getting to grips with your appliances. We have also had experience whereby the EHU cable has come loose inside the plug and that too has caused us problems with tripping out. It might be worth you taking your plugs off to check that all is tight. Sorry if the above is obvious, but something might work to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy mccord Posted May 2, 2013 Author Share Posted May 2, 2013 The unit is only 18 months old colin so I would hope its not worn out already 8-) also I think I have ruled out the kettle being a problem by simulating the same situation at home with no problems, Its never happened in owning this van for a year now, but I think I will retry the same scenario with the same hook up lead I used on site last W/End rather than the spare I used once I got home. Many thanks for your opinions Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 andy mccord - 2013-05-02 7:24 AM The unit is only 18 months old colin so I would hope its not worn out already 8-) also I think I have ruled out the kettle being a problem by simulating the same situation at home with no problems, Its never happened in owning this van for a year now, but I think I will retry the same scenario with the same hook up lead I used on site last W/End rather than the spare I used once I got home. Many thanks for your opinions Andy I think you first need to verify if it is an MCB that tripped, or your RCD. If it was the MCB, it will have tripped because it was overloaded. If the RCD, because there is a earth fault. The latter is potentially dangerous, so should be eliminated first. Second, I'm a bit confused by your reference to a fuse on the charger blowing. If it is an internal fuse OK, but it sounded as though it might be a fuse in the supply to the charger. If so, was it a fuse that blew, or an MCB that tripped? I very much doubt that the charger is on a single circuit, and will share its circuit with other relatively low powered consumers - such as the fridge and possibly mains lighting. So, how many circuits does your van have, what are the ratings of the fuses/MCBs that protect them, and what is fed from which circuits? Finally, I think you should add up the total connected load you have when all appliances you plug-in to use, plus all hard wired mains consumers (fridge, charger, heater, lights, etc) are in use. I should not be surprised if your power circuits are protected by a single 10A MCB, and all other 230V consumers by another, 5A, MCB. However, that arrangement is far from guaranteed! If you know what you have connected, you'll know if there is a risk of overloading one of the circuits. If that is all that happened the system is working fine, and you'll need to be mare cautious how much load you have running at once. However, if it was the RCD that tripped, the system is still working as designed, but you have a fault somewhere that you really need to get rectified - before it bites! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy mccord Posted May 3, 2013 Author Share Posted May 3, 2013 Hi Brian, Thanks for the reply, you’re right, I’m not sure whether it was the RCD or MCB, all I know is that it was the unit that sits next to the elektroblock that tripped (under the single seat on entry), I will have a proper look tonight which unit it is. I’ve just realised that when I retested it at home the fridge was not powered up, so I will need to retry that again. I have done nothing different this time with the amount of appliances that were powered up than in the past and have never had any problems like this before, the issue with the fuse occurred when on a site I noticed that there was no charge going to the battery, I checked the fuse on the Block and it had blown, I replaced it and its been fine since. Power wise at the time was as follows:- Truma 6E set to 1800w Dometic 8 series was on Small 240v lamp Kettle 700w 12v halogen lights Regards Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 andy mccord - 2013-05-02 7:24 AM The unit is only 18 months old colin so I would hope its not worn out already 8-) RCB/MCB's are generally very reliable, but like anything else could fail at any time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy mccord Posted September 25, 2014 Author Share Posted September 25, 2014 Update..this problem is still occuring, what I can add to this is that the MCB trips with ONLY the boiler switched on, no other appliance is on, I have repeated this test 3 times this morning by selecting 1800w & blown heating and water heater both on. It does not appear to trip the RCCB switch. The breaker is an ABL sursum CV603...can anyone offer any good advice please...TIA Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnP Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Once the MCB starts to trip it will only get worse. It needs changing. Where I work, three strikes and its out. We have to keep the show on the screen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy mccord Posted September 26, 2014 Author Share Posted September 26, 2014 Hi John, thanks for the reply, excuse my ignorance but I assume that there will be no difference between a household MCB and the one in my van? trying to locate an original ABL SurSum MCB is a nightmare online but leisureworld have a 2 pole 10amp MCB in stock for £12 :-D Regards Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Hello, There may not be a problem with the MCB, these are very reliable and rarely fail in the way you describe. The symptoms you describe seem to us (A and N Caravan and Motorhome) like you are exceeding the current limit of the MCB. You don't seem to be taking into account the power being drawn by the Schaudt Elecktroblock Battery Charger, the load of which will be variable dependent on the state of Battery and the 12v load being drawn from it? If the battery is past its best the Schaudt Elektroblock will be continually drawing amps through the MCB. In your tests above you are assuming a static load when it could vary by up to 2 amps (peak surge depending on model). Additionally you state it failed first when you had the heating on full, which presumably means the 12v Blower/Motor was also flat out taking power out of the battery which the Elektroblock would be trying to put back? If other 12v consumers were on at the time (lights, 12v TV, etc.) this would also cause a bigger 12v draw and therefore a corresponding current increase through the MCB. When you only have 10A to play with, 2A can make a big difference. One other aspect to consider is the voltage at the 'failure' Site. The lower the voltage the higher the current draw You are assuming that the voltage at the site and your home are the same, when it has been shown that many Motorhome/Caravan sites often have sub 210v, potentially causing your Kettle to draw more current. For example a local 5 star caravan site has given readings of 198v but our workshop shows 242v. That would make a difference in the current drawn. A kettle of 700watts will draw more amps if the voltage is less, Watts = Volts x Amps. As a crude example, a 720watt kettle will draw 3A at 240v but 3.6Amps at 200v. Only a small amount but remember every 240v device will be drawing more current, even the Schaudt Elektroblock. Our guess would be that the Site voltage was low, the battery was working hard (and therefore the Elektroblock EBL) but otherwise everything was working as it should. Our suggestion would be that next time it occurs pull the mains Kettle lead from the front of the Schaudt Elektroblock as a test. See our website for information on how to get the best from the Schaudt Elektroblock and how to make it last. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 I should have thought that, if a heater’s 1800W elements and a 700W kettle (ie. 2500W in total) were to be operated simultaneously, it should be expected that a 10A MCB protecting circuitry providing power to both the heater and kettle would trip as the total load would equate to well over 10A. Conversely, if the same 10A MCB trips when (literally) only the heater’s 1800W elements are operating, the MCB’s condition should be suspected as the load would be well below the 10A threshold even if the mains power-supply were significantly down on voltage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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