oldwatsonian Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 We have a 2005 Autotrail Scout motorhome. A while ago we noticed a fishy electrical smell and we cannot trace where it is coming from. We have turned everything off and gradually back on again to try to find the cause. It appears to happen now when the charger is turned on when on hook up. Could this be the regulator/charger at fault. It has not affected the charging capabilities as the batteries are topped up. Any views would be gratefully accepted Paul T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninian Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Hi, That smell usually relates to something that is getting very HOT like on a circuit board. I would look at the charger if you think that's where it is coming from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldwatsonian Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 Thanks Ninian. It really has us going round in circles. The charger is in a locker above the dining area and when we open the locker door no smell comes out. it just seems to be in the air. The charger is the only thing that is on. Paul T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gocro Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 We had a "fishy" smell in the study at home for months and could never find the source, my sister spotted it in minutes when she visited. The ceiling light fitting was getting very hot and was brown in places from the heat, Many hard plastic materials give off a similar smell when heated beyond their intended use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 presumably you've had a sniff around the leisure battery?.. (..although faulty/overcharging batteries tend to smell "eggy" rather than fishy"...) :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Paul, What is the voltage of the leisure battery whilst the charger is turned on? You should be able to read this from the control panel. And have you checked the water level in your leisure battery lately? If not it may be advisable to, assuming of course that it is not sealed for life. Be vary careful around the battery as the gas given off is Hydrogen which is highly explosive. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alf Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 A fishy smell.indicates a loose electrical connection it has most likely been overload or water damage I would start by lifting the consumer unit cover off and look for burnt wires and damaged bakerlite. If all.is ok there lift all the electrical sockets and switches off one by one it could even be at the rear of your hook up socket. You could look at the pins on the hook up lead for signs of discolouration. Alf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldwatsonian Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 Thanks all. Will have my work cut out tomorrow going through all the suggestions. Will update as soon as possible. Paul T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldwatsonian Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 Keith The voltage of the batteries whilst being charged is 14.6 (starter) and 14.7 (Leisure). There is no smell from the battery compartment and the leisure battery is sealed. Also I cannot take the consumer unit/charger cover off as it is pop riveted on. Paul T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldwatsonian Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 Keith The voltage of the batteries whilst being charged is 14.6 (starter) and 14.7 (Leisure). There is no smell from the battery compartment and the leisure battery is sealed. Paul T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Collings Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Its the classic smell of PVC wiring insulation being slow cooked. The most common domestic place is the drop cable from a ceiling rose due to wire operating near its current limit and the hot air rising from the bulb. There are not many ceiling drops in motorcaravans but check all the fuse holders for charring as poor contact here with cheap fuses can result in hot insulation as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJG Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 oldwatsonian - 2015-02-06 5:35 PM We have a 2005 Autotrail Scout motorhome. A while ago we noticed a fishy electrical smell and we cannot trace where it is coming from. We have turned everything off and gradually back on again to try to find the cause. It appears to happen now when the charger is turned on when on hook up. Could this be the regulator/charger at fault. It has not affected the charging capabilities as the batteries are topped up. Any views would be gratefully accepted Paul T We had this at home once. When switching the kettle on in the kitchen we got the smell in another room and traced it to a dodgy connection in one of the sockets which I could feel was getting warm. As soon as the kettle boiled and the kettle switched off the smell dissipated. The high power draw of the kettle sought out a weak point on the ring main which was the dodgy connection behind the socket in the living room. Dismantled it all and the scorching of the insulation on the wires was plain to see. So I concur with it being a problem with wiring a connection. I just mention this because you might find it's not where you might expect it to be . I re-cut the cables slightly to get rid of the scorched insulation and re tightened it and its been fine since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gocro Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Let me say it again, the smell will originate from the hard plastic (phenolic resin ) that forms the connection terminals that the wiring is screwed into, not he wiring itself. Scorched cables may point to the problem, but in themselves are not the problem, you have to look at all the points were the end terminals are, fuse box, isolation trips, sockets, switches, charger, The heat generated by a loose connection will heat up causing the resin to gas off phenol which is the fishy smell. If it is ignored then the heat may build up and then the vinyl in the cables could ignite, Then again the source may be in the internal components in you ancillaries as circuit boards are sometimes made of glass reinforced phenolic resins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJG Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 gocro - 2015-02-09 9:42 AM Let me say it again, the smell will originate from the hard plastic (phenolic resin ) that forms the connection terminals that the wiring is screwed into, not he wiring itself. Scorched cables may point to the problem, but in themselves are not the problem, you have to look at all the points were the end terminals are, fuse box, isolation trips, sockets, switches, charger, The heat generated by a loose connection will heat up causing the resin to gas off phenol which is the fishy smell. If it is ignored then the heat may build up and then the vinyl in the cables could ignite, Then again the source may be in the internal components in you ancillaries as circuit boards are sometimes made of glass reinforced phenolic resins. Just be clear that I wasn't saying the scorched insulation was necessarily the source of the smell. Just that it was this that lead me to locate the location of the dodgy connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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