Dr Dave Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 Just a final thought, this all started after the leisure battery went flat. then you charged it up and now the panel exhibits strange behavior. Voltage checks on the cable to the panel may be erroneous as the connection is multiplexed IE. a data signal so voltage is not switched directly. Have you disconnected the leisure battery since charging and allowed the CBE unit to discharge (disconnected for 10 min's) and then reconnected the leisure battery thus allowing the CBE unit to reset?, Digital electronics work on defined leading and trailing edges of the switching signals and do not like slowly rising voltage IE: when the battery is slowly charging from flat if this has happened the electronics could be in an indeterminate state. If this does not work do not waste money randomly changing parts seek advice as per Derek's post above. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 Dr Dave - 2016-02-03 9:14 AM Just a final thought, this all started after the leisure battery went flat. then you charged it up and now the panel exhibits strange behavior... A bit of a long shot but you haven't charged the battery up in reverse by any chance? ie Positive is now Negative and vice versa! I once got called out to a car in a car park which was 'dead', I couldn't fathom out what had happened so quizzed the owner who said he had left the lights on and flattened the battery. He removed the battery and took it home to charge it but when he returned and refitted it to the car nothing worked. It turned out he had charged it in reverse and blew the main battery fuse when he reconnected it! It took some finding!!! And cost him a new battery! Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doubler Posted February 5, 2016 Author Share Posted February 5, 2016 You lost me a bit with the tech stuff there but I tried disconnecting the battery and solar panel and left it for an hour. No change, I'm afraid. I'm going away for a few days (not in the van!) and when I get back I'll enlist some professional help, starting with the link Derek provided. Thanks to everyone for your help - I've learnt a lot even if not how to fix the problem. I'll let you know how I get on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedy1962 Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 Doubler - 2016-01-23 6:01 PM My Autostar is fitted with a CBE PC200AU electrical control panel. It was working fine until the leisure battery went flat. I recharged the battery but now the control panel won't switch on, either on battery or ehu, which means no power for lighting etc. I'm no electrician so any ideas will be gratefully received Sitting in the South of Spain with exactly the same problem with our Carthago fitted with CBE PC 320-CA - Our battery depleated but was able to recharge itself but the control panel has turned itself off and is now totally unresponsive - No water, No lights, No media, No Heating .... Motorhome Technician arrived yesterday and all fuses are fine, battery is fine, etc - Just the control panel - They are at a loss as well and suggesting a new control panel... Doubler - Did you resolve your problem or has anyone else had the same situation and resolved it - A new Control panel is 700€ without fitting so before we purchase a new panel if it is a simple solution we would be really grateful!! Kind Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doubler Posted November 8, 2017 Author Share Posted November 8, 2017 I'm sorry to hear about your problem. Fortunately we were at home when our control panel failed. I managed to get the control panel reprogrammed for £100 by posting it to a guy in Wales (electronicserv@btinternet.com) but it took several weeks and it still doesn't have full functionality although it's usable. In your situation I suspect the only option is to replace it. unless there's an electronics expert somewhere nearby. Sorry I can't be more helpful,. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 Welcome to the Out&AboutLive forums, Hedy. I suspect you’ll be out of luck asking “Doubler” for feed-back as his only postings on this forum were the five in this thread, and his most recent forum logon was 6 September 2016. The discussion above revolved around the CBE PC-200 control-panel and an Autostar motorhome, so some of the comments may not be relevant to your Carthago. As a technician has pronounced that the prime suspects - fuses and battery - are OK and is suggesting that the problem lies with the control-panel itself, that’s a realistic diagnosis. Presumably the time-honored ploy of disconnecting the control-panel from its wiring and reconnecting it after a while (say 15 minutes) has been tried, as this occasionally seems to have a positive effect? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 I know this is old but might help others in the future - We don't do much with CBE, but do recommend it as the system of choice for Camper Conversions on our "Wiring your own Camper" webpage : http://www.aandncaravanservices.co.uk/wiring-your-camper.php primarily because the parts are so cost effective. A brand new CBE PC100 Control Panel is only £65 from Grass Hopper Leisure, so generally more cost effective to replace CBE parts than repair. When we do work on CBE equipped vehicles, we use Grass Hopper to supply the parts, who are very good. See the web link above for details. .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 It’s perhaps worth adding that CBE control panels are often ‘bespoke’ for a particular make of motorhome as identified by a suffix to the panel’s basic reference number. My 2005 Ford Transit-based Hobby motorhome’s CBE panel was referenced PC100-HB T and not only carried the “Hobby” name but also a non-standard button for the waste-water tank heaters. Hedy owns a Carthago motorhome and its PC320 panel’s “CA” suffix reflects this. The manual for a PC320-CA panel is here http://www.doc-cc.fr/Notice-Panneau-controle-PC320-CA.pdf and describes the panel’s functionality. If it transpires that a replacement for Hedy’s panel is needed, in order to avoid potential problems the replacement should be another PC320-CA panel as there’s no certainty that a ‘generic’ PC320 panel (or, say, the PC320-RA panel that Rapido fits to some of its models) would work as anticipated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedy1962 Posted November 13, 2017 Share Posted November 13, 2017 For information is this happens to anyone else - On the 12V Fuse Panel there is an SOS switch which is normally turned to ‘off’ - You turn this to ‘on’ - This over rides the control panel so that the lights, heating and water pump work until the vehicle can be taken to the relevant dealer. However we did need a new control panel! Thanks for everyone’s help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alanb Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 Hedy, Please can you supply more info about the location of the SOS switch on the Distribution Board. I have looked but failed to find this switch on my DS520, but the addition of the switch may be a recent modification.. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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