Ive just taken my T5 camper to France for 15 days Normandy, Brittany and finishing in Dineyland Paris.
Before I left I bought a brandnew leisure battery, 85ah the biggest that would fit in the battery box. I kept it on maintenance charge until we were ready to go then fitted it into the van, the PMS unit read High on the battery meter so all good. We then drive for the best part of 10 hours from Birmingham to Normandy which keeps the battery topped up from the alternator so arrive with a full charge and pitch up. We connect to the sites electric hook up which should then run the fridge etc as I understand it, but notice that the battery is slowly getting lower. After 5 days in Normandy the Battery is now Just below Norm and the Waeco fridge compressor is switching on and off with greater frequency. We then drive for 4 or 5 hours (its a blur) to Brittany and the alternator piles the charge back into the leisure battery and the fridge works as normal. We arrive in Brittany and hook up to the electric we were offered 6 or 10amp, we went for 10 just because it was higher!!! Alls working fine 240v sockets are boiling the kettle and powering the Tv, but something that hasn't happened before, the 12v red light is now illuminated on the power PMS unit. so now im thinking that the hook up in Normandy was faulty and this should be ok now. The fridge is working fine but the power starts to drain from the battery again. ive got the PMS switched to van and the charger switch is on just like ive read in the manuals and on forums so the hookup should be powering the fridge now and the leisure battery the 12v lighting etc which we barely used. Within a few hours the battery is on low and overnight drains to where there are no green lights on the battery meter i.e F****d....So now were only 6 days into the hols with no fridge which was a pain in the ... Has anybody got any ideas baring in mind that I have no technical ability whatsoever or does anyone know of someone in the midlands who could take a look at the wiring of the van. one other thing I disconnected the leisure battery when completely flat as it started making a whistling noise all of the 240v sockets continued to work whilst on hookup which I thought wouldn't happen because the leisure battery was needed in the loop...
I can't help you but I think if you post this question/problem on the free forums of - www.outandaboutlive.co.uk - you may get a good technical response in a very short space of time.
To find out if its a faulty battery, with battery fully charged after a run disconnect and leave for a couple of days. If its flat then battery is faulty. You also need to test your PMS unit, easy if you can get a voltmeter, cheap enough, should find on in Leclercs diy section. With unit plugged into ehu should be giving over 14v at battery connections. Plugged into ehu everything 12v should work even with dead leisure battery though.
Whistling the from battery sounds like boiling though suggesting your PMS is faulty and over charging battery which has probably ruined battery. 240v sockets will work ok on ehu with no battery and should supply 12v with no battery connected although it is suggested for your unit there should be a battery connected.
Is your camper a convertion from some small workshop? There are an awful lot of camper convertions of used T5 vans on ebay and some are very badly wired up it has been said.
It sounds to me that your fridge is contnuing to operate on 12 volts when you turn off the ignition. This will discharge the leisure battery. The fridge should only be seen to be turned on when driving. When engine off, the fridge turns off and you need the hookup to operate it on the mains voltage.
If this is not happening then the relay which carries out this function has stuck on the drive position. You might even see this relay with a 'bulge' where it has over heated and the case holds the contacts on the relay.
If this is the case, you should be able to replace it and get a matched relay from Halfords.
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Topic: HELP with PMS 3v
