Hi my name is shaun, can any one help, I've lost All my 12v side supply coming out of the main control box, well to be honest there's about 5 volts coming out. Sometime ago the charging side packed up but now nothing works, the 240v side for the TV, microwave, kettle and all the sockets plus the two lights inside the van work, the only thing that does not work is the fridge but pretty sure there was 240 volts on the black mains wire going to it,all 12volt fuses are good, was planning on by pass the control box with the 12v side, any ideas guys much appreciated
Shaun egg.
first things first, have you charged your leisure battery and checked the voltage with a hand held meter? its usually the one thing that newbies forget to do, do that and then come back if you have any further problems
Check the battery first, it could be dead as its not charging! If not it sounds like your 12v power supply is broken, 5v is no use!
It takes 240v ac input and transforms and rectifies it to produce 12v dc as well as charging the battery and supplying 12v to low voltage circuits.
The fridge may have a 12v supply to it for ignition on gas and interior light which could explain it not working.
If you by pass the power supply the 12v circuits would need a power supply such as the battery which would discharge with use.
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As there is evidence of only 5 volts being produced then it proves that the 12 volt circuit isn't completely dead so I would also agree with the other above posts that it's likely to be a low voltage leisure battery. Take no notice of the onboard battery condition gauge as that's only there for a basic guide so you need to check the battery voltage with a voltmeter to enable to provide an accurate reading but this needs to be done with the battery being disconnected from to the two battery terminals so you get a reading of the battery without any mains power supply to it.
Cheers guys, yes I've checked and charged the battery with a fluke volt meter, pretty sure I checked it disconnected, think I'll disconnect the mains power and then recheck the 12v side, have removed the battery and recharge over a few days and it's charged to 12.7 volts after a few days of sitting with out the charger on will refit and do some more checks, but I'm sure it's the 12v side and charger that's gone down, many thanks for all the help
Quote: Originally posted by Mr S eglinton on 02/12/2021
Cheers guys, yes I've checked and charged the battery with a fluke volt meter, pretty sure I checked it disconnected, think I'll disconnect the mains power and then recheck the 12v side, have removed the battery and recharge over a few days and it's charged to 12.7 volts after a few days of sitting with out the charger on will refit and do some more checks, but I'm sure it's the 12v side and charger that's gone down, many thanks for all the help
if your battery is only reading 12.7 volts then it needs replacing as it at the and of its life, it should be holding more than that and reading above 13 volts.
as for the smart charger idea you can just plug that into 240 volts and connect it up as you would normally do, without having to butcher your caravan electric in any way, just remember tho that when charging your battery will give off fumes and needs to be ventilated properly
As well is two words!
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Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
the 12 volt system is powered by two things.. a built in battery charger and a battery..
the battery has to be charged before it can work.. basically if the charger is not working the 12 volt system wont work..
you can replace the built in charger with another charger.. but without a working charger nothing will work..
as marg6 says the fully charged battery fresh off charge should read over 13 volts.. if the battery has stood for a while this 13 volts will drop to 12.6 or so..
basically the charger is simply something that takes the 240 volts mains and drops the voltage down to around 14 volts or so which is suitable for charging the 12 volt battery.. you dont need a smart charger any car charger will do..just switch it on and off as required.. the charger will also power the 12 volt system whilst it is charging the battery..
I had a faulty battery two weeks ago. Charged up to decent 12v on separate battery charger. But once disconnected after 48hrs was down to nothing. As mentioned check after a few days with it disconnected. I think your battery is done. I replaced mine and everything started working. Except my Truma fan. But that’s a separate issue.
just a comment.. as batteries age or wear out they lose capacity.. they hold less energy.. this can happen quite quickly.. a couple of years or so..
the semi worn out battery will take a charge and get up to the normal voltage and appear to be okay but the energy it can store gets less.. or to put it another way it will go flat quicker..
at a guess i would say at least 75 percent of leisure batteries in use are semi worn out.. officially the worn out stage is 80 percent of as new..
in practice people just keep using them until they fail completely.. :)
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Topic: 12v electrics
via mobile 02/12/2021 at 5:32pm
