Thanks Collin
My son in law is coming round this afternoon who's pretty genned up on van and (like you) boat electrics so I'll make use of his knowledge and hopefully get things sorted.
Best regards Dave
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i've just had a look at my mates van ,that had the same symptoms as you.
the fault was the "battery fuse" holder , burnt up, on the front of the light grey distribution panel , in your photo.
if you want to delve into the unit, to investigate, you need to remove the wooden pieces screwed at the back of the unit ,to enable the grey unit to tilt upwards to remove the front panel.
but first have a close look at the battery fuse holder, i think i remember his fuse was the 4th one down ,from the top, i managed to by-pass the fuse , and put an in-line one in its place.
theres also a cooling fan in there, as well
Thanks for the tip G#Winger and you're right about releasing the charger from the PDU. Its not quite as simple as they portray on U-Tube. Unscrewing the four screws retaining the front facia does not allow it to come off because its trapped by the framework due to the way its moulded. I'm glad my son-in-law came round because there's no way my rubbish knee's would allow me to work on it. I hope he remembers where all the screws go that he took out.
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The charger is a PS276-1-BC which sell for around £150 but there was one ad on ebay showing this model remanufactured for £54 so I sent off for it. I received an email back from this seller asking me to send my faulty unit to him so it could be refurbished. I phoned the number on the charger. BCA Leisure who I assume is the manufacturer and they said it needs replacing and cannot be repaired. I then complained to the seller and a refund was in my paypal account within half an hour with no questions asked. So if anyone sees the same ad don't waste your time
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Hmm. I'm not sure why they say it can't be repaired when there are companies prepared to repair them. Battery chargers aren't exactly rocket science. They are basically a transformer to reduce the voltage from 240 volts to a lower voltage, (usually around 16 volts) then a rectifier to convert from AC to DC, then some kind of voltage stabilisation circuitry. Not much that can't be fixed there in my opinion. Maybe something to do with the manufacturer wanting to sell you a new one?
Of course there is always the possibility with a refurbished unit that something else may go, so if the refurbisher replaced a burnt-out transformer for instance, the voltage stabilisation circuitry may go in a few weeks/months/years time, or the rectifier.
Can't speak specifically as don't know either company or the equipment, but manufacturers will often claim things are irreparable, because they offer no repair service themselves, that doesn't automatically mean that the equipment is truly irreparable! Problems with third party repairs is often custom made parts that are not available on the wider market and manufacturers refuse to supply, then it really is irreparable unless a compatible substitute can be used.
As an engineer, I've repaired countless things for myself that were 'irreparable'. It's often an economic thing, and at £150 new, that leaves little scope for economic fault finding (often slow and skilled labour intensive!) replacement of faulty parts, retesting (often a 'burn in' test where the equipment is run for some time under monitored test conditions), and signing off as a guaranteed repair.
Can't vouch for eBay man, but surrendering a faulty unit in exchange for a working one is pretty normal practice, it can allow a stock of working units to be shipped out immediately rather than literally repairing your unit which can take weeks. Much equipment has inherent weak points which are common failures, that can virtually eliminate the need for fault finding process which makes repair far more economical.
Exchanging your old faulty items for refurbished ones is common practice but this particular ad was presented in such a way it looked like you were buying a refurbished unit without the hassle of posting an exchange. Check out "caravan battery chargers" on ebay and there's only one ad for £54.95 and I think you'll agree its pretty misleading. This is why I phoned the manufacturer and he rightly or wrongly told me it was not repairable and to steer clear of any claims to the contrary. The seller on ebay did not argue the point, in fact he did not reply at all, my payment was promptly refunded. Maybe I missed out on a genuine offer, maybe not. I'm still not 100% sure the charger is faulty, the only thing I'm going by is the voltmeter on the control panel reads zero with the EHU connected. Thinking about it I suppose a blown fuse could cause this
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you need to get inside the unit (or someone who knows what they are dooing, does) and test the output of the charger with a multi-meter, assuming there is 240v on the input (the kettle type black plug), if you have 240v going in ,and nothing coming out, "measured on dc scale, then the charger is at fault
Quote: Originally posted by G#Winger on 28/2/2022
you need to get inside the unit (or someone who knows what they are dooing, does) and test the output of the charger with a multi-meter, assuming there is 240v on the input (the kettle type black plug), if you have 240v going in ,and nothing coming out, "measured on dc scale, then the charger is at fault
Like I said I'm a slow learner but I'll get there. I'm looking at the charger now and thinking I can test the output by breaking the white connector and testing across the positive and negative pins,
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yes, that would confirm it, the only thing is , i'm not sure if that white connector is before or after the rectifier bit.
so you need to test on both ac, volts and dc volts, just to see if there is any output.
also test the input to the charger ,on 240v ac, at the kettle type plug.
Quote: Originally posted by Logan1 on 01/3/2022
I think someone suggested testing across the battery connections with the EHU connected and the battery removed.
Yes that could work but some chargers need a battery connected for them to work. What you could try is putting a voltmeter across the batter terminals with everything in place but the mains switched off. Then switch the mains on and see if the voltage rises as it should. If it does the charger is working.
A lot of chargers require the battery to be connected and have sufficient volts to kickstart the charge, some need as much as 6V some as low as 2V.
saxo1
Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 19/2/2022
We don't use our caravan over winter so always take the battery off and take it indoors. I then put a smart charger on it from time to time to keep it topped up. The battery only goes back on the caravan when the risk of frost has virtually gone. April being the very earliest we are likely to use it.
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Topic: I`ve just learnt something about keeping
