HELP? Please? Is it me?
Hello all wonderful people.
i am now 12 days into my Sojourn with the new MH a la Fjrancais. Tonight, my 240v has gone. I am hooked up. 12v in van fine and 240 v into van showing as fine. ALSO, the power supply (240v) is fine as I have plugged something in there and all is working.
Something in the van is wrong BUT I simply cannot find it. I have looked/ switched on and off/ taken out/ placed and replaced. Boy usually The font of all knowledge but even he cannot find the problem. We have even powered up the engine to see if if something stupid like that. We have checked fuses; all the obvious stuff but to no avail. I know it MUST BE SOMETHING really obvious but I am missing it completely.
suggestions would really be appreciated as I need power to keep my wine cool xxxxxxxxx
thank you
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im guessing that youre confident the bollard is producing 240v? but there is no mains power at any of the internal sockets?
you need to try a couple of devices in a couple of sockets to check that
a) its not just one socket thats gone
b) its not just the device you're using thats broken
this will establish if ALL mains socket are down.
also, i guess ypure saying that the fridge isnt working on mains?
you can always switch it to gas while you resolve the issue.
in the meantime, i would ask a friendly MHerr to help you check for the 'obvious'.
good luck
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It's me I guess.
i know the 240 INTO the van is ok because the Bollard is working when I am naughty and plug my appliance into it.
something is not working within the van. The display is showing A OK BUT, the 240 sockets are not working.
Fuses all seem ok. Fridge is working on-mains which is confusing me. I have just asked 'boy' where the fuse panel might be and there is a spark (bum bum) of recognition. He is in the front now digging around.
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The mains box ( looks like the same one in your house) would either be in the bottom of the wardrobe or under one of the seats ,and sounds like one of the fuses has "tripped" , both fuse "leavers" should be the same level
if all else fails give Choose leisure 01227 733557 a ring ,they would have kept a note of where all the control box's etc are
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Back to complete basics, is it the actual hook-up lead? If it's an old cable it's possible that one of the connections in the blue plugs have become disconnected. I had this once and I only really discovered it because I had a second lead which was OK.
David
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Your explanation isn't really very clear - you say the 12v is working - this comes via the battery so the lack of an electricity supply coming in wouldn't affect it, but then you say "240 v into van showing as fine" and "the Fridge is working on-mains which is confusing me" - so just what isn't working?
Are you absolutely sure that you haven't 'tripped' the supply from the outlet you're using on the 'hook-up bollard' and your fridge hasn't switched automatically to gas? In France ampage is sometimes much lower than we're used to here, and it's quite easy, and unfortunately quite common, to trip the supply by running too many things at once - a kettle and the water heater, for instance, or the kettle and a hairdryer. You'll find other outlets on the bollard so plug into another and check the supply again. If it doesn't then try David's tip and check the wiring inside the blue plugs -- both ends (unplugging of course before you do)!
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Thanks all. The power ran out on my IPad last night so couldn't respond.
It is the sockets in the van, that are not working. It must be a fuse for the sockets but where is that blooming fuse? I got up this morning to find that the water 💦 pump wasn't working but I fathomed out that boy had actually turned that off (bless).
The air con light is on (which relies on 240) so all leads to finding that fuse. I might just change the lot; it will be cheaper than getting a man in.
i will let you know. I DID warn you that there would be times like these 🤗🇫🇷
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I am a bit confused, in your OP you imply the fridge is not working, although further down you say it is working on mains. This certainly implies that section of your 240 volt is working. How many circuit breakers do you have, is one in the off position.
On our last caravan we did have a problem where we progressively lost 240 volt, first from the heating then from various plugs. In our case the circuit breakers remained on. The fault was caused as plugs into the back of the consumer unit vibrated loose, due to incorrect fitting. Worth a check if all else fails, if they are accessible. Ours were not without dismantling. However, isolate the power first.
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If your MH is like my van, the small individual spade fuses in the consumer unit are for the 12 volt supply. The 240 volt is handled by larger switched breakers, two in our case, one for the charger a second for everything else. Besides that there is also an RCD, although as you say it is only the plugs not working, this must be on.
When you find the breakers it should say on them what circuits they cover. If the plug one is on, it could be something like I mentioned above.
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I know that you say air con and fridge are working. However you say that you know aircon is working because the light is on. The lights on aircon may be 12 volt. No idea. Does air con run?
If you report your make and model and year for your motorhome somebody may know where your circuit breakers are.
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The supply on French sites is often no-where near the 16 amp (?) on CC Sites and often very low and many devices don't work - the initial ignition on the Fridge/Freezer for example may even be too much for the supply you are getting.
Also on my Schaudt board above the habitation door there's a device called AUX, which allows power to all the sockets – has that been accidental switched off?
Try power on another site if you're not getting enough amp-age off the one you're on – there's often a sign, in French, telling you what power you're getting somewhere on the bollard.
I've had a similar experience in France to the OP's problem and with French electrics you never know what to expect.
Expect the un-expected!
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I have seen the situation where 240v sockets have been added and the wiring for them connected back to being plugged into a socket somewhere. And that plug has a fuse that can blow!
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ours in in the garage, but somewhere you will have a consumer unit that controls the circuits.....a fuseboard (as Steve says) that manages the 12v circuits, but also two or three 'breaker' switches that protect the 240v circuits.
Have a look and see if you can see a 'on' light on the charger (for example) as this will further confirm that mains is inside the van....as you have with the fridge.
its very likely that one of these breakers has tripped abd as you havent yet reported that youve found them, this has to be the next step before getting an engineer to switch it for you at great expense....
try again to find this control board and check the breakers....
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Thanks everyone I have cracked it.
There is a dirty great silver box with WAECO written on it. There was a little black button that went 'in' with a gentle touch and everything pinged into life again. It appears this 'tripped' before it got to the circuit breakers. Hmm.
Hoorah Hoorah.Hoorah.
Thanks so much for your help, no doubt Blonde questions will keep on coming. Sorry 🤓
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Arty, this is a pic of my distribution board...
charger at the top ( a red light will show when on mains)
240v breakers in the middle with test button
12v fuse board at the bottom
edit: what crap quality when you have to reduce the pixel size...
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ah, just saw your 'fixed it' post.....well done
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just reading your post again.....Waeco specialise in inverters which provide 230v but from a converted 12v supply.....your batteries.
does it make a noise or hum.....now its on? is there a name or model number on this box?
some of these are set up to provide 'inverted power' to all 230v sockets.
just to make sure that you are actualy using the 'real' mains and not an inverted supply, try unplugging at the bollard (with the Waeco unit on) and see if you now still get 'mains' at the sockets....
if you still have mains, this in an inverter and you are getting your 230v from your batteries.....and the mains lead may just be charging the batteries which, in turn give you the inverted mains supply....
a set up like this would have been installed for campers who spend the majority of their time away from EHU.
if not, then there is no generated supply from this box and the 230v is coming from the bollard.
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If the fridge is definitely working on 240v then power is getting to some of the circuits in the van. As has been said, it sounds like a fuse/breaker type of fault and should be easily remedied.
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For some reason the posts on this page weren't visible to me when I posted before.
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Tinwheeler - someone mentioned in another thread a Motorhome Madness forum on Facebook.
Welcome to the C&MC Madhouse.
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, I'm off to my kennel 
