Electrical problems Bailey Pagent series 6 Monarch

tonyr2
tonyr2 Forum Participant Posts: 2
edited June 2016 in Caravans #1

just back from a week away during which had an electrical problem with one of the circuits whilst on site. There are 2 circuits that can be independently tripped on the van, one of these is labelled charger, water heater, lights and after about 24 hours
on site tripped and wouldn't reset. We had to leave it off, switch the water heater to gas and the lights seemed Tao carry on but I am fairly certain were running off the battery rather than the EHU. By the end of the week the battery voltage had fallen to
about 9 so almost off the scale. We managed with some helpful fellow caravaners to push the van round, got it hitched and motored home. By the time we got home 220 miles later the battery was charged up again such that we could use the motor mover. So I think
there must be something shorting either on the water heater circuit but I think most likely on the charger circuit in trying to charge from the mains. Any suggestions of how to work through this? I think there must be a relay or something that switches between
the car charging during running and the EHU when on site. Could this be faulty?

Comments

  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
    1000 Comments
    edited June 2016 #2

    There is a relay, it's the split charge relay that lives on your car, it's energised when the engine is running & supplies your caravan with 12 volts for charging & your fridge. The relay though is completely separate from your caravan's charging circuit.
    Is it posible to isolate either and/or the charger & water heater on your caravan to narow down where the problem is? It could be the breaker itself 

  • markflip
    markflip Forum Participant Posts: 177
    edited June 2016 #3

    Identifying what is casing the trip should be easy, it's either the 240v lights, the water heater or the charger unit. Push the two small trips up to ON with the main trip OFF, connect an EHU then make sure the 240v lights and electric water heater are off.
     Turn on the main trip, if the small breaker trips, it suggests the fault must lie in the charger unit if not, turn on the 240v lights, if it still doesn't trip, turn on the water heater.   Before you write off the charger, I would unplug/disconnect the charger
    (if possible and it leaves the wiring safe) then turn the power back on, if it still trips it indicates a short in a cable somewhere rather than an appliance.  

    If it is one of the small breakers that's tripping it indicates a serious fault/dead short, i'm surprised the main ELCB isn't tripping out too?  As MM says above, the trips themselves can fail.  They are a lot cheaper than a new charger is all I will say...

     

  • tonyr2
    tonyr2 Forum Participant Posts: 2
    edited June 2016 #4

    Thanks for your comments, when I checked the PSU there was a rattling from it and on investigation one of the magnets on one of the presumably transformers was in bits with various other sign of damage to components, I took the decision to order a replacement
    which should arrive in next few days 

Categories