Autotrail EC200 Charging Issue?

Threebarkingdogs
Threebarkingdogs Forum Participant Posts: 23
edited November 2017 in Motorhomes #1

Right here goes straight in at the deep end!

Just picked up our first camper van a month ago, a 2004 Autotrail Tracker SE on a Fiat.

Anyway all seemed fine and we brought it hone to the Hebrides from Somerset. But the first night of the trip back we we stayed on a campsite and on plugging into the mains I was surprised to see the display showing a negative value for amps (charger turned on). The book says a negative value means current being drawn from the battery.

Anyway all was well in the morning, Leisure battery voltage fine. Drove home over the next three nights without mains hookup and voltages remained fine.

Been home for a couple of weeks with no use and voltages fine. Hooked up to mains and again display showed negative value for amps (around -8 amps). Next morning unplugged and leisure battery still showing good voltage (12.5V). Left it for another week and went out to find leisure battery on 1.5V OMG!!! Looked at battery and discovered one terminal loose opps!. Tightened up connection but still showing 1.5V. Hooked up to mains and current shows as 50amps (positive value) for about five minutes and then drops to -8.5 amps where it has stayed for a couple of hours. Voltage showing 13.2V.

 

So why is it showing negative amps on charge. Would a loose connection have resulted in a discharge of the battery (possibly when I last put it on charge?

The battery is new but will it recover from such a major discharge?

I know very little about lecky! The reverse polarity is NOT illuminated

 

Help help helpsealed

 

 

Andy

Comments

  • Threebarkingdogs
    Threebarkingdogs Forum Participant Posts: 23
    edited November 2017 #2

    Just to add that when not hooked up to the mains the control panel is showing a positive value for amps when using stuff (like lights etc). In fact even when not using anything it is showing about 1 or 2amps.

     

    Andy

  • hitchglitch
    hitchglitch Forum Participant Posts: 3,007
    1000 Comments
    edited November 2017 #3

    There may be a reset on your control panel to adjust the current readings. Not possible to have a battery voltage of 1.5 volts nor a current of 50 amps so it seems that the loose connection has messed up the readings. Battery voltage is the best indicator of status - anything above 12.6 volts is good, below 12 volts, not so good. In theory you can go down to about 11 volts but if you do then you are getting to the point of irreversible damage. It doesn’t sound as though you have a problem but the only way to tell is to see how long the battery lasts when you are off grid.

  • hitchglitch
    hitchglitch Forum Participant Posts: 3,007
    1000 Comments
    edited November 2017 #4

    I should add that the Sargent EC200 has a “battery saver” function which will cut off the battery before it becomes too discharged. If you don’t have the instructions you can search on the web and download the manual.

  • young thomas
    young thomas Forum Participant Posts: 11,356
    1000 Comments
    edited November 2017 #5

    MH control panels can be notoriously bad/difficult/inaccurate etc...

    the way to check the 'status' accurately is with a voltmeter/ammeter...

    you can check the leisure battery after a good rest....then put it under load and check again after resting... (the batterysmile)...

    you can also check for the 'draw/load' on the battery when everything is 'off' to see if there is a rogue draw that is bringing the battery down...

    if all these things check out i would suspect that the panel is a bit 'out' or that the readings arent being interpretted correctly.....does the manual help? 

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
    1000 Comments
    edited November 2017 #6

    If it's showing negative values, I would suspect a problem with the actual meter.

  • hitchglitch
    hitchglitch Forum Participant Posts: 3,007
    1000 Comments
    edited November 2017 #7

    We have the EC328 which is of course a later model but I do recall that when we first collected the Motorhome the control panel was giving unlikely current readings. From the manual I was able to reset it and it now appears to work fine. So, with everything connected and the battery fully charged, if the current or voltage readings are wrong it may be possible to do a reset. If it’s not covered in the manual than a call to Sargent would help.

    Battery readings should be in the range 12 volts to 14 volts roughly. I wouldn’t expect the current to be much more than 1-2 amps either positive or negative. Most of the time it should be fractions of an amp.

    The readings are just a digital display which is either working or not, it’s the electronics in the main panel doing the sensing and converting the signal so unfortunately these days you can’t give it a thump and hope that fixes it!

  • Threebarkingdogs
    Threebarkingdogs Forum Participant Posts: 23
    edited November 2017 #8

    Thanks all.

    I'll look into doing a reset.

    Even though I know little about electrics the reading of 50amps did strike me as rather way out and if right worrying!

     

    Andy

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