Caravan industry last chance saloon
Comments
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Five new UK 'vans between '89 & 2000, not a major problem, decided to go Conti and have fortunately owned ( all new ) five T.E.C. one GEIST, three HYMER Nova's since then. On returning to the UK from living in France was advised that of the lot Coachman was as good and better, we purchased a VIP 560/4, kept it three months, it really was the worst caravan I've ever owned, very well put together but my oh my the materials weren't even matchwood. the front two seat ends collapsed ( our son made good by fitting some 2"x2" down the corners ) it was the worst tow and cost me 4 mpg over the " heavier " Hymer. Have now returned to Hymers and even today on site a neighbour was admiring our new Nova 580 GL but stated a powerful motor is required to pull them. My Toyota 3-0 D4D Hilux truck pulls it with ease at 60 mph @ 24 mpg.
one wonders what a standard ( 2-0 D ) saloon pulling a standard ( Bailey / Swift ) would do the gallon.
Happy caravanning.
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l am lucky my van is at home we connect it to the mains and at set the thermostat to 7 degrees keeps it aired if we see the temp going down l increase it to 14 for the duration of the cold spell. plus l have the added bonus of a solar panel fitted as standard on our 2014 Coachman 460 vip
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Unfortunately the standard solar panel is one of the things that hasn’t worked correctly since we purchased the van in 2015, which is a shame because I thought it would be useful as I like to go to cls without hook up.
dealers have looked at it on both services. Coachman said it was working correctly when van was back at the factory recently but if I leave the van for two weeks the battery is flat and that’s without setting the alarm. If I pull the fuse to the alarm and solar panel controller the battery retained charge fine.
in the end I contacted Solar Technology direct and they kindly sent a free replacement solar panel controller directly to me which I have fitted and which seems to have solved the problem. At least the battery is receiving some charge now. Will have to see how it goes after a couple of weeks in storage but initially it looks good.
ive returned the old controller to them as requested so they can test it properly. I don’t think the dealers have a clue.
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so, are you heating your van with gas. when sat on the drive?
...and the solar panel id driving the heating pump/fan?
...and if you are heating it higher, the fan/pump runs for longer and drains the battery?
if this scenario is right.....
a) why not use EHU to run the heating and keep the batteries topped up as youll soon exhaust ypur gas supply
b) why would you want to heat the van to 18 deg if theres no one in it?
if Ive mis understood your post, im sorry, but the above is what you seemed to be describing.
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Failure of the solar control panel can be the result of having the solar panel connected whilst there's no 12 volt battery in place.
Before removing the battery, remove the in line fuse, the one near the solar controller, which is set into the wiring loom.
The above refers to Coachman caravans.
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Why would you want it set at any more than the minimum setting temperature available, severe frost included?
Set at 5 C which with mine is the lowest is well above any risk of frost damage. Set higher would simply be wasting electricity and more importantly in my case add to the wear on the pump, vastly so with it set at 18 C.
Am I missing the point in wacking the setting up to 18 C when the unit is unoccupied and it is frosty outside?
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Your probably right l will try what you say, at the moment its set to 7 degree's which tends to take that bit of chill out of the air. We have the combi blown air so no pump but l suppose it puts more pressure on the fan but l have that set at eco. Thanks for your input socsid greatly received
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