1st time wild camping but no power from solar

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Marcelle29

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Hi. Please can anyone offer some urgent advice? We bought a new Chausson 640 Welcome in March, and we had Vechline solar panels installed. We have come off-grid camping for the first time today, and have lost power completely. The control panel in the van won’t even come on.

Does anyone know how these things work please? The Vechline panel is on number 5, and the top light is flashing, and the bottom light static.

We’ve got the engine on to try to keep our food from going off, but nothing is working, and we can’t get our bed down.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 
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Duck Truck said:
Surely the fridge should work on gas?
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I’ve messaged the dealer on FB but they can’t get hold of an engineer. The fridge just goes off when we turn the engine back off, even though it’s set on gas...crazy I know!
A535F196-A8C3-4FD6-BFA7-5C8D8C18A9A8.jpeg
 
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Can you get the bed down while the engine is running?

Hopefully something simple needs to be switched, or possibly a fuse has gone?

Sorry I can't offer specific advice but guess the fridge will not light on gas due to low battery

Sounds awful but will almost certainly be something and nothing, not that that is really helping you right now
 
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Where abouts are you

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You may have one more free post then either subscribe or unfortunately you are on your own.

A couple of glasses of wine shouldn't put you over the limit so I would try for a campsite as it sounds like your battery is either dead or a main fuse has blown.
Cold and boring night with no power or bed.
 
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Have you changed over to 'gas' on the fridge. They only work on 12v electric while you are travelling - ie engine running.
 
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Sorry to hear of your problem - it must be really frustrating.

We had a similar experience to you recently. It turned out to be a problem with the Mastervolt controller. If you have the same sytem you might have to get in touch with the dealer and arrange to have it reprogrammed.
 
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Marcelle29 said:
The display is on now as the engine is running, but goes off as soon as we turn the engine off
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1. Leisure battery is dead.

2. Leisure battery fuse blown, it's usually right next to the battery.

3. Master switch, somewhere, needs turning on.

Stage one, measure leisure battery volts. If you can't do this then make a note, learn how to.
 
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The red lights on your solar controller suggests your battery is totally flat. The flashing light means you are getting solar but for some reason your battery is flat.
They should be green when charging one flashing green= solar
Two flashing green = fully charged

I would suggest your leisure battery is goosed, and probably has been since you got your van.
It is not unknown for batteries to die in the dealers compound over winter and never recover.

Make sure wiring has been done right, your fridge might get power from the vehicle battery to ignite on gas. It will not go onto gas for 15 minutes after the engine has stopped ( safety feature for petrol stations)

Failing that just eat all the food and drink all your beer and chill.
 
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I suppose this will be a lesson learned the hard way. If you are parked up away from a site for the night then you should not really be drinking as you never know what is going to happen. Always check everything is working before you leave home. I know gremlins get into electrics but if its working when you leave at least you checked it. As for electric beds. We had one and a right pain it was. So my advise would be to make sure you know how to get it down and how to get it up again. Some people have found a battery operated drill with a flexible extension works but you do need to try these things BEFORE they go wrong. You should also find out where all the fuses are and carry some spares along with a few basic tools for putting screws back in when they fall out.

One other point you should also consider is security. The Ford base vehicle you have can be broken into in about 10 seconds using various bits and pieces from eBay. I would seriously consider doing some research on this forum and others and make sure yours is secure.

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QFour said:
I suppose this will be a lesson learned the hard way. If you are parked up away from a site for the night then you should not really be drinking as you never know what is going to happen. Always check everything is working before you leave home. I know gremlins get into electrics but if its working when you leave at least you checked it. As for electric beds. We had one and a right pain it was. So my advise would be to make sure you know how to get it down and how to get it up again. Some people have found a battery operated drill with a flexible extension works but you do need to try these things BEFORE they go wrong. You should also find out where all the fuses are and carry some spares along with a few basic tools for putting screws back in when they fall out.

One other point you should also consider is security. The Ford base vehicle you have can be broken into in about 10 seconds using various bits and pieces from eBay. I would seriously consider doing some research on this forum and others and make sure yours is secure.
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Always easy to be wise after the event
When you have a new van things happen that you don't expect
Give the guy a break It's a new van
once he resolves this then he will be a bit wiser to the possible hiccups
Chin up guys it will all sort out
Have wine for breakfast
Enjoy
 
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Do you have a Mastervolt controller or similar?

As I said in my earlier post... when we had our problem it was the Mastervolt shutting the system down because it detected that the batteries were getting critically low. The thing was that they weren't low at all, in fact they were fully charged, and the Mastervolt had to be re-set.

As your vehicle is new I would think it unlikely that the battery could be flat.
 
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Anyone heard from Marcelle 29 today?
He really did have a wild camping experience didn’t he, he must of slept outside under his awning because he couldn’t get his bed down :eek:

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Probably reading posts on how to return MH as not fit for purpose only to be told that you are only supposed to use them on campsites.

He has to pay to make further posts ..
 
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Read only :confused:
Can’t understand that because I find this site really helpful and informative, wouldn’t be without it even thou it does have a few opinionated gits:p but still luv it:h:
 
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Buys new M/H in march.

First trip Wilding. in June

Cant get stuff to work.

OK! How about BEFORE YOU SET OFF! you read the manual, try to see how stuff works, even IF it works, on your own bloody drive way'

OR

If you come on here, expecting and RECIEVING good and intelligent advice at least have the gumption of spending 15 quid so that Funsters can work you through you problems in more than the five posts currently available to you!
 
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