- Feb 5, 2024
- 177
- 323
- Funster No
- 101,061
- MH
- Etrusco CV540 DB
We have had our new Etrusco PVC camper on the road for about 8 months now. I fitted solar panels and aircon before we used it in anger so the pair of AGM leisure batteries was being charged all the time, added to which the van is left on hook up at home and we have had campsite hookups on most stays on our two four week trips this year to France and Spain. Nevertheless a couple of times the leisure battery voltage has dipped a bit giving me the impression that it was perhaps not getting topped up via the B2B while driving but it has never been a problem and I didn't give it that much thought until recently.
It is also quite difficult to test this given the fairly inaccessible and well shielded connections on the Schaudt WA121545 B2B device and the Electroblock (EBL 31) it connects to, and the vagaries of Euro6 alternator operation which might only be fully apparent while actually driving. However I decided to look into this recently and turned off the solar panels and removed the hookup in preparation. I then tried to deplete the starter battery by having the headlights and heater fan on while the engine was not running and depleting the leisure batteries by repeatedly running stuff like electric kettles off the inverter. The idea was to gets things to a point where both batteries would definitely need to take charge from the alternator when running the engine. I then used the Bluetooth app on my Ablemail battery maintainer to monitor both starter and leisure battery voltages in real time while running the engine. While the starter battery rose, indicating charging taking place, the leisure battery voltage did not budge.
Looking at the EBL31 circuit diagram it looked like this could be a problem with one of the fuses either on the leisure battery or the feed from the starter battery. The leisure battery fuses were fine, but I then needed to find the starter battery fuses which were not under the passenger seat near to the EBL31 but turned out to be under the floor panel covering the starter battery which makes sense in getting them as close to the power source as possible. There is a 70A fuse for the alternator charging current and a 20A fuse for supplying the compressor fridge when the engine is running. This is where it got interesting! The 70 fuse was OK but when I took out the 20A fuse it revealed a plastic insert in the fuseholder reading 70A and of course the 20A fuse was blown.
It seems like Etrusco had fitted these fuses the wrong way round during construction, which is very poor, and that the 20A fuse had blown on the first occasion that the B2B tried to supply more than 20A to the leisure batteries. Also, I had already found a loose wire in the battery sensor connections which I had originally suspected of causing the B2B to not operate, so the fuse may only have blown once I corrected this. A connector pin had been inserted into the shell in the wrong orientation so had not locked into position and had been dislodged. This is not the first as I had found several more supplying power to various circuits to be in the same condition. Overall, although we love the van I have been very unimpressed by the standard of construction of the electrics. I am awaiting delivery of some replacement Maxi fuses before I test it again, but hopefully all will be well once the 70A fuse is in the correct holder and the blown fuse is replaced.
I suppose the moral of the tale is to not assume that fuses are in the correct position. I was lucky in that the fuseholder for the 70A fuse was marked as such, but I could also see that a much thicker cable went to that fuseholder than the other one, so I probably would have twigged the misplacement eventually!
It is also quite difficult to test this given the fairly inaccessible and well shielded connections on the Schaudt WA121545 B2B device and the Electroblock (EBL 31) it connects to, and the vagaries of Euro6 alternator operation which might only be fully apparent while actually driving. However I decided to look into this recently and turned off the solar panels and removed the hookup in preparation. I then tried to deplete the starter battery by having the headlights and heater fan on while the engine was not running and depleting the leisure batteries by repeatedly running stuff like electric kettles off the inverter. The idea was to gets things to a point where both batteries would definitely need to take charge from the alternator when running the engine. I then used the Bluetooth app on my Ablemail battery maintainer to monitor both starter and leisure battery voltages in real time while running the engine. While the starter battery rose, indicating charging taking place, the leisure battery voltage did not budge.
Looking at the EBL31 circuit diagram it looked like this could be a problem with one of the fuses either on the leisure battery or the feed from the starter battery. The leisure battery fuses were fine, but I then needed to find the starter battery fuses which were not under the passenger seat near to the EBL31 but turned out to be under the floor panel covering the starter battery which makes sense in getting them as close to the power source as possible. There is a 70A fuse for the alternator charging current and a 20A fuse for supplying the compressor fridge when the engine is running. This is where it got interesting! The 70 fuse was OK but when I took out the 20A fuse it revealed a plastic insert in the fuseholder reading 70A and of course the 20A fuse was blown.
It seems like Etrusco had fitted these fuses the wrong way round during construction, which is very poor, and that the 20A fuse had blown on the first occasion that the B2B tried to supply more than 20A to the leisure batteries. Also, I had already found a loose wire in the battery sensor connections which I had originally suspected of causing the B2B to not operate, so the fuse may only have blown once I corrected this. A connector pin had been inserted into the shell in the wrong orientation so had not locked into position and had been dislodged. This is not the first as I had found several more supplying power to various circuits to be in the same condition. Overall, although we love the van I have been very unimpressed by the standard of construction of the electrics. I am awaiting delivery of some replacement Maxi fuses before I test it again, but hopefully all will be well once the 70A fuse is in the correct holder and the blown fuse is replaced.
I suppose the moral of the tale is to not assume that fuses are in the correct position. I was lucky in that the fuseholder for the 70A fuse was marked as such, but I could also see that a much thicker cable went to that fuseholder than the other one, so I probably would have twigged the misplacement eventually!