CBE Control Panel & CBE Distribution Unit/Fuse Box

So I have tied to reprogram the control panel this morning and everything has worked OK apart from setting the AMPS and the voltage of the B2 battery set (Hab Batteries) The voltage on the Cab batteries came up automatically.

So the AMPS setting could either be the charging rate of the charger or perhaps the AMPS capacity of the batteries or maybe the maximum current draw in usage. Anyway I can't get the setting above 3 amps.

On the B2 setting I can't get it above 0.6 volts and it defaults to 0.5 volts when you pour the system up. Previous threads have said that one should take a battery reading with a voltmeter and input that reading into the CBE unit to give it an accurate setting to work from from than onwards.

Has any one developed their skills into programming their CBE 320 Control panel?

PS There is a shunt installed in the van so I expect that it should be able to report the AMPS status of the hab batteries.
 
As you know I for one was dreading this part of your new CBE install, the instructions never seem to be clear enough (for me anyway) in the past I have achieved the desired result, but have never managed to work out how I got there:mad:
I would walk away for a day or so, you know it is working and thats the main thing, as for the finer panel settings if stuck maybe a phone call or e-mail to Travelworld or CBE in Italy explaining your problem.
Good luck, enjoy time with your Grand Kids:D
Les
 
Abacist said:
So I have tied to reprogram the control panel this morning and everything has worked OK apart from setting the AMPS and the voltage of the B2 battery set (Hab Batteries) The voltage on the Cab batteries came up automatically.

So the AMPS setting could either be the charging rate of the charger or perhaps the AMPS capacity of the batteries or maybe the maximum current draw in usage. Anyway I can't get the setting above 3 amps.

On the B2 setting I can't get it above 0.6 volts and it defaults to 0.5 volts when you pour the system up. Previous threads have said that one should take a battery reading with a voltmeter and input that reading into the CBE unit to give it an accurate setting to work from from than onwards.

Has any one developed their skills into programming their CBE 320 Control panel?

PS There is a shunt installed in the van so I expect that it should be able to report the AMPS status of the hab batteries.
Click to expand...

Stefan at Polch is very helpful with stuff like this Robert. I've pm d his email address just in case you havent got it.

Jon
 
Its all coming back to me now - like that song!

When we bought the van the hab battery voltage was not displaying and the ammeter was showing something like -200 amps.

In Polch they got the hab battery voltage to display by a lot of fiddling with the control panel but never got the amps to display properly.

I now suspect that there is some wiring issue that has been there all of the time preventing the control panel from displaying the right information.

I will have to try and trace the wiring from the shunt to try and see if I can find any fault.
 
Before reconnecting the shunt I would be inclined to check that it is not the source of the original problem. My shunt has a fused power supply but it is a different set up, might be worth checking if yours has a fuse though it could perhaps be powered by the panel.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Abacist said:
Its all coming back to me now - like that song!

When we bought the van the hab battery voltage was not displaying and the ammeter was showing something like -200 amps.

In Polch they got the hab battery voltage to display by a lot of fiddling with the control panel but never got the amps to display properly.

I now suspect that there is some wiring issue that has been there all of the time preventing the control panel from displaying the right information.

I will have to try and trace the wiring from the shunt to try and see if I can find any fault.
Click to expand...


Would it have been better to have left the van at Polch originally and had them sort it until the correct information with the panel was displaying?
 
CazPaul said:
Would it have been better to have left the van at Polch originally and had them sort it until the correct information with the panel was displaying?
Click to expand...

With the benefit of hindsight now yes it would have been but they had squeezed me in already and they said it was going to be expensive. By then I had installed my own voltmeters to give me an idea of the state of the batteries so was not that concerned about the ammeter. Now with new kit it is disappointing that it is not working as it should do.
 
I emailed Stefan Ternes, the N + B service manager at Polch and he replied early this morning suggesting that the ammeter is the root of the problem and has asked me to send him a photo of it. I can only assume that he means a photo of the shunt which I will do later.

I did ask him whether the control panel should be switched off when not required and he confirmed that it should be but that switching it off would have offered no protection to it from a surge!
 
Here are the photos which I sent to Stefan showing the shunt as best I can as its buried under the floor and difficult to photo, especially the electrical connections underneath the big black negative cable. I have changed the 3amp feed to the shunt. I also show a couple of pics to show the control panel information - the dread exclamation mark at bottom right to show there is a problem with the on/off switch showing red also indicates a problem. The other pic shows the lack of charge in the hab batteries and the low amp readout although they are both fully charged.

IMG_4812.jpg
IMG_4816.jpg
IMG_4813.jpg
IMG_4814.jpg
IMG_4811.jpg
IMG_4815.jpg
 
Cant see the 3amp fuse on or near the shunt, was it a blade fuse?
Also hate the use of those crimp connectors, have you checked that they are making contact and that the wires are tight in the male & the female crimps, they can get pulled out so easily, hence why I hate them.
I know its tight and a gynaecologist may struggle down there, but is there any voltage heading up to the control panel from down there.
Not your fault of course its just what N&B have used that surprises me.
Hope Stefan can help, now he can see the control panel error lights.
Les

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
I have yet to get to the nitty gritty of testing the voltage. Yes the fuse was a blade fuse out of sight in my pictures.

I am not even sure what the ammeter is supposed to show! Do you input the battery amp hour capacity and then it shows you effectively the balance of amp hours left in your bank after measuring the inputs and outputs from the batteries or does it just show you the net current input or output at any moment in time? I expected the first option as that is what I had from the marine ammeter I installed in my last van.

The N + B user manual and the CBE manual are both useless in telling you what to do, what to expect and there is nothing on troubleshooting. I have a bit of knowledge but God help anyone who hasn't got a clue. You'd be forever going back to Travelworld!
 
Stefan has advised me that he cannot do this by email and that I need to book it into the workshop.

I phoned Travelworld and spoke to a technician and explained the problem.

He explained that there is a separate "main menu system setup" on the control panel which is used by N + B to configure the van when built. This is not shown anywhere in the Control Panel Manual for the 320 HY control panel. Certain things are described as only being able to be done by the dealer or manufacturer.

This is accessible by holding down both the main on/off switch at the same time as the enter button to its left. On your head be it if you choose to enter this area as it is undocumented as are the options contained therein.

Here they set up how many fresh water tanks you have, how many grey water tanks, the clock, screen colours, dimmer, chassis option, step on or off, bus being analog or digital etc.
When it came to the ammeter I said No or Off, can't remember now and saved it all at the end having left everything as previously set apart from the ammeter.

As soon as I turned the ammeter off the hab battery voltage appeared so perhaps I'm another one with a shunt but no ammeter! Stefan was convinced that the ammeter was faulty so perhaps turning the option off is one way to hide the fault completely as the van now thinks I have not got one, even if its faulty.

Hope this might help others but I am taking no responsibility if you muck up your van settings!
 
Last edited:
Abacist said:
Stefan has advised me that he cannot do this by email and that I need to book it into the workshop.

I phoned Travelworld and spoke to a technician and explained the problem.

He explained that there is a separate "main menu system setup" on the control panel which is used by N + B to configure the van when built. This is not shown anywhere in the Control Panel Manual for the 320 HY control panel. Certain things are described as only being able to be done by the dealer or manufacturer.

This is accessible by holding down both the main on/off switch at the same time as the enter button to its left. On your head be it if you choose to enter this area as it is undocumented as are the options contained therein.

Here they set up how many fresh water tanks you have, how many grey water tanks, the clock, screen colours, dimmer, chassis option, step on or off, bus being analog or digital etc.
When it came to the ammeter I said No or Off, can't remember now and saved it all at the end having left everything as previously set apart from the ammeter.

As soon as I turned the ammeter off the hab battery voltage appeared so perhaps I'm another one with a shunt but no ammeter! Stefan was convinced that the ammeter was faulty so perhaps turning the option off is one way to hide the fault completely as the van now thinks I have not got one, even if its faulty.

Hope this might help others but I am taking no responsibility if you muck up your van settings!
Click to expand...


It might be as well combining a nice little German trip and booking into Polch for it to be done, that way it will be guaranteed should any further fault develop and they could check the whole system is set up and wired correctly too.
 
CazPaul said:
It might be as well combining a nice little German trip and booking into Polch for it to be done, that way it will be guaranteed should any further fault develop and they could check the whole system is set up and wired correctly too.
Click to expand...

Perhaps October/November again for the factory weekend!
 
Abacist said:
Perhaps October/November again for the factory weekend!
Click to expand...

I would not hesitate Robert, Who knows what has gone on with it but Polch are the best people to sort it out IMO.

Jon

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Just thought I'd resurrect this thread as with Lockdown I've not been to Polch to get my CBE kit looked at but building up a list of van stuff needing attention.

Anyway the current issues have me getting twitchy!

In the summer I don't put the van on my hookup at home as the solar does a fine job keeping the tab and cab batteries well topped up.

The non-N+B items fitted to the van are 2 solar panels, victron controllers direct to the cab batteries plus a eddievanbitz Strike Back alarm with Growler and a Teletrac Navman tracker & Metatrac immobiliser and a Victron inverter and a battery master.

I have a separate pair of batteries, kept as a backup, charged by a Sterling B2B from the Cab batteries but not connected to the Hab system, unless I ever need to.

Sometimes everything is fine. Sometimes the hab door step does not work, sometimes the central locking on the cab door and when this happens it is fixed by putting the key in the ignition and turning it on and then off. The CBE unit has usually switched itself right off and appears to be dead until the ignition is turned on and then will come back to life. Sometimes these things happen and turning the Metatrack engine start immobiliser off cures it. Other times it is in high sunshine and you wonder if the CBE unit is protecting itself from too much power from the solar. Later in the day when the sun is less everything is back to normal with no intervention from me. Anyway it always seems to happen at an inconvenient moment when there is no time to look at it, check voltages etc. This is the start to see if anyone else gets issues like this. Someone on the N + B Facebook group reported a problem yesterday so I told him my issues.

I need to book into Polch but perhaps the eddievanbitz team can have a think as I have already had one solar controller replaced.
 
Abacist said:
Just thought I'd resurrect this thread as with Lockdown I've not been to Polch to get my CBE kit looked at but building up a list of van stuff needing attention.

Anyway the current issues have me getting twitchy!

In the summer I don't put the van on my hookup at home as the solar does a fine job keeping the tab and cab batteries well topped up.

The non-N+B items fitted to the van are 2 solar panels, victron controllers direct to the cab batteries plus a eddievanbitz Strike Back alarm with Growler and a Teletrac Navman tracker & Metatrac immobiliser and a Victron inverter and a battery master.

I have a separate pair of batteries, kept as a backup, charged by a Sterling B2B from the Cab batteries but not connected to the Hab system, unless I ever need to.

Sometimes everything is fine. Sometimes the hab door step does not work, sometimes the central locking on the cab door and when this happens it is fixed by putting the key in the ignition and turning it on and then off. The CBE unit has usually switched itself right off and appears to be dead until the ignition is turned on and then will come back to life. Sometimes these things happen and turning the Metatrack engine start immobiliser off cures it. Other times it is in high sunshine and you wonder if the CBE unit is protecting itself from too much power from the solar. Later in the day when the sun is less everything is back to normal with no intervention from me. Anyway it always seems to happen at an inconvenient moment when there is no time to look at it, check voltages etc. This is the start to see if anyone else gets issues like this. Someone on the N + B Facebook group reported a problem yesterday so I told him my issues.

I need to book into Polch but perhaps the eddievanbitz team can have a think as I have already had one solar controller replaced.
Click to expand...
If the step comes out when you unlock the doors its tied into the central locking, and sometimes you have to use the key to "reset" the central locking, the it is out of sync, often happens when the lock/unlock button is used on the dash as well as the central locking button.

The Metatrack engine immobilisation cannot (nothing is impossible) affect the CBE as regardless of whether it is turned on or off it doesn't actually immobilise anything (it is always the starter circuit) until a start attempt is made, so on or off it is inert, also it isn't physically connected to the Growler system as its on a private WiFi network for enhanced security (no wires to trace/follow)

With your second bank of batteries connected via a DC - DC charger is the charger trigger by the D+ or automatic voltage sense? If so, could your solar array "Trick" the DC - DC charger into thinking that the engine is running and in doing so confuse the CBE?
 
Last edited:
Abacist said:
Just thought I'd resurrect this thread as with Lockdown I've not been to Polch to get my CBE kit looked at but building up a list of van stuff needing attention.

Anyway the current issues have me getting twitchy!

In the summer I don't put the van on my hookup at home as the solar does a fine job keeping the tab and cab batteries well topped up.

The non-N+B items fitted to the van are 2 solar panels, victron controllers direct to the cab batteries plus a eddievanbitz Strike Back alarm with Growler and a Teletrac Navman tracker & Metatrac immobiliser and a Victron inverter and a battery master.

I have a separate pair of batteries, kept as a backup, charged by a Sterling B2B from the Cab batteries but not connected to the Hab system, unless I ever need to.

Sometimes everything is fine. Sometimes the hab door step does not work, sometimes the central locking on the cab door and when this happens it is fixed by putting the key in the ignition and turning it on and then off. The CBE unit has usually switched itself right off and appears to be dead until the ignition is turned on and then will come back to life. Sometimes these things happen and turning the Metatrack engine start immobiliser off cures it. Other times it is in high sunshine and you wonder if the CBE unit is protecting itself from too much power from the solar. Later in the day when the sun is less everything is back to normal with no intervention from me. Anyway it always seems to happen at an inconvenient moment when there is no time to look at it, check voltages etc. This is the start to see if anyone else gets issues like this. Someone on the N + B Facebook group reported a problem yesterday so I told him my issues.

I need to book into Polch but perhaps the eddievanbitz team can have a think as I have already had one solar controller replaced.
Click to expand...

I am a bit confused by your post. You say your solar is connected to the cab (engine) battery and your B2B to an isolated pair of back up batteries, which are only connected when needed. You also say that you are not using an ehu at home. Does this mean that there is nothing charging the hab battery? If so it is possible that the CBE panel is doing a low voltage shut down, which is normal.
 
Pausim said:
I am a bit confused by your post. You say your solar is connected to the cab (engine) battery and your B2B to an isolated pair of back up batteries, which are only connected when needed. You also say that you are not using an ehu at home. Does this mean that there is nothing charging the hab battery? If so it is possible that the CBE panel is doing a low voltage shut down, which is normal.
Click to expand...
Sorry there was a typo! Solar connected direct to Hab batteries and battery master then keeps Cab batteries full. Both Cab & Hab batteries are fully charged!
eddievanbitz said:
If the step comes out when you unlock the doors its tied into the central locking, and sometimes you have to use the key to "reset" the central locking, the it is out of sync, often happens when the lock/unlock button is used on the dash as well as the central locking button.

The Metatrack engine immobilisation cannot (nothing is impossible) affect the CBE as regardless of whether it is turned on or off it doesn't actually immobilise anything (it is always the starter circuit) until a start attempt is made, so on or off it is inert, also it isn't physically connected to the Growler system as its on a private WiFi network for enhanced security (no wires to trace/follow)

With your second bank of batteries connected via a DC - DC charger is the charger trigger by the D+ or automatic voltage sense? If so, could your solar array "Trick" the DC - DC charger into thinking that the engine is running and in doing so confuse the CBE?
Click to expand...
Hi Eddie many thanks for the response.
The step and door do not operate together. Open door then use switch to lower the step and vice versa to leave the van.
Ta for the explanation about the Metatrack. Must be me just using ignition key that prompts a change to switch the CBE system on again.
I am not sure about your point on the Sterling B2B and will need to check how it works and how it’s wired.
I think there is a CBE split charge relay as well as a battery master providing a link between the Hab and Cab batteries. The Sterling only kicks in when on the road driving and my issues have just been when parked up at home.
 
Abacist said:
Well having gone out all excited at the prospect of getting it working, I am now back in having tried it all with the ignition on but engine not started, engine started and after disconnecting the data cable from firstly the control panel and then at the distribution board and leaving for a few minutes and then with and without the charging set/mains on.

Nothing - still dead as a dodo!

The manual is about as much use as a chocolate tea pot. It just tells me what the fuses are.

There is nothing to say what the various relays are and what they control. I will go out and photo the various relays that I can find.
Click to expand...
I have the same problem, no help from manuals. begin to think ''Italian junk''.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
I am sorry to hear that you are having trouble. Unfortunately the CBE control panel has a computer chip in it and its sophisticated wizardry that none of us mere mortals understand at the user end of things. If that packs up there is nothing for it but a whole new unit at great expense.

N & B don't use rubbish but it seems these units do have a reliability problem. I have to say my thoughts were just like yours when mine went pear shaped!
 
Thank you for the reply. I am glad that you understand my frustration. I am also al little frustrated about the lac of information CBE gives on the internet.
 
Abacist said:
I am sorry to hear that you are having trouble. Unfortunately the CBE control panel has a computer chip in it and its sophisticated wizardry that none of us mere mortals understand at the user end of things. If that packs up there is nothing for it but a whole new unit at great expense.

N & B don't use rubbish but it seems these units do have a reliability problem. I have to say my thoughts were just like yours when mine went pear shaped!
Click to expand...
No they don't! they tend to use CBE instead hence we have these problems with poor or no information available about a very unreliable control panel.
 
Sorry to resurrect an older thread but may I ask a question

my new Rapido has the CBE PC380 control panel above the hab door, alls well and i’m slowly getting my head round how it all works and how to set it up, that said the omission of the Alde heating control panel battery backup is shameful imo. 😡

£7.29 off ebay has sorted this hopefully 😉

Anyway my question is this, does anyone know if the automatic step operation when unlocking the van with the fiat key, can be disabled like I could on my Comanche’s Sargent unit. That was a simple going into the service menu and unticking a box exercise.
We use a plastic double step that we find more stable and the Thule step keeps hitting it if I forget the move ours first

many thanks

Al 👍
 
Old thread I know but I’m trying to find a feed on fuse4 for a cig lighter socket I’ve installed, Does anyone know which pin it is on this board so I don’t have to go round every pin and fuse pls🙏 and I take it all the mega are the black wires in the bottom block
image.jpg


Please use small words that I can understand😁

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
I've already told you once get rid of that flipping Scotchlock. :LOL:
You are getting really lazy boy, it will only take a few minutes to find it the hard way.
 
Lenny HB said:
I've already told you once get rid of that flipping Scotchlock. :LOL:
You are getting really lazy boy, it will only take a few minutes to find it the hard way.
Click to expand...
Ive been here an hour. Haven’t manage to find anything yet!🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️
Took me 20 mins on how to work the multimeter😁
 
I take it as I’m looking for no4 live, I don’t need to have the control panel on? Right ?
 

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Join us

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Back
Top