Habitation gauge query

[autorouter]

On the EBL front panel it says 12V 18A. It also says IUoU which is Martian for a 3-stage intelligent charger. To estimate how long it takes to charge, first find the total Ah capacity, and guess the state of charge percentage, to find the charge required. For example, 200Ah of battery 50% charged needs 100Ah of charge to fill it. For an 18A charger that's going to take a minimum of 100/18 = 5.5 hours. In reality more like 7 hours.

You can tell when charging is complete, because the voltage drops from about 14.4V to the float voltage of about 13.6V.

 

[JockandRita]

*Charging*.........I'm going to plug in to my daughter's house to boost the batteries as advised, how long should I give it for a full charge? And how many times a year, this is my first winter home in 5 years, so solar and travel time are "rare"

If staying on your daughter's drive, leave it plugged in 24/7, as the charging unit is designed to give the batteries the correct charge, as and when.
If only occasional access to EHU, try to plug in once a fortnight for 12+ hours, or monthly at the very least. The batteries need that conditioning charge, (before going to float), to keep them in tip top condition.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[stephsol]

Brilliant...thanks you all very much, I will post any development's here
Steph

 

[stephsol]

Well it took a while to go ehu only to find that it's not charging, I've changed the battery fuse Inn the elektroblock and noticed there is a small switch for battery choice that is on neutral? Could this be responsible (pic attached)

 

[Phill D]

Have you switched over to your type of leisure battery and checked?
I did not know that there was a neutral position.....

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[JockandRita]

I did not know that there was a neutral position.....

Nor me. Ours was either Lead Acid or Gel.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[stephsol]

As you can see on the photo, no marking for neutral, it was just in the middle, I've pushed it to gel but no difference. I was expecting to see a positive reading on the gauge I started this thread about, it's happily sitting dead centre, all the plugs are live but the lights still need the habitation switched on.

 

[Phill D]

Needing the habitation switch on is normal for 12v services to work.

 

[JockandRita]

As you can see on the photo, no marking for neutral, it was just in the middle, I've pushed it to gel but no difference. I was expecting to see a positive reading on the gauge I started this thread about, it's happily sitting dead centre, all the plugs are live but the lights still need the habitation switched on.

What type of leisure batteries do you have installed? Gel, or Lead Acid? The voltage charge gauge should read anything from 13.5 (float charge), up to a maximum of 14.4v - 14.7v, (depending on battery type). What are your voltage readings, ie, Batt1 is the starter/cab battery, and Batt 2 is the leisure battery/batteries.

As Phil above indicates, nothing 12v (other than the step, outside light, and boiler) will operate, unless the 12v switch is in the on position.

BTW, this thread was started 10 x months ago. That's a long time to not know if your EHU charging isn't working.

Good luck with it.

Jock.

 

[stephsol]

I've only ever used ehu once in five years, and only giving it attention now as I'm stuck here for winter again. The original enquiry resolved itself, although in hindsight it would of been worth getting the whole system checked. Which I'm going to need to do now, as I know the charger is on the blink. I've got 12.5 on starter batt and 12.25 on habitation, which is normal for me after an hour drive here yesterday.

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[JockandRita]

I've got 12.5 on starter batt and 12.25 on habitation, which is normal for me after an hour drive here yesterday.

Those voltages are not conducive to healthy battery levels unfortunately, especially the leisure batteries.

Do you have a volt meter, to measure the output voltage from the EBL charger?

Are there any other fuses close to the leisure battery, which haven't been checked yet?

There are a couple of UK firms who can repair or replace the EBL if necessary, rather than sending it to Schaudt in German.
As it charges both battery banks, that's the route I'd be going down, as it is always an advantage to revert to EHU for charging.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[autorouter]

Is the mains indicator on the panel showing when you are on EHU? That tells you if the charger is capable of charging.

The inbuilt EHU charger output goes to a fuse marked 'Internes Ladegerat'. That's worth checking to see if it's not blown. If you pull out that fuse, the voltage at one of the fuse terminals should be the charger voltage, maybe 13 or 14 volts. The other fuse terminal should be exactly the same voltage as the leisure battery, whatever that is.

 

[stephsol]

Thanks Jock, I will book it in with Bristol electric, their pretty good, let them run all the tests and see what's up. I haven't a clue with electrics, and the fall off on the habitation battery is a worry, it's 12.6 now after a 45 min trip, but in this weather it will fall off again quickly.
Ps. I'm hoping it's something simple

 

[Coolcats]

Hi all,
I never take interest in this gauge on the right as it's always in the middle (zero), however, I see it's in the red now but I don't know what it is???
Can you ID it??? .......Photo attached

You may find that the leisure battery powers the radio/multimedia unit which it does on our Hymer. We have a small rocker switch on the dash that will turn the power off to this unit whilst I have not measured the power drain the unit would drain the battery if left switches on.

 

[SMB]

I had a similar problem a few years ago, a fellow motorhomer had a small tool which was really handy as it tested each circuit, you just removed each fuse, attached it to the tool and plugged the tool into the fuse socket. It identified two circuits which were drawing five amps when turned off, it turned out it was loose wiring in the ECU. I bought both versions (standard blade and mini blade) in case of problems with the vehicle battery. This is similar to the tools I bought:

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[stephsol]

I actually put a new fuse in zusatz-ladegerat. I think what was suggested appears as internes-Lademodul at the top of my EBL. Unfortunately I had left the ehu when I received your recommendation. so will try it today on a friends generator

 

[JockandRita]

I actually put a new fuse in zusatz-ladegerat. I think what was suggested appears as internes-Lademodul at the top of my EBL. Unfortunately I had left the ehu when I received your recommendation. so will try it today on a friends generator

May I suggest that the genny is running first, before plugging in your EHU lead. If not, starting the genny after plugging in may well blow the surge/slow blow fuse in your EBL, as the genny surges on startup.

I know this to have happened to a fellow Funster, (Our Boss ), at Newark one year, which had me removing the complete EBL, just to replace that tiny glass fuse inside.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[Manic]

I think I would rather contact these people

Contact Us

www.apuljackengineering.co.uk

rather than a normal auto electrician.

you should see the load needle well into green when the engine is running.

 

[nicholsong]

Thanks Jock, I will book it in with Bristol electric, their pretty good, let them run all the tests and see what's up. I haven't a clue with electrics, and the fall off on the habitation battery is a worry, it's 12.6 now after a 45 min trip, but in this weather it will fall off again quickly.
Ps. I'm hoping it's something simple

You should always leave testing of batteries until after an hour from when the last charging source was disconnected, so if the 16.6v was immediately after you turned off the engine it would be normal for it to drop over the first hour as thee is always a residual voltage left on the plates after charging which then dissipates.

Geoff

 

[autorouter]

The fuse 'Internes Lademodul' is for the internal charger. The fuse 'Zusatz Ladegerat' is for an auxiliary charger. There is a 2-way connector labelled 'Zus. Ladegerat' to plug in this charger, So if the internal charger is faulty, you could add a charger there.

For example I have a Victron 15A IP65 charger plugged into the auxiliary charger socket, and have pulled out the internal charger fuse.

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[stephsol]

To my great relief, it was the Internes Lademodul fuse, (thanks Autorouter) I eventually got ehu and charge for 2 hours at a friend's workshop, that short charge has made quite a difference ,both still up around 12.75 and quite resilient. I'll give it a 12hour charge in the next site I stop at.
You've all been really helpful, as usual, thanks so much.
Considering I never new there was a charger on board to begin with! (Duh) its all been very educational, another piece in the puzzle.
ps - fuse tester on my list.

 

[autorouter]

Great to hear you've sorted the problem. Does the needle on the Strom gauge now go into the green region, when charging on EHU?

 

[stephsol]

Yes, it was on 5 amps