Issues with Electric Beds

[Yorkshirefreckles]

Hi All -

I hope I'm posting in the right place. I'm just about to complete purchase on a Rapid 600FF MH which has an electric drop down bed. Does anyone have a van with a Project 2000 drop down electric bed? Have you had issues with it? On demonstration at the dealers, the bed wouldn't go down properly. They blamed insufficient battery. On the second viewing, the bed still wouldn't go down properly so they promised to investigate once I'd put my deposit down.

I'm now Googling about this bed and it looks like there are common problems with it not going up and down properly. The solutions look very complicated and as I'm MRS Techno, not Techno himself, I don't think I'll be able to cope if the bed goes wrong.

Any advice from seasoned MHers?

 

[Yorkshirefreckles]

We’ve got a Benimar with a Project 2000 bed. Yes, we’ve had some problems with it and I can confirm the manual method is next to useless - I lost a lot of skin off my knuckles because access was so tight. Not wanting the bed experience to spoil an otherwise excellent motorhome, we had the bed re-wired to miss out the electronics and sensors that seem to cause all the issues. We now have a simple rocker switch connected directly to the motor. The bed goes up or down for as long as you hold the rocker button. Yes, there’s no automatic stop when it gets to the top, so you have to pay attention, but a small price to pay for the peace of mind of knowing that the bed will work reliably.

Now that's an idea I could get behind. I'll see how things go but I'll beat your solution in mind if things become problematic. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Yorkshirefreckles]

The Project 2000 beds were so unreliable that Benimar stopped using them in 2019, and replaced it with a simple up/down switch. - sorry not a great deal of help to the OP!

The newer ones rely on microswitches which are much more reliable, though the fuse will blow if there is too high a load on the bed when raising it (i.e. leaving something on the bed so it jams up against the ceiling.) Not a good idea to put a bigger fuse in as it is then likely to blow the motor. Another problem is that dealers never tell customers to raise the bed up a couple of centimetres when the bed reaches the down stop, as the straps holding the bed stretch slightly when the bed is used and can then jam the bottom microswitch.

That last bit is good to know and I've not seen it mentioned anywhere else. Thank you

 

[the1andonly]

I don't think Rapidos have a lower position switch. If it does its much lower than normal usage.

 

[Yorkshirefreckles]

I don't think Rapidos have a lower position switch. If it does its much lower than normal usage.

Interesting! Well I've agreed a collection date of 6 May so I'm going to find out shortly Watch this space

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[stuartholmes]

We have two electric drop down beds
in our burstner , 2019
Yes we have had troubles in the past, when we first got motorhome in June last year.
the rear bed can be manually lowered with a tool supplied. If you need to raise or lower manually if there’s a problem . We did have a couple of times it wouldn’t go up. This was solved by turning key off and resetting control panel by turning off then on after short time.
But the front drop down bed is pain if it fails to go up as you can’t drive van as it over tops seats /steering wheel, and there no tool to raise or lower bed.
We had to phone dealer to advise us , it turned out that you had to remove (pull ) two metal pins ) shows you in habitations manual how to do this. so we could lifted bed up , but was no way of holding bed up on it own , luckily I had rope on van so managed to tie bed up to young actual frame
then we was able to drive to our dealer who managed to sort within a hour or so credit to (Chelston ).
Bed had some greasing done on struts and was put down to electrical short , since then we have toured Scotland + 3 months around eu with no problems since. I think lack of use doesn’t help.
And This actually happened to us when we slept over the night in lay-by ready for travelling next day to catch euro tunnel then had the bed fault . It put us in a panic to say the least

I think I'd be getting rid of that 'van. Assuming you actually need ie. can't remove the overcab bed.

 

[rod_vw]

From what I have seen of the new Project 2000 bed that is waiting to be fitted in my MAN TGE I don't think the new versions have any physical limit switches, the position of the bed is controlled / monitored by a device on the shaft that carries the webbing belts. I've not investigated deeply but I assume that this device counts rotations or part rotations of the shaft with some sort of optical or magnetic counter and integrates this in the control unit along with the initial setting up procedure.

 

[buzz1]

I think I'd be getting rid of that 'van. Assuming you actually need ie. can't remove the overcab bed.

The layout works for us you leave beds made up put away then you have two separate sitting areas in motorhome , rear bed if it goes wrong in the future you can manually lower or higher with a tool supplied, and for same front remove to two pullout pins . Like anything easy when you know how to do it,
But stressful the moment it goes wrong and your trying to catch channel train.
In future circumstances change and if we don’t need bed up front just take it out of motorhome completely.
We love our van perfect for us .

 

[Old Gibber]

That last bit is good to know and I've not seen it mentioned anywhere else. Thank you

They are not fitted to the Project 2000 beds.

 

[stuartholmes]

The layout works for us you leave beds made up put away then you have two separate sitting areas in motorhome , rear bed if it goes wrong in the future you can manually lower or higher with a tool supplied, and for same front remove to two pullout pins . Like anything easy when you know how to do it,
But stressful the moment it goes wrong and your trying to catch channel train.
In future circumstances change and if we don’t need bed up front just take it out of motorhome completely.
We love our van perfect for us .

Ah so the manual solution to the overcab bed doesn't need a trip to agent once you know how to do it. That would about be ok!

I'd quite like one of those as long as everything fitted into a PVC..

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[Terry]

Ah so the manual solution to the overcab bed doesn't need a trip to agent once you know how to do it. That would about be ok!

I'd quite like one of those as long as everything fitted into a PVC..

It is in a pvc The bed drops down just behind the front seats

 

[stuartholmes]

It is in a pvc The bed drops down just behind the front seats

That's impressive, Don't think I've ever seen an electric bed in a PVC, I have to go and look them up!!