Old CBE panels preventive maintenance

[jongood]

On a previous thread John Russell detailed the problem he had when the battery on his CBE panel leaked killing the 12v power and damaging the PCB, this has prompted me to take a look at mine and I recommend everyone with an older panel has a look at theirs. Ifyou catch it before it does any damage then its fairly easy to do, possible to do it yourself but I decided to get a local techie guy to do it.

This is my panel

( This is post)

On the back is a battery, the blue thing, and you can see its starting to leak ( It is 20 years old afterall)

This has soldered in tabs, so the answer is to cut the battery out, solder a pair of wires and a plug onto the tabs and connect a battery pack.

So you end up with a separate battery in a holder that should last a good long time but in any case is unlikely to leak onto your PCB. Cost of the whole job for me was £60 most of which I suspect was labour.

Well worth thinking about if you have an older MH with an electronic panel
JockandRita Flairy Northernraider nicholsong

 

[Northernraider]

On a previous thread John Russell detailed the problem he had when the battery on his CBE panel leaked killing the 12v power and damaging the PCB, this has prompted me to take a look at mine and I recommend everyone with an older panel has a look at theirs. Ifyou catch it before it does any damage then its fairly easy to do, possible to do it yourself but I decided to get a local techie guy to do it.

This is my panel

View attachment 795932

( This is post)

On the back is a battery, the blue thing, and you can see its starting to leak ( It is 20 years old afterall)
View attachment 795933

This has soldered in tabs, so the answer is to cut the battery out, solder a pair of wires and a plug onto the tabs and connect a battery pack.

View attachment 795934

So you end up with a separate battery in a holder that should last a good long time but in any case is unlikely to leak onto your PCB. Cost of the whole job for me was £60 most of which I suspect was labour.

Well worth thinking about if you have an older MH with an electronic panel
JockandRita Flairy Northernraider nicholsong

Mine is a very basic panel not sure if it has a battery in it. But uncle Lenny HB is revamping my electrics soon so he'll be able to advise if mine has a battery .

 

[Lenny HB]

Mine is a very basic panel not sure if it has a battery in it. But uncle Lenny HB is revamping my electrics soon so he'll be able to advise if mine has a battery .View attachment 795986View attachment 795987

I'll show it where the bin is.

 

[JockandRita]

jongood. Thanks for the "heads up" Jon. I'll have the panel off and have a look when next in the MH.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[John Russell]

Any panel which keeps its settings when switched off will have a rechargeable battery, and as Lithium's didn't arrive until 2010s, older vehicles used NiCads which eventually leak as mine and Jon's did.

The leaking exudate travels down the soldered tabs onto the PCB where it will gradually eat through the copper traces below the battery.

When that happens, the panel will fail, and as these traces can be the size of a hair, repairs are not easy.

If there's a NiCad battery in your electronics, replace it with a sealed Lithium battery before it causes serious damage.

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[Tigger-Tim]

Any panel which keeps its settings when switched off will have a rechargeable battery, and as Lithium's didn't arrive until 2010s, older vehicles used NiCads which eventually leak as mine and Jon's did.

The leaking exudate travels down the soldered tabs onto the PCB where it will gradually eat through the copper traces below the battery.

When that happens, the panel will fail, and as these traces can be the size of a hair, repairs are not easy.

If there's a NiCad battery in your electronics, replace it with a sealed Lithium battery before it causes serious damage.

Agree about older panels.

The latest CBE PC380 panels appear to use a super capacitor. And this seems to fail.

 

[JockandRita]

Any panel which keeps its settings when switched off will have a rechargeable battery, and as Lithium's didn't arrive until 2010s, older vehicles used NiCads which eventually leak as mine and Jon's did.

The leaking exudate travels down the soldered tabs onto the PCB where it will gradually eat through the copper traces below the battery.

When that happens, the panel will fail, and as these traces can be the size of a hair, repairs are not easy.

If there's a NiCad battery in your electronics, replace it with a sealed Lithium battery before it causes serious damage.

John Russell, I know this is an old thread John, (and jongood ), but can I ask where you found the equivalent sealed lithium replacement battery please? I have found replacement NiMH batteries.

GP 3.6V 80mAh+lithium rechargeable+replacement - Google Search

www.google.com

I'm having problems with the panel, and that NiMH battery is now showing signs of leakage, but powder as opposed to liquid at this stage.

Cheers for now,

Jock.

 

[jongood]

John Russell, I know this is an old thread John, (and jongood ), but can I ask where you found the equivalent sealed lithium replacement battery please? I have found replacement NiMH batteries.

GP 3.6V 80mAh+lithium rechargeable+replacement - Google Search

www.google.com

I'm having problems with the panel, and that NiMH battery is now showing signs of leakage, but powder as opposed to liquid at this stage.

Cheers for now,

Jock.

Hi Jock, I've just seen and answered your post on FB assuming you hadn't found this thread. If its leaking then I would change the battery asap. I ddcided it was a bit too tricky for my soldering abilities so got a local "fixit" guy to do it for me. If you can't find one then pm me and I will see if you can post it directly to him, hes done a few jobs for me.

 

[JockandRita]

Hi Jock, I've just seen and answered your post on FB assuming you hadn't found this thread. If its leaking then I would change the battery asap. I ddcided it was a bit too tricky for my soldering abilities so got a local "fixit" guy to do it for me. If you can't find one then pm me and I will see if you can post it directly to him, hes done a few jobs for me.

Thanks Jon, much appreciated.

Cheers,

Jock.