Yet Another Carthago CBE PC180ca panel fail

Steve and Denise

Steve and Denise

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Well here we go yet again last panel lasted just over two years☹️
The van has been in for a new window fitting and part of company policy is to isolate the batteries,
anyway collected the van and yes the PC380ca is f*******d that’s Failed with a capital F just as well we carry a spare, best get another on order££££☹️
 
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That's bad luck they do seem to have a problem rebooting after a shutdown, shame Carthago wont allow dealers to recode them.......
 
AdrianChen said:
That's bad luck they do seem to have a problem rebooting after a shutdown, shame Carthago wont allow dealers to recode them.......
Click to expand...
It’s not bad luck at all Adrian it’s down to producing a substandard shite product,
in time when we replace our van it won’t be a Carthago and definitely won’t have a CBE panel☹️🤣

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Trouble is it seems they are used on lots of vans - not that I've had the problem yet - but I agree with the product analysis!
 
The new Malibu Carthago van I have ordered comes with a Schaudt EBL not a CBE DS. Have they changed supplier or have the vans always Schaudt?
 
I can sympathise, but you are not alone. I posted on here for help on Sunday last when the control panel on our Hymer of two months old threw a terminal wobbler. I think poor quality is is sign of these post covid times in all walks of life.
 
You only blew it so you could have a moan on the forum didn't you. :rofl:
You loved that van a couple of years ago.

I've never thought much of Schaudt but it seems a lot more reliable than CBE and can normally be repaired.

Far too much electronics in modern vans that is technical overkill. What's wrong with using a switch to turn something on, oh no we can't do that we must use a microprocessor.

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Has anyone ever had one of these failed panels looked at on a workbench? I wonder if these could be repaired at a component level, or is this a software failure with the firmware on the chip corrupting?
 
TheBig1 said:
Has anyone ever had one of these failed panels looked at on a workbench? I wonder if these could be repaired at a component level, or is this a software failure with the firmware on the chip corrupting?
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Yes I sent an old one to an electronics guy he told me it was a firmware issue.
 
Lenny HB said:
You only blew it so you could have a moan on the forum didn't you. :rofl:
You loved that van a couple of years ago.

I've never thought much of Schaudt but it seems a lot more reliable than CBE and can normally be repaired.

Far too much electronics in modern vans that is technical overkill. What's wrong with using a switch to turn something on, oh no we can't do that we must use a microprocessor.
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Who’s post are you referring to Lenny ?
 
Steve and Denise said:
It’s not bad luck at all Adrian it’s down to producing a substandard shite product,
in time when we replace our van it won’t be a Carthago and definitely won’t have a CBE panel☹️🤣
Click to expand...
Our March 2005 Concorde is a cbe one and is still original and working.
 
Steve and Denise said:
Yes I sent an old one to an electronics guy he told me it was a firmware issue.
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Damn that's a shame as I can do some board level repairs. Firmware you are reliant on the manufacturer to release it so it can be re-flashed to the chip
 
Theoretically if you had a second working panel you could read the data off that and clone it to the other panel
 
Steve and Denise - You’ve always said they were shite since the first failure!

So is this the case of fitting spare, getting knackered one fixed and storing as the new spare and rinse and repeat every time one fails then Steve?
 
Steve and Denise said:
It’s not bad luck at all Adrian it’s down to producing a substandard shite product,
in time when we replace our van it won’t be a Carthago and definitely won’t have a CBE panel☹️🤣
Click to expand...
If they struggle after inactivity is the battery on the PCB faulty? Its a known problem on older CBE panels after a few years.

Might it be repairable. Our 20 year old panel was showing signs so I had a local techy guy replace it, wasnt expensive.

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Old CBE panels preventive maintenance

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...
www.motorhomefun.co.uk www.motorhomefun.co.uk

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jongood said:
If they struggle after inactivity is the battery on the PCB faulty? Its a known problem on older CBE panels after a few years.

Might it be repairable. Our 20 year old panel was showing signs so I had a local techy guy replace it, wasnt expensive.

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Old CBE panels preventive maintenance

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...
www.motorhomefun.co.uk www.motorhomefun.co.uk
Click to expand...
Seems odd that some vans seem to have repeated problems and others don't (somebody else on the Carthago FB owners group has literaly on the same day had his second panel stop) - so I'm suspicious that the panel (re-booting?) issue might be caused by something incorrect going on in the DS470 distribution/fusebox when fully powered off ie when the batteries are isolated - I haven't had any problem after three years, but I am careful to turn the panel and solar off before isolating the batteries, and I have developed a nervous tick while doing so! Either way the system shouldn't be so tender
 
AdrianChen said:
Seems odd that some vans seem to have repeated problems and others don't (somebody else on the Carthago FB owners group has literaly on the same day had his second panel stop) - so I'm suspicious that the panel (re-booting?) issue might be caused by something incorrect going on in the DS470 distribution/fusebox when fully powered off ie when the batteries are isolated - I haven't had any problem after three years, but I am careful to turn the panel and solar off before isolating the batteries, and I have developed a nervous tick while doing so! Either way the system shouldn't be so tender
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Do you mean, like connecting the battery to the solar reg before the panel? The Solar reg not knowing what power is required before it kicks into life could cause some problems.
 
jongood said:
Do you mean, like connecting the battery to the solar reg before the panel? The Solar reg not knowing what power is required before it kicks into life could cause some problems.
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That sort of thing, and turning the battery isolator switch off when the panel is on, so the DS shuts down awkwardly and leaves the panel in a state it doesn't reboot from??????

Just a flat earth theory!!

It's these sorts of paragraphs from the manual that make me think(ish):

"If the on/off switch on the control panel is deactivated, there will still be a small amount of current withdrawn from the battery capacity by consumers such as the electronics of the charger, electronics of the control panel, as well as special de-vices.

If the voltage of the main cabin battery falls below 9.5 V, the control panel switches off."

I wonder if fiddling with the SOS fuse on a failed panel might get it to reboot?
 
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CazPaul said:
Our March 2005 Concorde is a cbe one and is still original and working.
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I don't want to tempt fate, but ditto here on our 2006 N+B Flair CBE panel.

AdrianChen said:
I wonder if fiddling with the SOS fuse on a failed panel might get it to reboot?
Click to expand...
That might be worth a try Steve. 🤷‍♂️

Cheers,

Jock. :)
 
AdrianChen said:
That sort of thing, and turning the battery isolator switch off when the panel is on, so the DS shuts down awkwardly and leaves the panel in a state it doesn't reboot from??????

Just a flat earth theory!!

It's these sorts of paragraphs from the manual that make me think(ish):

"If the on/off switch on the control panel is deactivated, there will still be a small amount of current withdrawn from the battery capacity by consumers such as the electronics of the charger, electronics of the control panel, as well as special de-vices.

If the voltage of the main cabin battery falls below 9.5 V, the control panel switches off."

I wonder if fiddling with the SOS fuse on a failed panel might get it to reboot?
Click to expand...
No tried that one 👍
new panel now fitted

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