Phil Titterington Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 Swift Fairway, 12vdc electrics stopped working overnight. Have checked fuses next to the ECM and also by the front foot locker(in line to battery lead) All ok, am I missing something obvious and simple????? Thanks in advance for help. P T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David 38 Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 Battery Flat? Quote Regards, David Peugeot 308 GT Premium, 1.5 diesel 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WispMan Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 Are you on EHU which should charge your battery? 1 Quote Graham Unless otherwise stated all posts are my personal opinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevan Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 11 hours ago, Phil Titterington said: am I missing something obvious and simple????? You sound as though you are missing a multimeter! A cheap (under a tenner) tool which can give you an easy way of narrowing down your search for the fault. Your First check should be whether or not there is 12v (or a little more) at the battery terminals. Second should be whether or not this changes according to whether or nor the ehu is plugged in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David 38 Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 1 hour ago, Stevan said: You sound as though you are missing a multimeter! Will the Swift caravan model have a voltage meter on it's control panel? Quote Regards, David Peugeot 308 GT Premium, 1.5 diesel 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevan Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 2 minutes ago, David 38 said: Will the Swift caravan model have a voltage meter on it's control panel? Doesn't really matter. Built in voltmeters are usually of appalling quality and, because they are hard wired cannot be used to check the voltage at different parts of the system. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David 38 Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 23 minutes ago, Stevan said: Doesn't really matter. Built in voltmeters are usually of appalling quality and, because they are hard wired cannot be used to check the voltage at different parts of the system. True but would answer my basic question is the battery flat and WispMan question regarding charging. Quote Regards, David Peugeot 308 GT Premium, 1.5 diesel 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macafee2 Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 2 hours ago, Stevan said: You sound as though you are missing a multimeter! A cheap (under a tenner) tool which can give you an easy way of narrowing down your search for the fault. Your First check should be whether or not there is 12v (or a little more) at the battery terminals. Second should be whether or not this changes according to whether or nor the ehu is plugged in. your first line was my thought, lol, brilliant. macafee2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevan Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 17 minutes ago, David 38 said: True but would answer my basic question is the battery flat and WispMan question regarding charging. Not really, a zero reading could either be a flat battery, a blown fuse, a corroded battery terminal, or any number of loose/failed connections. It could give some information, but not much that is helpful, effectively trying to work with one hand tied behind your back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtrailman Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 I've always found caravan voltmeters such as fitted to Bailey very useful and near enough accurate to show battery state and whether charging correctly. And then Swift have the app which is again useful in my experience. Maybe the charger has failed or it has no solar panel, or the battery as expired. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevan Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 1 hour ago, xtrailman said: I've always found caravan voltmeters such as fitted to Bailey very useful and near enough accurate to show battery state and whether charging correctly. And then Swift have the app which is again useful in my experience. Maybe the charger has failed or it has no solar panel, or the battery as expired. Yes, in a fault free system they are "near enough accurate to show battery state", however they are a pretty poor tool for fault diagnosis when things go wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 3 minutes ago, Stevan said: Yes, in a fault free system they are "near enough accurate to show battery state", however they are a pretty poor tool for fault diagnosis when things go wrong. I don’t think they were installed for that purpose. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Titterington Posted January 24, 2021 Author Share Posted January 24, 2021 On 22/01/2021 at 22:37, Phil Titterington said: Swift Fairway, 12vdc electrics stopped working overnight. Have checked fuses next to the ECM and also by the front foot locker(in line to battery lead) All ok, am I missing something obvious and simple????? Thanks in advance for help. P T Thanks to all contacts for your recent help. multimeter purchased from Screwfix and it points to a “Duff” battery. Replaced and all seems well. Thanks again Ohil Just now, Phil Titterington said: Thanks to all contacts for your recent help. multimeter purchased from Screwfix and it points to a “Duff” battery. Replaced and all seems well. Thanks again Ohil Phil not Ohil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Plodd Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 Before you get too excited I would suggest you use your multi-meter to check that the on board battery charger is actually working!! Test the battery voltage when unplugged from EHU, then plug into EHU and check again. The second reading should be higher than the first, if it isn’t then the charger could be duff ( not an entirely unknown occurrence) Flattening a battery too far can cause irreparable long term damage to it. 1 1 Quote Experience is something you acquire after you have an urgent need for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David J-R Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 (edited) On 24/01/2021 at 15:33, Mr Plodd said: Before you get too excited I would suggest you use your multi-meter to check that the on board battery charger is actually working!! I agree I have seen too many car and caravan batteries replaced when the problem was not the battery but the charging system. Check that when the electric hook up is plugged in the voltage goes up to at least 14 volts at the battery terminals. Unplugged a good battery will drop over a few hours then hold above 12.7 volts. (Thats unless items are switched on in the caravan. Depending on whats switched on it may drop fairly quickly to below 12.7 volts) As soon the EHU is re-connected the voltage should climb back up again. Many modern caravan chargers can charge at around 15 volts until the battery is nearly full and then settle around 14 volts. Edited January 30, 2021 by David J-R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtrailman Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 My swift has a 2 stage charger which will charge at 14.4volts if required, then float at 13.8volts. My Baileys only had a one stage charger set at 13.8volts, it charged the battery but just took longer to get there because of the lower voltage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Plodd Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 1 hour ago, xtrailman said: My Baileys only had a one stage charger set at 13.8volts, it charged the battery but just took longer to get there because of the lower voltage. I don’t think that’s too much of an issue for the majority of Caravan owners, who spend the vast majority of their time on campsites as they are on EHU 24/7 CL users probably won’t be on EHU anyway so cannot recharge their leisure battery from the mains so the rate of charge is immaterial to them. Quote Experience is something you acquire after you have an urgent need for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WispMan Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 1 hour ago, Mr Plodd said: CL users probably won’t be on EHU anyway.......... We have stayed at quite a few CLs over the years but never stayed at one that didn't have EHU. 1 Quote Graham Unless otherwise stated all posts are my personal opinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveat92 Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 36 minutes ago, WispMan said: We have stayed at quite a few CLs over the years but never stayed at one that didn't have EHU. That may be that you avoided those that don't? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtrailman Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 Same here only use small sites a lot ex cl sites but only those with mains. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfr Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 In the past it was very common to find CL's with no EHU but not now as it seems that is what most people want. Of the 2200+ CL's in the CAMHC book there are apparently just over 1800 that have EHU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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