We were just working in our caravan and hooked it up to the electric in my house and found none of the interior lights are working. The sockets are working though. We have checked the fuse and that is ok. Can anyone give us any advice on what else it could be or what to try?
We took the caravan to York in September and the lights worked then, although they kept dimming when other electrical items were used, we just put this down to the ampage or could it have been the start of the problem? we are new to caravans so any help would be appreciated.
The lights should be 12V, so you need to look in that area. It's possible the zig unit (battery charger) is turned off/tripped & your battery is flat (assuming you have a battery). This would explain why the lights were dimming on your last trip, as the battery would have been nearly flat. It's also possable your battery is faulty, causing the zig unit to shut down. The first thing to try would be to check for 12V across the battery if you have a multimeter. These are just a few pointers to start with, there are other possible problems that would cause this. Good luck.
when you say the lights are 12v and we need to look in that area - what do you mean? Do you need a battery if you are using an electric hook up? We cannot remember if we took the battery out on our first trip to york. Sorry but this is all new and I am glad that people like you are willing to help, thank you.
What if we put the battery back in and tried the lights then?
Most caravans lights run of 12V. This usually consists of a 12V battery & a zig unit (battery charger). The lights should run on battery alone when you're not connected to the mains, until the battery runs flat, When connected to the mains the charger runs the 12V items (lights etc) & keeps the battery charged. So the first thing to do is connect the battery back up. Most vans, although not always recommended will run on the zig unit alone, without the battery, so I'm not sure why yours isn't. The zig unit is usually somewhere near the battery box, usually under a seat (but maybe different in your van), check it's powered on, you should see a light on it when connected to the mains.
connected to EHU the 12 volt lights should work without a battery connected.sounds like a faulty charger as this can also be the reason the battery is flat.check battery with a meter it should read 12.7 volts for a full charge. there has been a batch of faulty chargers in swift groop caravans.some have had three replaced.
my muskateer is a 1991 caravan, we only bought it last year and took it out once. Later we are going to put the battery back see if it works on that. It previously worked just on ehu, so i am a little confused.
if its a 1991 model the batch of faulty chargers was much later but it could still be the charger at fault.check with a meter on the battery terminals when connected to EHU and at the battery you should be getting 13.5 to 14 volts when on charge. check fuses too the charger one will be about 10 amp and could be next to the charger or inside it.
------------- the only silly question is the one you do not ask.
check the fuses on the output of the charger if no voltage, earlier chargers were just that rather than a power supply and only provided a charging voltage, the dimming you experienced could be due to overloading the charger, particularly if it was caused by the pump.
My pump draws 6A by itself, larger ones even more add that to a couple of lights, it could easily overload a charger, my van is a similar age to yours, and the charger is rated at 6A.
newer vans have much more powerful charger/powersupplies and can be used with no battery.
My musketeer didnt even have a factory fitted charger and it was an '88
thanks for all your help people, we have put the battery back on the caravan and the lights work fine. I emailed the bloke i bought the van off who told me they only worked off the battery. This is all a learning proccess for us as we are new to caravanning but its nice to know you are all there willing to offer advise, thank you very much
good result there,i would look to update your charger if you have one as a full battery doing pump and lights operation will only last three or four days.
------------- the only silly question is the one you do not ask.