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Quote: Originally posted by Tim and Cary on 10/4/2013

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0v on the charger output cable connector. 13.3v on the other side of the 12v connector - presumably from the battery. So it appears that my original diagnosis is correct.

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If it's possible that the unit suffers from poor ventilation then adding a computer case fan is cheap and easy to do.

They only cost a few quid and will happly run of a wide voltage 10-15V dc.. No point putting a fan into a sealed box. You'd need to pay attention to how the air flow is directed ie where are you pulling air into the unit and where it exits as batteries give off hydrogen gas when charged so it should vent externally if the charge is in with the battery. . A couple of holes (entry/exit) and suitable grills would surfice.

You'd also need to consider how it will be switched/fused. I'd fit a relay so it only powers the fan when the charger is outputting. Simply running it in parallel to the battery would mean it would run whenever the battery was connected.

Quote: Originally posted by joanshubby on 20/9/2013

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Hi Tim, I am interested how you have got on with your charger problem. I have the same thing happen to me while I was in France this July. The charger kept tripping out one of my trips so that I had no hot water or 240 lights. I pulled out the kettle plug and sorted out the tripping out. Then I went out and bought a small car battery charger to get me through my holiday.I am looking for some sort of replacement and wondered what you have used ? I don't fancy
going down the BCA rout as they seem to be US IMHO.

Dave    

Hi Dave

On the recommendations of folk on another "blue" caravan forum I purchased direct from Amperor an 18 amp 3-stage charger/PSU. It cost £69.95 plus carriage and was delivered promptly.

In May John, my caravan engineer, fitted this during my c'van's annual service. John was already familiar with these units and had fitted a number of them as replacements without any subsequent failures.

At my request he bolted the charger onto the OUTSIDE rear of the wooden housing surrounding the electrical supply unit. I had him do this as having 2 of the original chargers fail I felt that enclosing them inside the unit had caused them to overheat and burn out.

John did have to use additional connectors to connect up the 12v wire and drill a hole through the back of the casing to route the new wiring.

The new charger has worked very satisfactorily keeping the battery fully charged and supply power as needed for the 10+ weeks we have subsequently spent away in the c'van. The metal casing of the new unit has lots more ventilation slits than the one it replaced. I sometimes hear the unit's internal cooling fan cycling on and off to prevent it overheating.

Amperor currently seem to be currently out of stock of this unit. Amazon list it too but they seem, also, to be out of stock.

This is the link I used:

http://www.amperorassociates.co.uk/c-battery_chargers/BatteryC-3_18A.html

I hope this helps.

Tim




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Tim and Cary