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When on mains power everything works fine but battery only shows 12.3v. When on battery power only the main saloon light works, nothing else. Whats going on? Is the charger duff? (I don't even know where it is!). The van is an Abbey 415 GTS Vogue (Year 2000) end bedroom.

Many thanks in advance............Graham.

i have the abbey handbook for 1991, 18 models covered  says....... 

no 12v supply working in caravan

1 check battery connection is secure

2 check battery fuse in transformer

3 battery discharged

4 loose or dirty battery connnections

5 mini circuit breaker has tripped

Hi Gary, sorry for the late reply. The charger is part of a module (Plug-in-systems). The front cover says it's an ESM2000, inside label says it's a CTTH/12A. There is no voltage at the battery end (When disconnected from the battery) The inline fuse (20A) is ok. I suspect the charger is not outputting 13.8v. Am I right? Am I wrong? Am I doomed??

Thanks also to norbertcolon for your input.

Graham.

Quote: Originally posted by Graham54 on 19/3/2006

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Hi Gary, sorry for the late reply. The charger is part of a module (Plug-in-systems). The front cover says it's an ESM2000, inside label says it's a CTTH/12A. There is no voltage at the battery end (When disconnected from the battery) The inline fuse (20A) is ok. I suspect the charger is not outputting 13.8v. Am I right? Am I wrong? Am I doomed??

Thanks also to norbertcolon for your input.

Graham.

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Have you checked the output fuse from the charger/transformer?  On some models this is on the front panel, on others  (this is the type we have)it is inside the charger/transformer.  On ours the charger/transformer is covered by a box fixed on the back of the control panel and you have to remove the pop rivets holding the cover in place to access it.

However, if your 12v items work when on mains then it points to this fuse being OK.

Is the one light that works connected directly to the battery?

Clear one thing up, Plug in Systems 'chargers' are in fact 'Power Sources' which supply 10/12 amps at 13.8 volts whether a battery is in line or not.

So as Graham says if there is no voltage change when the charger is turned on then there is a problem. This could be a blown output fuse which is normally a 'blue' 15A spade fuse, (in the fuse bank), or a bad connection between the fuse and the battery...or a duff charger.

Due to other recent problems with these I have established that with PinS control panels the main isolation switch will disconnect the battery but still supply power from the charger to the van in the middle 'Off' position while on hook up. When you change to 'Van' position it then also charges the battery.

What this means is the charger is connected direct to the fuse bank and supplies power to all systems through each individual fuse. The battery is just one system although it should be able to return power to the whole system if the charger is turned off while the switch is in the 'Van'  position.

Using this bit of info hopefully you will be able to get a bit further with what the problem is.