Well we went and took delivery of our new van and headed away for a weekend break a week later at whitemead.All was fine when we eventually managed to sort things out and we settled down for the night after a few pints at the club.When we awoke however things were different.
All the trips were still up,all the fuses were ok,the hook up lead was ok but we had no electricity. If i switched over to battery then fine but turn battery off and nothing. After much headscratching a fitter from the dealership came out.He replaced the whole consumer unit and as soon as he did the led light for mains hookup came on and all was ok. Thinking all was sorted we went to sleep for 2nd night only to wake up to a freezing cold van and exactly the same problem. Having been told it was nothing we were doing wrong on 1st night i am at a total loss to what is wrong. We had to drop the van off at dealers on way home for to investigate again when their fitter comes back in.
Does anyone have clue about whats happening to our electrics?
All that was left on overnight was the heater at 500w on a 16 amp supply.
What make is the charger unit? I have had problems with mine (nordelettronica) I lost my 12v on the 2 times I have been away - I am currently running through an older unit with no problems and am reluctant to put the original kit back in as now lacking confidence in it.
Mine went down at night when we had a lot of things running,so I was guessing that this was the probable cause, but the manual says if it is overloaded it will shut itself down i.e lights dimming - not pack in altogether.
Will be interested to see others opinions as the chap doing our repair has been told there are quite a few dodgy charger units in new vans and is surprised there hasn't been a recall.
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The unit is a nordelettronica and funnily enough the fitter mentioned they had been warned of some problems with units but not my particular model. On both occasions it happened through the night but i would have thought if i overloaded the system the trips would operate and cut out but i lost all 240 supply altogether.
Charger definitely, even overloaded it works in exactly the same way as at home - it will just trip until you reduce the load. It could possibly be damp in the wiring somewhere but i find that hard to believe. if the trips are closed then the transformer is broken. Good luck.
Two units failed,one after the other. The one already fitted to the brand new van and the second new replacement. It didnt happen straight away on either occasion but overnight on both. Were still scratching our heads and havent heard of the dealer yet.
Depends on the power set up - my last van had a zig, the zig powered the 12v and 240v appliances when the EHU was connected, the battery was not being used, and it also charged the battery. My new one just charges the battery - the battery still powers 12v stuff like the lights. Depending on the set up it can be the power unit. My zig went on my old van and alsorts of weird things happened - the lights dimmed in a sort of disco effect, then went off.
After much head scratching and 2 weeks at the dealers they have informed us that the whole charging unit is faulty and has been replaced. They also said something about a recall on new swift group vans fitted with these chargers so maybe theres something to watch out for here. Thanks for everyones comments.
Thank goodness it is not just us, we have had the same problem in our vogue 530 bought last June. We have had four chargers (one for each weekend we have used it), the latest one being an updated version which was supposed to better than the original. This blew on the weekend at Whitemead, apparently Swift are aware that the new type are also causing problems. Ours blew overnight and we only had the storage heater on 500w!! It looks as though we won't get it replaced for Easter!!