battery charging

irishtear

Hello,Just bought a globetrotter 1994 dethleffs on a transit and cant seem to charge the battery.It was working when I got it and we ran it down using lights.We plugged it into the mains at the house for a full day and nothing happened.Our lights that are full power came on but no charging took place.I think there is a button or something we are not doing,any ideas would really help..Thanks:)

AutostratusEB

Is your charger switched on?

irishtear

Thanks for the reply ,I was hoping someone knew where the charger is and how to work the panel on the wall.Under the front dashboard ,passenger side ,there is a black box unit and a small tiny red switch on the side of it ,if that might be it. I would say its the panel on the wall where the problem is .Thanks

AutostratusEB

I'm no expert but...

The charger is often located in a locker. Often possibly also as you say under the dashboard. I'm only really familiar with Zig units from around the same era as your MH. There are pro's on here who can help with other charger units from other manufacturers. Zig units have an on/off switch.

It takes a 240vAC feed from mains or a 12V feed from engine battery when the engine is running. When on mains, check that the MCBO for the charger on the fuse/distribution board is on.

It also sounds like your charger isn't charging from 12v side either. There are fuses in the engine compartment between the engine battery and the fridge/charge relay that could be blown.

There should also be a 25-30A blade fuse inline between the charger and the leisure battery. Check this also. Some German units have fuses in the charger units themselves.

There are a lot of reasons as you can see.

If all else fails, bring it to a MH service engineer. Pat Horans, Maynooth motorhomes, donagheys etc etc.

Your charger could also be toast. Like I said, my original Zig unit was from the same era as yours and I had to replace it last year.

Hope this helps, but I think you may be better off getting a qualified person to look at this especially as you seem new to the whole MH thing.

One last thing - if your leisure battery is completely discharged now (ie 10.5v or less) and doesn't get a charge very soon, chances
are that it will be toast also, so I would get this sorted as soon as you can.

irishtear

Thank You for all the info Autostratus ,I will have a good look around later,Thanks again ,Irishtear.:D

Pjwal

i have a 1987 fiat dethleffs. no charging was working in it when i bought it. the charging unit in my one is a red box fitted under the passenger seat. this box was faulty. i fixed the plug in(220v) charging my buying a small household car battery chager(e45) and connecting it the battery and mains power so that it works automaticaly every time i plug in. and for the engine battery i got a 40amp relay(e4) and wired that in between the engine battery and leisure battery so that it charges when ever the engine is running,i know all this is a cheaper solution for if you dont sort your own unit, if you need more detail on this, let me know.

munsterabu

irishtear wrote: »

Thanks for the reply ,I was hoping someone knew where the charger is and how to work the panel on the wall.Under the front dashboard ,passenger side ,there is a black box unit and a small tiny red switch on the side of it ,if that might be it. I would say its the panel on the wall where the problem is .Thanks

Hi irishtear,
that black box is you,re charging unit the red button is a resettable fuse that you can push in to reset ,if my memory serves me right it clicks when reset also has a power cable close to the red button which should be in ,is the panel a calira ?

munsterabu

dont know how familiar you are with these ,but dont start the engine with the hook up (220 v supply) connected to the van,this can cause an overload and do damage,

irishtear

Thanks Lads,The charging problem was sorted last night.I followed AutostratusEB's advise and went into the engine bay.There was a red fuse between the charger and the battery and it crossed from one side of the engine to the other.I checked the fuse and it was blown.I replaced it and bob's your uncle .Thanks also to Pjival and munsterabu for their thoughts.The black box under the dash was indeed the charger.So thanks again to all ,,,,great forum. Irishtear.;)