Aux heater stopped working overnight

[Mart123blue]

Camped in Seaford overnight, went to bed in a storm and woke up to lovely day but aux heater has stopped working after keeping me toasty all night.

Having read through some posts I think my problem could be low voltage, I attach some photos. The leisure battery was flat on Friday when I left Hampshire but fully charged by the time I arrived. Everything has worked fine since then until this morning.

The control panel seems to switch fridge off in an effort to start aux heater and it seems to be drawing a lot of amps also hopefully shown.

If it is low voltage I do not understand how this occurring unless the battery is faulty - The van is 18 months old.

Thanks in advance for your help, I'm a Civil Engineer and useless with electrics.

Cheers M

 

[Loz]

Yes, flat batteries. The drive there bulked up the batteries but they weren’t full, full.
the 15a start up current from the heater is just dragging the voltage down below the cut off point.
run the engine for a bit and it will fire up.

also, don’t let the leisure batteries get below 10.6v for too long as this will kill them.
if you can’t hook it up at home to keep them charged consider a small solar panel to keep them topped up and ready for a trip.

 

[Mart123blue]

Thanks bud, I've got the engine running now and everything working fine.
The irony is, I have hook up available but like the self sufficiency of using the batteries.

Thanks again, M

 

[Bellcrew]

Thanks bud, I've got the engine running now and everything working fine.

Check your leisure battery fuse, you may be operating on just one, search the forums for more info.

 

[Mart123blue]

Thanks, heading out now, I'll have a look this evening. I've always had a sneaky feeling that something isn't quite right...

 

[WelshGas]

Thanks, heading out now, I'll have a look this evening. I've always had a sneaky feeling that something isn't quite right...

Your right there. Was your ehicle made to order or ec-demo?

 

[Mart123blue]

It was pre reg, but sat around for ages due to emissions issue. It had 17 miles on the clock when I received it.

Thanks for posting during semi final, that's dedication...

 

[Borris]

Apart from battery condition, there are other reasons why it would stop. I believe that if the fuel level is low it will cut out at a predetermined point to stop you from emptying the tank and becoming stranded. Also, if the preset internal temperature is reached it will cut out.

 

[WelshGas]

It was pre reg, but sat around for ages due to emissions issue. It had 17 miles on the clock when I received it.

Thanks for posting during semi final, that's dedication...

I think, if the Leisure Batteries were tested properly It would be found that they had been flattened and damaged during storage. They should be replaced.

 

[Mart123blue]

Cheers Borris, I think the issue is electrical I've got loads of fuel and the van was cold. As soon as I started the van it fired up fine. I'll check the fuse this evening.

If there is no issue with the fuse WelshGas is it a matter of booking it into the dealer to get the batteries checked?

 

[Hotel California]

If you arrived with 100% showing on the panel and after one night with fridge and aux.heater on showing 60% , or the battery's are damaged (running on only one also possible ) or you must have run looots other electric things and set the fridge and heater on max setting .
60% in my 7y old Cali takes at least 3days before showing .

 

[Loz]

10.8 v is 0% not 60%, I think the control unit is out of calibration. needs a few cycles to catch up.

 

[Mart123blue]

F me I'm confused. Just searched for leisure battery fuse and cannot work it out. I thought I'd be opening a fuse box and using the little tongs to pull a standard fuse out... can someone point me to an idiots guide or do I need an auto electrician?

HC I arrived on Fri night, only spent evenings in the van - mother in law lives 2 miles away. Only kit used is fridge on 4 and radio for a couple of hours a night, plus mobile phone charger and aux heater on 2 overnight. Came back to van tonight, battery on 20% so connected hook up...

 

[WelshGas]

F me I'm confused. Just searched for leisure battery fuse and cannot work it out. I thought I'd be opening a fuse box and using the little tongs to pull a standard fuse out... can someone point me to an idiots guide or do I need an auto electrician?

HC I arrived on Fri night, only spent evenings in the van - mother in law lives 2 miles away. Only kit used is fridge on 4 and radio for a couple of hours a night, plus mobile phone charger and aux heater on 2 overnight. Came back to van tonight, battery on 20% so connected hook up...

Rear Leisure Battery, under rear wardrobe. On the +tve Pole there is a white cube fuse. On my vehicle it is 50 amps but I believe it might have been upgraded on the T6 to 75 amps.

 

[Loz]

 

[Hotel California]

F me I'm confused. Just searched for leisure battery fuse and cannot work it out. I thought I'd be opening a fuse box and using the little tongs to pull a standard fuse out... can someone point me to an idiots guide or do I need an auto electrician?

HC I arrived on Fri night, only spent evenings in the van - mother in law lives 2 miles away. Only kit used is fridge on 4 and radio for a couple of hours a night, plus mobile phone charger and aux heater on 2 overnight. Came back to van tonight, battery on 20% so connected hook up...

With only that power usage you should easy do 3-4 nights before things should shut of .

 

[Mart123blue]

Thanks everyone, do I get to the fuse by sticking my head in the bottom of the wardrobe, or via the boot?

 

[WelshGas]

Thanks everyone, do I get to the fuse by sticking my head in the bottom of the wardrobe, or via the boot?

Open the tailgate. L hand side there is a hatch. Remove hatch and you will see 2nd Leisure Battery. Slide battery out by removing clamp and bolt and use a paint scraper or nife to lift battery over lip. The ccables are long enough to do this without disconnecting them. Cube fuse on +tve. Be aware +tve still live if disconnected as it is connected to front Leisure Battery.

 

[MattBW]

Careful not to break the fuse, its easily done.

 

[Mart123blue]

Ok thanks, I've opened hatch and need a socket to remove clamp. I'll sort when I get home.

 

[Stevebeve]

I has exactly the same issue as this last night - picked up my 2006 Cali SE a week or so ago and have a trip planned this weekend so decided to try out both sleeping arrangements. Friday slept downstairs with no issues, wasnt that cold so no heater required. Last night decided to try upstairs, the heater was ticking over nicely and off to sleep i went only to wake in a very cold van at 2pm with no heater!! Tried turning on, it came on fan kicked in then it stopped, no warning message - battery was showing 70%. Got up this morning and tried it again but same thing happened. Anyway, hot cup of coffee and ready for work, drove in and tried the heater on the way in and low and behold it was working fine.

From this i am guessing that the battery(s) are gone and not holding the charge.

Just been to the van and checking the battery level and it is flicking between 12.4V 80% -0.2A and 12.3V70% -0.2A

i know it had only done around 3k miles in the past 3 years and so guessing that they havent been charged regularly. i have a 3 month warranty with the garage i bought it from, is there a simply way of me checking the status of the batteries prior to taking it in to them as i dont want them to fob me off.

In terms of the trip this weekend the sites we are booked onto all have EHU if the van is hooked up then will the heater run without any issues or am i going to have a very unhappy Mrs in a cold van?

Regards,

steve

 

[Mart123blue]

Steve as you can tell from my posts I'm no expert but i do have practical experience. I think you will be fine on the EHU, my batteries were very low before I had an issue. The nuclear option is to start the van and that will boost the voltage enough to get it fired up, after that the EHU should be sufficient.

I would recommend having the aux on 1 overnight if downstairs or 4 if upstairs. I prefer upstairs but it's a lot colder.

 

[Loz]

 

[Mart123blue]

Quick update

I couldn’t find a problem and waited until her first service with approx 4 months warranty remaining.

to cut a long story short, the van has been at Breeze in Havant for 3 weeks and they’ve finally changed both leisure batteries.

A good result in the end and thanks to you all for giving me the confidence to see it out.
Cheers M

 

[ed6789leopard]

I have just had this problem overnight. Had to restart the vehicle for 5 mins and it would work again for a few hrs. In the manual it says “if the battery voltage drops below 11.5 volts the auxiliary heater cannot be switched on” see pg 49 under battery charger. So mine is 90% charged so I will try a new battery I think…