How to interpret the Central Control Panel readings

[theoldmancunian]

This may seem very naive and embarrassingly stupid of me, but I have no idea how to interpret the volts and amps readings that are displayed in the central control panel in my 2008 Cali. Apologies for my lack of understanding but my schoolboy studies of electrics never got me very far!

Presumably these readings relate to the leisure battery - or do they show readings off the main van battery? On start-up the A reading often leaps from 0 to about 24 and then gradually comes back down, often to c.6 or at times as low as 1 or 2. Is that what I should expect? What does that actually mean and at what point is it showing something that I ought to be concerned about?

Similarly the V reading is c.14 ... what am I to take from that?

Surprisingly there's nothing in the manuals as far as I can see to answer these questions.

Any help that anyone can provde would be very much appreciated!

 

[calikev]

Hi there good question by the way
This is how I understand it I may be wrong
I think the display shows the leisure battery and the 0-24 you describe are amps being drawn from the leisure battery nothing to worry about The v reading is the volts being generated by the alternator should be somewhere between 13 - 14v this is quite normal just means the leisure batteries are getting a good charge when the engine is charging the batteries you will see a little G in the bottom right and when plugged into the mains you will see a little plug bottom right if you look at the display and then turn something like the fridge on you will see the amps go up and then after a while drop back down all perfectly normal

 

[theoldmancunian]

Calikev
that's really useful and very reassuring!
Thanks
Simon

 

[GeoffB]

Thank you Kev, it was all Greek to me as well!

 

[Tony hylton]

Good morning, reference monitor problems, I had the camper in the garage last week.
I was not happy with the readings showing on the monitor.
to me nothing has changed since the visit, the garage said they had reset the monitor.
overnight the monitor drops to 70%.
engine started and one minute later monitor shows 100%?

 

[WelshGas]

Good morning, reference monitor problems, I had the camper in the garage last week.
I was not happy with the readings showing on the monitor.
to me nothing has changed since the visit, the garage said they had reset the monitor.
overnight the monitor drops to 70%.
engine started and one minute later monitor shows 100%?

View attachment 63568

View attachment 63569

View attachment 63570

Firstly, the voltage is more important than the % which is just a calculation. The % is always reset by Ignition On, or rebooting the panel by switching Off using L lower button and then On using same button.
Fully charged the Leisure Batteries should show a voltage of 12.7 to 12.8 on the Control panel with everything off and 1 hr after charging by engine or mains charger.

 

[Tony hylton]

Firstly, the voltage is more important than the % which is just a calculation. The % is always reset by Ignition On, or rebooting the panel by switching Off using L lower button and then On using same button.
Fully charged the Leisure Batteries should show a voltage of 12.7 to 12.8 on the Control panel with everything off and 1 hr after charging by engine or mains charger.

Thanks WG

 

[ThomasHJ]

Firstly, the voltage is more important than the % which is just a calculation. The % is always reset by Ignition On, or rebooting the panel by switching Off using L lower button and then On using same button.
Fully charged the Leisure Batteries should show a voltage of 12.7 to 12.8 on the Control panel with everything off and 1 hr after charging by engine or mains charger.

I find this very interesting, because I too have wondered a few times and never seem to remember what is normal. Havent had the chance yet to test how long our van lasts without being on EHU, while camping.

So @WelshGas 12.7/12.8 is normal for a fully charged battery, not on EHU? The image below is downloaded from a thread somewhere on this forum if I remember correctly. So that image is correct? But this is the voltage when not an EHU, I assume? And what is a normal voltage when it is on EHU?