Motorhome charger problems

[SteveDebs]

Hi all been new to motorhoming we have come across a big problem and we are hoping kind peeps on here can help us out. Sorry in advance if this is long winded, but need to let you know all the info, Cheers.

 

We have a Mercedes Rimor Superbrig 728 and we have been having problems with the charger side of things we purchased a re-manufactured charger from A and N Caravans in colwyn Bay N. Wales, when we fitted it all was well and everything was working great, we then moved over to France and when we hooked up to the 220v supply it was not registering that we were hooked up on the control panel.

We contacted the supplier who told us it was prob a low charged auxiliary battery and it has overloaded the charger, nope this was not the case the 12v battery was bought brand new from the guy next door to A and N Caravans.

 

Charger is an Arsilicii AL310

Engine battery reads 27v stopped and 31.6v alternator running at 2500rpm

Auxiliary battery (12v) reads 16.9v.

 

A and N Caravans have told us NOT to connect the charger as this again will blow the charger and that we have serious voltage problems with our motorhome.

 

If there are any geniuses out there who can give us some info regarding this we will be most grateful.

 

Man thanks

 

Steve & Debs

 

 

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Hi all update on the charger, my multimeter has been malfunctioning and I have had an auto electrician out and had everything tested tested and all is well, he has even fixed my tester. so things are normal at the engine and alternator and feed to the charger.

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[aandncaravan]

Hello, we are A and N Caravan who supplied the remanufactured Arsilicii AL310 unit on the 14th August 2014.

When the customer contacted us on the 8th February 2015 to say the remanufactured unit had suffered a failure in the 240v charger side (all other functions worked correctly) we asked them to send it to us and we would deal with it under the Warranty.

We examined it on receipt and it had clearly had a big overload on the mains charger, we suspected by being asked to charge a very low Battery which they are not designed to do. However, we explained to the customer that we would send it back to Arsilicii as the charger was from them. The postage to Italy was covered by us.

Arsilicii came to exactly the same conclusion, that it had been overloaded either by misuse or misunderstanding so not covered under their Warranty. However they did repair it at a heavily discounted rate, I can't remember the exact figure, but around £60 including Italy's 21% VAT? When Calira have a fixed repair fee of over 200 euros + VAT, that was a bargain.

It was repaired and returned to us.

We then shipped this back to the customer in France so they could continue their holiday.

 

The customer then emailed a few days later to say he had taken voltage readings, those documented above of over 30v which would have clearly destroyed the unit as 17v as about the max they will handle.

We knew the customer was still in France so we would be unable to check the van ourselves so suggested they seek an Autoelectrician.

On the 23rd March we received an email that said, "...... all the electrics have been tested and are running correctly".

 

Neither ourselves or Arsilicii can be certain of the reason the unit failed but we both suspect the unit was asked to charge up a Battery well below the recommended minimum voltage. This was relayed to the customer along with advice on keeping the battery at a reasonable charge state.

In all there were 34 emails, giving a lot of advice and help.

 

Had there been an inherent fault in the way the Charger had been reworked by Arsilicii (who by the way are one of the best companies we deal with) it would almost certainly have been apparent with minutes of use, or at least evident inside the box.

 

The customer repeatedly explained that 'all they did' was plug it into the 240v and it failed. They did not appreciate that the state of the battery at that point was key to the Chargers wellbeing.

An old style Car battery charger will try and charge the poorest battery. A modern Motorhome charger is primarily a sophisticated Power Supply that charges Batteries, few will take kindly to a very low battery.

A car Battery charger can have a safety shutdown system if it is overloaded, but the last thing most Motorhome Owners want is the power supply to shut down and leave them with no Lights or Water Pump if things get a bit tough. Therefore most good units will continue to try their very best until failure is inevitable.

We get asked all the time why, in this day and age they can't be made Bomb proof. Well, they can, but nobody wants to pay the cost, with lots of calls that they are already too expensive and should be made simpler and cheaper!!

 

We are sorry that Steve and Deb have had issues but we have put a lot of time and effort into helping them.

We would be happy to carry out a free health check at any time convenient to them.