12v caravan lights help

[krazylegz]

Anyone good with the above?

My brother has just bought a Lunar 2000LX 505L (1997 model i think).

Any ways there is 2 faults.

1) The 12v lights dont work, when i put a fuse in it the fuse either blows straight away or it gets so hot that it melts the plastic off the fuse. I dropped the lights down and one of them the wires + & - were all melted and touching causing an obvious short, so i cut the melted light and wires off and taped them up so they dont touch. Thinking i'd found the problem i tried again but still doing the same. Could it be possible for too much power to be running through them some how?

2) The fridge doesn't work, the green light lights up to indicate power going into it but its not getting cold neither is the freezer.

any help is appreciated

[satsmo]

Is it currently supplied by mains or battery m8?

[krazylegz]

both bud, it does the same if i disconnect the mains.

think i'll get underneath it tommorrow and clean the earth points down on the chassis then disconnect each light and try to trace the fault that way

[satsmo]

Looks like a cable fault as you said. I would start at the main switch fuse and work across all the MCBs. Could be earth leakage as you said, is the board protected by an RCD/ELCB?

A cheap earth leakage tester would probably help rather than a continuity tester. But I would look at replacing the damaged cables after you have discovered the fault. Replacing the cables is the easy part finding the fault is always the difficult part.

Sorry I cannot be of more help m8 but caravans and me do not get on

One thing to note though if in doubt get a qualified electrician to take a look as a good jolt is not want you want.

[krazylegz]

there is them rcd's but not for the 12v circuits, the rcd's are for the 240v circuits and the 12v circuits are just car blade fuses.

you're not the only one who doesn't get on with caravans

[Meat-Head]

1) The 12v lights dont work, when i put a fuse in it the fuse either blows straight away or it gets so hot that it melts the plastic off the fuse. I dropped the lights down and one of them the wires + & - were all melted and touching causing an obvious short,

2) The fridge doesn't work, the green light lights up to indicate power going into it but its not getting cold neither is the freezer.

any help is appreciated

1) GUESS that this wire you mention, has had some pissed up fat smelly unemployed bloke feeding it with fuses and has caused the cable to melt
all the way through. Now a good dead short, or it has more than one of these 'faults'

If you can trace it back to it's supply, suspect Zig unit, disconnect, usually on choccy blocks, and repeat experiment with fuse.

2) As a rule on a caravan frige, the 12 volt is ONLY active with the vechile connected, usually engine running, as it will drae 9 scamps and flattern your battery VERY quickly.

It is normally worked with a heating element, that can be changed
(just for reference to see what' i'm babbling on about, do some reasrach on bathroom Towel radators with electric conversion)

GUESS it might have gained a leak and lost it's gas.

See if you can (temparally) connect the fridge direct to battery and see what happes. via a 15a fuse


Would have posted this 20 mins ago, but got collered by the frigging naybour

[melloned]

either a dead short on your 12v , or an over voltage , due to a zig charger fault . What make is the fridge Mate ? , if it's an electrolux / dometic , a universal 240v element can be had off ebay for around ?24 . I've just changed mine and it's working a treat now .

[krazylegz]

1) GUESS that this wire you mention, has had some pissed up fat smelly unemployed bloke feeding it with fuses and has caused the cable to melt
all the way through. Now a good dead short, or it has more than one of these 'faults'

If you can trace it back to it's supply, suspect Zig unit, disconnect, usually on choccy blocks, and repeat experiment with fuse.

2) As a rule on a caravan frige, the 12 volt is ONLY active with the vechile connected, usually engine running, as it will drae 9 scamps and flattern your battery VERY quickly.

It is normally worked with a heating element, that can be changed
(just for reference to see what' i'm babbling on about, do some reasrach on bathroom Towel radators with electric conversion)

GUESS it might have gained a leak and lost it's gas.

See if you can (temparally) connect the fridge direct to battery and see what happes. via a 15a fuse


Would have posted this 20 mins ago, but got collered by the frigging naybour

yeah i know what your about as i suspect a element, been told its usually those on these fridges

either a dead short on your 12v , or an over voltage , due to a zig charger fault . What make is the fridge Mate ? , if it's an electrolux / dometic , a universal 240v element can be had off ebay for around ?24 . I've just changed mine and it's working a treat now .

yeah got a element on order, its an electrolux.

i'm swaying to over voltage for the fuses to melt if it doesn't blow, i take it the current passing through the fuse should be 12v?

i'll buy a voltmeter to test it

[Meat-Head]

i'm swaying to over voltage for the fuses to melt if it doesn't blow, i take it the current passing through the fuse should be 12v?

i'll buy a voltmeter to test it

you mean voltage

THINK/pretty sure what you have is either a another 'dead short the same as before' or the loom is burnt out.

it 'can't be over voltage as it still blows on the battery.

the zig unit is a charger, unlikly to be a power unit to run the 12 volt electrics.

BEST bet is to unscrew the zig unit disconnect power first as normally
all exposed wires, disconect that color you have found shorted (GUESS the if it has white is the neg) then see if fues blows then.

[chucklor]

It sounds to me that you may have more than one problem, as suggested disconnect the circuits via the block connector at the zig unit. I would then identify the phase and nuetral feeds to the lighting system, remove all lamps, and with a multi meter carry out a continuty test if you find a fault replace the offending cable. I would then look at the power source as something has caused the problem initially, check what the output is. As for the fridge I would meter it out at the point where it connects to the fridge if you get 230v then you know the problem lies within the fridge unit,and as suggested possible element...chuck

just a quick note as I can recall a 3 way fridge has 2 light lndicators switches on the front,green will be for the 230v connection and the red one for 12v,get the required temp off the 230v supply the 12v only works like a cool box while making your jouney also does the gas option work if it has one(small sight glass at the bottom rear of thr fridge)

[bilsat]

Someone hasn't connected the 12 volt lines to 240 mains by accident, if so then everything connected could be now faulty.
If the cables are fused together then a large current has passed down them so replace them! Remember that where cables pass through holes if no grommets are fitted then the cables could chaf on any metalwork....

[dik]

Someone posted a very usefull tip in Meat-Heads "tips & tricks" connect a 12v headlamp bulb accross where the fuze goes instead of the fuze, if its shorting out the bulb will light up wiggle wires until bulb goes out or dimmer and you will have found the short.

[krazylegz]

the headlight bulb sounds like a good idea, but as all the cables run through the ceiling i cant get to them to wiggle them.

i bought a multimeter and the voltage through the fuse is fluctuating between 12.60v and 13.05v so its not over voltage and a obvious short somewhere, i'm not very good with multimeters.... so what setting should i put it on to test for continuity?

[Canker_Canison]

If memory serves it's a single setting that looks like a triange with a flat line across it's tip. When you select it you should see a 1 on the display, if you connect the red & black leads together it might beep & the display will drop to 0

[chucklor]

You volltage sounds OK they usually run at between 11-14v what canker says is correct and will determine that the circuit is complete and hence will buzz, to test for continuity flip it onto the ohms scale and test at the live and neutral your meter should read "0" as the circuit should be open if you have a resistance then you know somewhere it is closed or shorted hence the reading. Sorry for any delays in the replies but Im away in the States and we are 6 hours behind...chuck
but remember crazylegz to remove any lamps(bulbs) as this will close the circuit