a strange series of electrical events ?

[Bombadilo]

I’ve had a series of electrical 'events' recently.

Not sure if any are related ?

1) A few times i have turned the ignition key to the point where the glow plugs are supposed to warm up and I have had no power at all ?

I have turned the key back and forth a few times then eventually the dash lit up, then when the glow plug orange light went out she fired up fine.

2) My plasma dials started flickering the other night.

When first fitted I took the switch and potentiometer apart and fitted them into the switch voids on my dash. They have worked fine for a few months.

I assumed maybe my soldering wasn’t up to scratch or something had come loose.
I thought – when I get chance I’ll take the dash off and have a look at that, but nothing urgent to worry about.

3) Then yesterday my stereo started to loose power. It would go on/off for no apparent reason. Today while driving on the way home from work the stereo lost power altogether. The sony stereo has a face off which I remove to turn it off. This face off seemed to be fitted ok ?

I thought maybe I should check my leisure battery as I fitted the willington kit a few months ago and did the usual mod of having stereo, blinds, interior lights run from it. These have also all been running fine for a few months now.

All connections on the vehicle and leisure battery seemed fine and no fuses or spades seemed loose in the fuse box by the drivers right knee. The bongo starts up ok so I assume the vehicle battery is ok. I have not tested the voltage of the leisure battery yet as my volt meter is in work. I cannot think why this would drain if it has ?

4) Then tried my inverter which is connected to the leisure battery (this has also been working fine for a few months) without anything plugged into it tripped out ? (would a dead leisure battery do this ?)

I have just taken the dash apart and resoldered the pot and switch on the plasma dials. The dials now seem ok but there is a high pitched whining sound ? (haven’t taken bongo for a run yet but the engine sound should drown this out)

I pulled the stereo head forward and all connections seem fine into the back.

I’ve disconnected the inverter from the leisure battery.

I still have no power getting to the stereo.

This is bl**dy typical. I’m off to Dorset on Friday.

A trip down there without my stereo and no inverter for my laptop (kids like to watch dvds) will be a nightmare.

Any suggestions ?

Any help really appreciated.

Cheers

phill

[g8dhe]

Lots of symptoms there, I think I would start with something that could be common to all of them and that would be the battery -ve connections to the chassis.
After that there seems to be implications of more than one fault.

[Bombadilo]

g8dhe,

like i said not sure if any are connected ?

thought i'd give as much info as possible to help diagnoses.

my main concern is the radio and inverter.

just been reading a thread with similar probs.

maybe my LB is dead (its only few months old ?)


i have a 100A/h - what should voltage read when fully charged ?

is it safe to put volt meter onto LB with engine running to see if its charging up from vehicle battery ?

if LB is dead would this cause inverter to trip and radio to have no power ?

if LB is to blame what could cause it to drain ?

cheers

[g8dhe]

i have a 100A/h - what should voltage read when fully charged ?

When fully charged then about 12.6 -13 Volts floating, when charging above 14+ volts.

is it safe to put volt meter onto LB with engine running to see if its charging up from vehicle battery ?

Yes you can use a voltmeter at any time, check both batteries they should be very close to identical voltage when being charged.

if LB is dead would this cause inverter to trip and radio to have no power ?

Yes if the L/B is down then the Inverter will trip out due to low volts.

if LB is to blame what could cause it to drain ?

Anything that draws current and is connected to it! Most likely candidate is the radio. You are switching the inverter Off at 12 volts when not in use ? Not just at the Mains side.
The only odd bit is that you said the radio went on/off several times at one point, presumably during the same trip ? That sort of implies a poor connection somewhere rather than just low voltage.

[Bombadilo]

i have a 100A/h - what should voltage read when fully charged ?

When fully charged then about 12.6 -13 Volts floating, when charging above 14+ volts.

is it safe to put volt meter onto LB with engine running to see if its charging up from vehicle battery ?

Yes you can use a voltmeter at any time, check both batteries they should be very close to identical voltage when being charged.

if LB is dead would this cause inverter to trip and radio to have no power ?

Yes if the L/B is down then the Inverter will trip out due to low volts.

if LB is to blame what could cause it to drain ?

Anything that draws current and is connected to it! Most likely candidate is the radio. You are switching the inverter Off at 12 volts when not in use ? Not just at the Mains side.
The only odd bit is that you said the radio went on/off several times at one point, presumably during the same trip ? That sort of implies a poor connection somewhere rather than just low voltage.

the radio has a face off which when removed cuts its power. i take this off as soon as i turn the ignition off.

i have fitted a push to make switch to the inverter. this is used to turn it on/off. i have not used it recently. i admit it could have been pressed accidently and gone un noticed.

the radio and cd did go off/on continuously when driving home. eventually it went off completely.

[Simon Jones]

Not sure how you've got your blinds, lights etc wired to the LB, but if you done the trick of removing the fuses & then fitting a couple of connectors into the fuse holder socket so you can feed power from the LB to the accessories, then check these are making good contact.

Fuse 1 is the feed for the radio etc.

[dave_aber]

Inverter left on accidentally, radio doing the on/off thing due to falling L/B voltage. Now it's too low, radio won't play at all?

Just a possibility. As suggested, a voltage check across the L/B with engine off will tell a tale. If it's very flat, then starting the engine and thus applying charging via the Willinton kit may blow one or both of the fuses in-line at the battery connections. If this happens, charge the L/B on a mains charger and refit it once charged before replacing the fuses.

My first thought was L/B Earth connection though. Definitely worth double checking it. If everything is OK, but the Willinton kit isn't switching in to charge the L/B, check it is earthed OK at the bracket on the bulkhead.

[dave_aber]

Edit : just re-read your original post.

regarding the "Switching on and it's dead" situation, I've not seen this on a Bongo, but on other cars I have seen the tail end of an ignition switch start to come adrift from the key barrel section, causing intermittent connections. AFAIK from the wiring diagrams, the key switch is a direct switch, not relying on external relays which could cause these symptoms - Perhaps Geoff can confirm this?

[wonkanoby]

the radio has a face off which when removed cuts its power. i take this off as soon as i turn the ignition off

no they all have a permanent live to retain channels etc

[Bombadilo]

Inverter left on accidentally, radio doing the on/off thing due to falling L/B voltage. Now it's too low, radio won't play at all?

Just a possibility. As suggested, a voltage check across the L/B with engine off will tell a tale. If it's very flat, then starting the engine and thus applying charging via the Willinton kit may blow one or both of the fuses in-line at the battery connections. If this happens, charge the L/B on a mains charger and refit it once charged before replacing the fuses.

My first thought was L/B Earth connection though. Definitely worth double checking it. If everything is OK, but the Willinton kit isn't switching in to charge the L/B, check it is earthed OK at the bracket on the bulkhead.

haven't had chance to get the voltmeter on the LB but i noticed the green indicator light on the LB was out suggesting it was flat. i've put it on charge this morning via a mains charger. i've visually checked the fuses between the batteries. they seem intact. i assume those strips of metal with 50 stamped on them are 50 amp fuses ? they do not look burnt through..

another thing i did notice this morning was my glow plug light started to flash once driving. it stopped after a mile or so. would removing the LB to charge it by mains then insulating the +ve lead that usually goes to it from the willington kit cause this ?

i'll check the earths to both battreries later. all fuses next to the drivers knee seem in place but i may change fuse 1 just to eliminate that.

Edit : just re-read your original post.

regarding the "Switching on and it's dead" situation, I've not seen this on a Bongo, but on other cars I have seen the tail end of an ignition switch start to come adrift from the key barrel section, causing intermittent connections. AFAIK from the wiring diagrams, the key switch is a direct switch, not relying on external relays which could cause these symptoms - Perhaps Geoff can confirm this?

this makes sense but not sure if this is related now as it hasn't happened since thie radio/ inverter/LB problem occured.

i think its gonna be a step by step elimination job.
i'll charge the LB, check the earths and fuse then report back.
just wish i knew for definate why the LB went dead. a left on inverter is the only thing i can think of.
removing the stereo face has turned the radio off for the last few months without any probs. if it was the radio draining the LB it would have happened ages ago. also why hasn't the vehicle battery been charging the LB back up while drivng if the inverter/radio did drain it ?
cheers for now

phill

[dave_aber]

Interesting one. Poor connection on the L/B Earth would stop it charging, and stop it powering the radio etc - but it would also stop the battery itself going flat. Presumably the green indicator you mention on the L/B is the 'magic eye' thing, which looks at the electrolyte level?

If the 2 fuses in the Willinton charge circuit are OK (yes, those strips with 50 on them are the fuses) then the next step is - you guessed it - get the voltmeter out and check the voltage across each battery, engine on and engine off.

When you fitted the Willinton kit, did you remove the paint around the bolt holes in the bodywork to provide a decent earth?

The starting / key issue has to be a separate thing.

[Bombadilo]

Interesting one. Poor connection on the L/B Earth would stop it charging, and stop it powering the radio etc - but it would also stop the battery itself going flat. Presumably the green indicator you mention on the L/B is the 'magic eye' thing, which looks at the electrolyte level?

If the 2 fuses in the Willinton charge circuit are OK (yes, those strips with 50 on them are the fuses) then the next step is - you guessed it - get the voltmeter out and check the voltage across each battery, engine on and engine off.

When you fitted the Willinton kit, did you remove the paint around the bolt holes in the bodywork to provide a decent earth?

The starting / key issue has to be a separate thing.

yes, the green light is the magic eye thing.

the fuses between the batteries were ok to the eye (at 10pm last night !) but i may put a meter on them just in case.

i did not use the earth from the willington kit as i had the original earth from the cold start up battery already in place. it has worked for several months but may be worth a look. the new earth cable would look nicer any way. i probably left the original in place being lazy ! or maybe because it was corroded and looked difficult to remove. i'll check tonight.

if i left my inverter on, drained the leisure battery then maybe this earth why it has not recharged.
its weird how it has worked for a while then, several events electrical happen.

any ideas why the glow plug light was flashing this morning when i drove to work ?
surely the LB has nothing to do with them ?

[dave_aber]

It's been reported on here before that L/B equipped cars with a Willinton kit will have a flashing glow light if the L/B is removed.

[thedogsbollox]

You may have read that i snapped the stud on the Leisure battery Positive Terminal whilst relocating my inverter. I had to drive on Saturday and this was with no connection at the LB+ My radio went on and off with the willington kit relay kicking in and out.
So my guess is that it is either the connections or the battery is dead.

[Bombadilo]

It's been reported on here before that L/B equipped cars with a Willinton kit will have a flashing glow light if the L/B is removed.

ok thats nicce to know its not another electrical gremlin kicking in !

You may have read that i snapped the stud on the Leisure battery Positive Terminal whilst relocating my inverter. I had to drive on Saturday and this was with no connection at the LB+ My radio went on and off with the willington kit relay kicking in and out.
So my guess is that it is either the connections or the battery is dead.

i hope its the connections - the LB is less than 6 months old. however i doubt if i have kept the receipt - only a card staement.

i'll post back once all above suggestions have been exhausted.

cheers