Created by KeefH Web Designs, November 3rd, 2022, 14.19 PM
OVERVIEW
We have had a ticking noise issue behind what we thought was the control panel in our van for about 6 months now, and no it wasn't the usual dial on the fire not being set back to zero on the gas half, i.e., it is trying the pilot light ignition.
We got to the point whereas the level of noise grew we turned off the habitation switch which charges the 12V battery when you are hooked up to electrics at a site, which on one dark long night recently was not clever as all the internal lights went off.
So, I researched Google as you do looking for a specialist in electrics for recreational and / or leisure vehicles and I'm so pleased to say I found Gary. What a lovely fellow with 47 years' experience in the field and just so knowledgeable.
We had to drive to his house in Lichfield but so glad we did. He was initially perplexed by the ticking noise but eventually traced it to a hidden transformer gadget (don't ask me I'm no expert) whose fan was partially stuck and as it tried to rotate made what sounded like a clock ticking #hintsandtips #horology
So well done, he is going to order a new one for us as it was unrepairable and fit it for us, we will return to Lichfield which as a byproduct of this we managed to call in on, never having been before, fab city.
He is always busy so I wouldn't want this post to swamp him with work, but if you need an expert Gary, is your man. Can't recommend him enough to my motorhome-travels fraternity.
UPDATE 24/11/2022
Gary now had the part, a replacement 10-amp charger for the habitation (hab) battery, which has no fan and because we have many of the internal lights replaced with LED ones (easy to do folks honest, if I can do it anyone can) the drain on the internal battery is not so much.
We drove to Lichfield once again (a lovely city and home of the other Darwin, Erasmus) taking a somewhat torturous route, note to self don't let satnavs take you down long winding single-track roads of in the middle of nowhere #haha where we met again Gary and his very kind wife who was lovely chatty and offered us a drink. Anyhow Gary replaced the offending 18-amp part, and all is now quiet and correctly charging the habitation battery.
Whilst in the process of checking all the chargeable mains connections Gary discovered some reverse polarity #overmyhead where someone (to be identified) had put the live in the neutral and the neutral in the live, presumably by mistake, as some stage in the main switch board. #notgood #dangerous #scary
Gary sorted this and retested everything. Now all good. We asked what the effects of that would be, if you were touching the metal of the van outside and put your hand on the ground whilst mains were plugged in you could get a nasty electrical shock. Horrible and something we had no idea about.
We all reflected on why anyone would do such a thing and concluded it can't have been wrong from when the van was built by autosleeper in the Cotswolds as they know what they are doing. The only thing we know about in our tenure of the van, now 10 years plus, was Don Amott's whom we don't trust having used them for many years as it is where we bought the van put in a new fire as a condition of our purchase, the old one did not work. Gary said the connecting wires were short so maybe, just maybe they did this to make it fit, but realistically who knows. I have to say we had so many issues with their service over the years we would NEVER use them again #hintsandtips
So pleased Gary fixed this for us, now no noise whatsoever and the battery we know charges properly, we could not recommend him highly enough a very helpful chap and just so knowledgeable, we would always use Gary for electrical and probably gas work on the van, just hope now nothing goes wrong again for a while.
Got the van home, getting ready for winterisation we washed it with the soapy high pressure jet spray, chammied it down to remove the last residues of summer dirt and left it to dry before putting on the breathable cover for winter resting. Happy bunnies now with Wendy houses repair work.
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