[thegreatpan]

Well we have picked up our new Arto, all is well apart from the noise from the battery charger cooling fan.

This fan is thermostically controlled, the noise is similar to a PC fan but a fair bit noisier, it varies in pitch as the fan speed increases, and of course cuts in and out as the fan switches itself off and on.

During the night it caused some concern forMrs TGP and I. The charger is located in the underseat locker and it was quite loud. It was easy enough to switch it off at night, and obviously no problem when not hooked up.

Is it just me, does anyone else have this problem? Travelworld assured me they all do it.

 

[CliveMott]

Get the charger moved to outside the general habitation area, Does it have a garage for example?
C.

 

[106559]

Don't know which type charger you have but I never hear the one in my Burstner. Why would it be still charging in the middle of the night anyway? At most it should be on trickle charge and not need much cooling. Perhaps the battery connections are bad or even the battery is goosed. :?:

Just seen Clive's post. Should that be necessary Clive? I wouldn't have thought so on a new expensive van.

 

[citroennut]

is that all n&b's or all 'vans?. haven't heard it on either of the hymers i've had

simon

 

[sunbeams]

I have a autosleeper wilton and it has a fan but not to noisey for me but her indoors thinks it is so we switch it off at night

 

[raynipper]

Maybe it's just Travelworld...... :roll:

Most of the American RVs they imported and sold had noisy chargers mainly due to them being designed for 60 cycles.

Your lucky as many were fitted under the bed. :idea:

Ray.

 

[b16duv]

Hi TGP,

Hope you are enjoying your new Arto!

As for the fan noise on the charger, they don't all do it - at least mine doesn't.

Are the batteries fully charged, and holding their charge? Sounds like charger may have a problem. Don't be fobbed off!

Whilst Travelworld are new to N&B, and we should give them the benefit of the doubt, from what experience of N&B chargers do they state that they all do it?

My arto is a 2006 model, so may have a different charger to yours, but if yours is so noisy you can't sleep then it should be changed.

David

ps I also posted this on the N&B uk club site incase you missed it.

 

[gaspode]

We don't get any discernible noise from the charger on our Arto.

I'd be looking for some sort of fault (not necessarily in the charger) if the fan needs to cool the charger during the night, the night load on the charger should be minimal if all is well elsewhere. Or are you running lots of appliances all day thus requiring the charger to work extra hard during the night?

 

[thegreatpan]

Thanks for all the replies, I reckon the batteries must have been quite discharged.

When we first picked it up we drove to a site 5 mins from Travelworld. We did fire up the electric blown air heating, Fridge on 240 volt, 12volt TV and Sky box and a few lights.

We also had to run the TV sound through the JVC DVD palyer, but I believe this draws from the engine battery?

We left the Arto on hookup when we got home over the weekend and the noise did not seem as bad, but I was mainly racking out the garage.

I guess if the MH batteries were partially discharged this with the load we put on it may account for the heating up of the charger?

We have put it back into storage this week (with the 12v circuits isolated on the panel), I hope to take it out over the weekend and hook it up again, whilst we finish sorting it out and loading all the ususal stuff.

I will be ineterested to see what the draw rate is on the charger.

We also have had a 120 watt solar fitted, don't know if this will effect charging? I haven't tried looking at the charge controller manual as it looks a bit complex.

TV and SAT on standby drew 4 -5 amps, I am changing all the halogens to LEDS so hopefully night time draw will be less?

If it's still noisy we shall be on the phone to Travelworld who have seemed very reasonable so far,

I'm up that way next week to watch the ODI at Edgebaston, so I may detour and listen to their other display model chargers.

Regards

Dave

 

[thegreatpan]

Still got a Battery Drain

Those that have been following my story on the N & B forum will baware I have had a constant drain on the battery even with the panel isolated.

The Arto has been back to Travelworld, their electrician could not detect the battery drain, although he did note that the battery voltage had dropped by one volt over a weekend!

I have left the van for three weeks in the storage barn following the Travelworld service and the voltage today was 8.9 volts!

I took it for a run and left it in the sun to be charged by the solar panel. When I put it back in the storage barn, I disconnected both earth leads, which is a bit of a pain, but hopefully I'll just be able to get in it and go.

I am unsure of how to proceed with Travelworld on face value they seem helpfull and friendly, but they have not resolved an issue which makes using an expensive motorhome a bit of a chore. Do you think I should contact N & B? I would appreciate some advice.

Thanks

Dave

 

[b16duv]

HI

Have you had a load test done on each battery - sorry, I know there is a technical term for this, but I can't remember!

It could just be that the batteries are goosed?

Try removing them, charging them on the bench and then measuring the voltage on a daily basis - if it's still declining at 1 volt per day my guess would be they're done.

David

 

[thegreatpan]

I should have said the batteries were checked by Travelworld, who informed me that they were o.k.

 

[erneboy]

We had an Autotrail with a noisy charger, we just had to turn it off at night.

As to your battery problems, demonstrate the problem to the dealer and keep doing so till they fix it. Involve N&B by all means. Faults which dealers regard as fairly trivial can drive us users crazy and make our MHs very inconvenient to use, so just be persistent and calm, Alan.

 

[richard863]

Noisey battery charger

We had a Arto prior to this one, and yes the charger fan did resonate on the wall of the seat. I made 4 washer out of high density foam, then fitted them between the bulkhead and the charger. It solved my problem.
Hope this helps

 

[TDG]

Re: Still got a Battery Drain

..... makes using an expensive motorhome a bit of a chore. Do you think I should contact N & B? I would appreciate some advice.

Thanks

Dave

Absolutely not! Travelworld would see that as them being let off the hook. You've paid serious money to them and a contract still exists between you and them. Keep on at them, being firm, persistant and polite but if that fails, get a full survey and report from a fully qualified electrician, get the problem fixed and then go to the Small Claims Court to recover your costs.

 

[thegreatpan]

Letter to Travelworld to be drafted this week, I hope they will sort it out

 

[thegreatpan]

Due to time constraints, travel distance and the fact Travelworld could not find a fault, I took the Arto to Johns Cross our local dealer. They diagnosed no discernible battery drain with panel isolated, the same as Travelworld, but they stated that the batteries were goosed.

They have replaced the gel type batteries with two lead acid types of a similar size, as well as making the necessary adjustments to the chargers. One month on, no drain of the batteries during storage job done.

It's a shame Travelworld did not sort out what was a basic problem as they seem very customer focused at first glance and other than our battery issue they have treated us well.

We're of to France and Spain for a few weeks next week and can now relax knowing out van is sorted.