When we imported our Eriba the Dealer in the Netherlands fitted a CTEK battery charger, which seems to work well. Jandi and a local caravan guy did various small mods incl 13 pin connector, I did some further work to sort out problems they left, and it's working OK with no leakage that I can measure but after a long storage period we have a flat battery despite a solar trickle charge. I'm wondering if the CTEK box is the culprit, or the solar controller (surely not!), or even the Eriba controller which was not installed for a battery in the first instance.

So I'm feeling the whole setup is a bit of a mess and wondering about replacing it with a modern all-in-one unit, I'm looking at the Savage EC155
http://sargentshop.co.uk/epages/eshop328...Products/WB1005

This seems to be much more suitable, it has a remote control/battery monitor, so you can switch everything off for storage. The connections look pretty straightforward, there's a wiring diagram supplied for caravan installation and it seems to be easy to match to the existing Eriba wiring which I have got to know quite well. And it looks like it will fit quite well where the existing unit lives. I'm reasonably competent with electrical stuff.

So any observations, experience, misgivings or ideas would be very welcome.

Whoops I meant Sargent EC155, but I expect you worked that out

Thanks Aaron, I had read your article a few days ago and I guess it led me to think that a complete new start might be quite sensible. Our BIP unit never had a charger and it's suffered from some incompetent tinkering (at one point somebody had reversed polarity on one of its circuits which perplexed me and the fridge for quite a while). Having puzzled over its mysteries before, a completely new box with only external connections to worry about is very appealing. I've abandoned the possibility of charging from the car at the moment, we get by quite well on some hookup and some solar.

I too read Aaron Calder's comprehensive piece about the BIP unit, and "the horror lurking under the seat next to the wardrobe" – not least because our Triton is of more or less the same vintage as Aaron's, was sourced from the same supplier, and, to us at any rate, is so far completely un-field-tested. I've been toying with the idea of following the same route as he took, but at the moment I'm holding off, following the maxim "If it ain't broke don't fix it". Time will tell!

Anyway, good luck with your upgrade, and do let us know how it goes (and how much it costs!).

I suspect our BIP unit is even more 'classic' than Aaron's and yours Martyn, certainly I was quite disturbed by its mechanical complexity and rather ramshackle air, considering that the electronics industry in the 1990s was really very sophisticated and able to package producs very well. Maybe that's the price of having a very quirky French van. Now they are made in Germany perhaps things are different.

Fitting the Sargent Unit to the Famila would take a bit of thought, especially as it really should be accessible without having to unmake the bed (we like our permanent double bed). I was pondering making a new front panel for the dinette seat/bed support and incorporating a recess that will hold the control unit with a little door in front to protect it from diner's heels. That panel is already carrying a little solar controller, a 12V socket and a 13A socket so a good tidy up would be sensible anyway.