We have now disconnected the earth side of the battery. We have unplugged the white plug from the Inverter and the noise continues. As a final action, should we disconnect the positive side of the battery? Your comments are much appreciated. Dafydd and Beryl

Hi Dafyyd

As John E has intimated, if you dont know what you're doing and not following even the basic instructions to commence a fault finding procedure then its probably best you leave well alone and get to speak to the dealer you bought the van off

Silence is golden. Thank you so very very much. So now what do we do? Can we live without this inverter? I now need to charge the flat battery with the mains from the house, is that a safe thing to do? Can you please let me know?
Due to the French one month holiday, my local garage could not obtain a tow bar for my new Scenic. The distributors are open on Monday to receive orders so hopefully in one week we should be able to get delivery of the tow bar get it installed, and be able to move the caravan. Whether we can use it depends on how essential the invertor is, and and whether the battery will hold its charge.
If you fancy a few days here in France, we will look after you and feed you, and collect you from the airport at Bergerac,
Thank you again Dafydd and Beryl

You do not need the inverter Dafydd.

You shouldn't recharge the battery until the inverter is disconnected from it since you'll just repeat the situation youre in.

If you disconnect the van from your mains (if it is still connected) the battery will eventually go flat and the noise will stop.

You wont have any lights in the van or be able to use anything electrical until the battery is charged again

The person that comes to sort your towbar will most likely be able to advise how to do that

Quote: Just_Chilin wrote in post #34

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You wont have any lights in the van or be able to use anything electrical until the battery is charged again

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Yes since if he disconnects the mains there wont be any power for the transformer and this is what is advised until his inverter connections are identified and his alarm problem resolved

All good advice, Dafydd.

Additionally, I hope the following may be of help to you:

What you have referred to as the 'fuse box' is called the BIP Unit which contains the battery charger, fuses and a mains circuit breaker located on the left hand side - where up is ON and down is OFF.

Switch OFF the mains circuit breaker located on the BIP unit

Disconnect your mains hook up cable, now you can safely remove both battery clamps.

Remove the inverter's 12V input (both + and - cables) from the battery clamps.

Reconnect the battery clamps and connect the mains hook up cable.

You must have a multimeter to be able to measure the voltage across the battery before switching on the BIP's circuit breaker.
This is important as a common fault with the BIP's charger is that it can produce a much higher output voltage than it should which will damage the battery very quickly.

With the meter set to dc volts range connect it across the battery - as the battery is flat it may show less than 5 Volts.

Reconnect your mains hook up cable.

Now switch on the BIP's mains circuit breaker (UP position).

You should see a red LED illuminated on the front of the BIP unit - this shows that mains is getting to the battery charger.

Look at the meter - it should read over 12 Volts if the battery charger is working. The voltage will slowly increase to about 13.7 Volts as the battery takes the charge.

If the voltage quickly rises to over 17 Volts the charger is faulty and as I mentioned, will overcharge the battery. If this is the case, switch off the circuit breaker.

I would suggest that before going any further you disconnect your mains lead, switch off the 240v circuit breakers and remove the mains plug from the inverter which should be connecting the inverter to your 240v distribution box. Then get someone in who is qualified to sort it out. Apart from a remote switch, there should also be a changeover switch somewhere to set the mains input to be from the inverter or the hookup cable. (This may however be automatically controlled by the inverter) . If it was me I would have the inverter removed as it is hard to see what you would use it for. You would usually be on a hookup or just use 12v. Anything else like a hairdryer for instance would flatten your battery very quickly.
You may find a boatyard more useful than a caravan dealer as it is common to have 12v, 240v ac and an inverter on canal boats so they should be able to help. I have an inverter on my boat and even with 4 110a/h batteries use it very sparingly and never without the engine running to keep the batteries topped up.

We cannot thank you all enough. You are all welcome here, but please do not all come at once, not enough space! You are all appreciated Thank you again. Dafydd and Beryl

Many, many thanks for the numerous messages to do with our problem. It is the very last line on your last message, that makes me think. Where in the UK do you live? Would this be the address where we would bring the Eriba to you? If you are willing to sort this out for us for a fee of course, we could combine the trip with visiting relatives. We hope you don't live in Sornoway!!!! Portsmouth would be brilliant!!!

Seriously though, I might have to attempt to follow your instructions, but I would need to buy a multi-meter, and I have a friend who is an old fashioned engineer, and a very clever one who lives locally. However, he is at the moment a bit frail just having had a Pacemaker fitted.

Your instructions "switch off the mains circuit breaker, located on the BIP unit". We are totally ignorant about these matters, and this BIP unit is very inconveniently mounted where you can't actually see the front of the unit, unless you have a double jointed neck, and possibly with a mirror.
With this knowledge, I will consult with my friend to see if a combination of an 82 year old and an 86 year old and a 73 year old tea maker female can make the world go round. Thank you Dafydd and Beryl

John E
Would you be good enough to look back at the photo of the fuse box I posterd earlier? It seems to have two switches on it, Do we turn both switches off or just one, and if so which one please? Thank you so very much. Dafydd and Beryl

Hello Dafydd

The double-width switch on the left is the mains 230V circuit breaker, and this is the one I refer to in my previous post.

The narrower switch next to it must always be in the OFF position, ie down.
Its purpose is entirely historical and if left ON can cause problems when the caravan is connected to the car.

Good luck!

John

We have done as you suggested, We have
1. switched off mains circuit breaker, located on the DIP unit. 2, Disconnected our main hook-up cable and removed battery clamps 3. Removed the Inverter's, 12v input (both + and - cables) from the battery clamps. In the meantime as suggested, we have removed the Inverter completely. This is as far as we have got. I am getting a multimeter in the morning so that I can carry on. Can you please suggest what do I do with the wiring that supplied the removed Inverter? May we please rely on your good nature to help us through these difficult processes, we have been on the computer all morning and cannot find anyone to help and guide us here in France. Thank you Dafydd and Beryl

If youve disconnected both the + and - 12V inputs to the inverter via the crocodile clips then youll be completely safe.

Just roll the cables up and tie them up neatly with a cable tie, an elastic band or some string.

If youve only diconnected the cables from the back of the inverter let me know, but from the sound of it youve disconnected the crocodile clips off the battery which is best

Confirming the removal of the Inverter
1. the cable from what used to be the rocker switch
2. the two pin plug next to where the rocker switch used to be
3 the leads from the Inverter removed from both battery terminals
4 the two + and - leads from the back of the Inverter
I will contact you tomorrow, after I will be in possession of the multimeter after lunch I hope.
We have not excluded the idea of an UK visit with the caravan, if the virus and the rules allow us . We both received our second Pfizer jab in April. Again, our heartfelt thanks Dafydd and Beryl