Nuevo 05 Electrics and battery

Hi everyone. I have an 05 Peugot 2.0hdi Nuevo that has started to play up. New to motorhomes so any help would be appreciated. Only owned for 9 months.
I have trawlled through various threads, but can't find anything thats fits my scenario, so,

• Suddenly after 2 weeks laid up Both batteries flat.
  
• Jump started, 15 minute run and seemed ok. Both batteries showing in the green on the control panel.
  
• Put onto hook up O/N
  
• This morning vehicle battery has insufficient charge to start engine.
  
• Jump started, but now habitation control panel is dead. No interior lights , water pump etc. etc.
  

• Has worked perfectly for 9 months but have now got suspicious of a previous very occaisonal smell in cab area (once or twice in 9months). We also had to have 2 interior lights renewed recently due to "faulty" circuits.
  

When (and if) my wife gets back in it tonight, my intention is to put the vehicle battery on charge through an optimate.

• Do I need to disconnect the earth or live to the vehicle? - this looks difficult with the position and all the extra plate full of connections on this terminal.
  
• Does charging and jump starting the vehicle battery effect the habitation battery
  
• What could be causing the drain - (how to measure?)
  
• I don't know the technical differance between vehicle and habitation batteries, any one know if an optimate recharge would help out the habitation battery?
  

Any advice would be welcome, as would any reading material which would help me understand the complexity of the vehicle!
Many Thanks in anticipation
Steve
Please PM me for e mail address if you have anything of use to me :)

Paul is yer man for mark 1 Nuevos, I'm sure he will answer your questions shortly.
Boaby

My Nuevo is a 2006 so presume has same control panel which is an MES brand. Picture is a library photo not mine so don't worry about the heater control being different.



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The battery gauge only shows state of leisure battery not engine battery. It makes no difference whether the hab/vehicle switch is switched to vehicle, that is only for charging purposes. I've never jump started mine and never charged it with an outside charger whilst still connected. Can't be much more help at the moment other than to suggest checking fuses under drivers seat where the leisure battery is as that may be the cause of the control panel not working.

stephen8doyle wrote:Do I need to disconnect the earth or live to the vehicle? - this looks difficult with the position and all the extra plate full of connections on this terminal.

No - generally with modern intelligent chargers and trickle/maintenance chargers you don't need to do anything other than connect them up. You may need to exercise a bit more caution with older chargers, and you definitely need to be very, very careful with fast chargers, because they can raise the battery voltage temporarily to very high levels which can damage control modules in the vehicle.

One other point: It's a really bad idea to put your email address in plain view on any forum, unless you like receiving spam...

-mojo- wrote:

stephen8doyle wrote:Do I need to disconnect the earth or live to the vehicle? - this looks difficult with the position and all the extra plate full of connections on this terminal.

No - generally with modern intelligent chargers and trickle/maintenance chargers you don't need to do anything other than connect them up. You may need to exercise a bit more caution with older chargers, and you definitely need to be very, very careful with fast chargers, because they can raise the battery voltage temporarily to very high levels which can damage control modules in the vehicle.

One other point: It's a really bad idea to put your email address in plain view on any forum, unless you like receiving spam...

Thanks -- and good point about e mail- I guess I am a bit too trusting, only just realised there was a e mail link in the forum

Paulmold wrote:My Nuevo is a 2006 so presume has same control panel which is an MES brand. Picture is a library photo not mine so don't worry about the heater control being different.



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The battery gauge only shows state of leisure battery not engine battery. It makes no difference whether the hab/vehicle switch is switched to vehicle, that is only for charging purposes. I've never jump started mine and never charged it with an outside charger whilst still connected. Can't be much more help at the moment other than to suggest checking fuses under drivers seat where the leisure battery is as that may be the cause of the control panel not working.

Thank you :)

The Caravan Club website has a very informative article on batteries. It makes clear the difference in structure of engine and habitation batteries and includes good guidance on charging and general maintenance. It's a useful starting point for the novice owner.
Find it by putting "batteries" into the search facility. Keith

Whilst info from the likes of the CC may be a guide they are not always upto date for all vehicles and do not take into account variations from norm such as the Ford Auxillary Battery fitted into Mk 7 Transits, which are neither a habitation nor a starter battery.

I have a similar van to yours Stephen. Regarding the smell in the van, see this post; [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Roger and Peter
Steve wrote "Any advice would be welcome".
I wrote "It's a useful starting point for the novice owner"

I stand by that. It provides a reasonable conceptual framework within which he can apply and better understand more specific advice he might receive relating to his MH.
Keith

Having previously owned a 53plate nuevo, I had similar issues and found the problem to be poor and overheating connections on the fuse holders under the drivers seat. Some of the connectors were badly scorched and I had to remake using new connector blocks obtained from Halfords. The leisure battery also had to be replaced. Good luck, great van ,

Hi Heidi went through a similar scenario last year, without the smell.
Tried charging x 2, then garage jump started her, eventually had new vehicle battery fixed which seemed to do the job.
Have Nuevo 2.2hdi, 2005 model, am also very new to all these problems, unfortunately I fail to understand all the technical stuff, so have to rely on garage a bit more than I would like.
Hope you're able to sort it soon, before a freeze.
Regards B.

Steve,
If you are in RAC etc. and have "homestart", or whatever, then call 'em out and they all carry battery testers and will be able quickly to tell you if either/both of yours are duff.
If you are not in RAC etc or have not got homestart... why not?

Hi everyone. Firstly I am stunned by the help offered. Thank you. I have a plan!
1. Measure voltages. 12.2 vehicle and 11.92 Hab after a 36 mile run.(still no habitat lights)
2. put accumate on min 24 hrs (this is where I am up to) Remeasure voltages. At present accumate is showing steady green = bat ok. But after waiting for feedback from manufacturers, they advise disconnecting batteries and putting through 24/48 hr analysis cycle separately. ( how do you disconnect the hab batt under the seat?)
3. I will publish resultant voltages ASAs I can get at the vehicle in daylight after 1st cycle of leaving the vehicle intact on the intelligent charger.

Afeter reading the various thread people have kindly posted, my suspensions are leading towards relays.
There are two relays under the seat-Which is for what?
I have taken pics but can't seem to upload them. It keeps going around in circles!
PS and no I don't have a cloud to direct to, the only cloud is in my head LOL

Also, I am thinking if relays are generic, and easily and economically obtained, I would quite happily replace both as a long tern investment in reliability? You thoughts?

If you read my earlier post Stephen, I mention where relays and holders can be obtained from.
Also the link in this thread may be helpful. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Regarding getting to the leisure battery, yes, the seat has to be removed. A pain first time you do it, but a small mod to the non captive nuts can make future removal a doddle.
Al.

stephen8doyle wrote:

I have taken pics but can't seem to upload them. It keeps going around in circles!
PS and no I don't have a cloud to direct to, the only cloud is in my head LOL

This may help

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Hi, I had similar problem with my 06 Nuevo when I first got it last year. I didn't realise that you could charge both batteries from the on board charger when connected to 240v supply. Think you have to have the control panel 12v master switch to 'on', and select 'habitation' to charge the leisure battery. I had to replace the vehicle battery, but I found that although it looked quite complicated to disconnect the negative terminal, it was only fixed by one bolt. All the other cables could stay connected. Don't know if your model is the same, but mine has a switch to stop the radio switching off automatically. As the radio runs off the leisure battery, leaving this switch on seemed to drain it. Someone suggested that a battery condition indicator that plugs into the cigar lighter would be useful. I got one for a couple of quid from ebay and I use it all the time.

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Hi, sill working through issues. Peter had it right with the blown fuse. But now very suspicious of relay. I can see a purple wire has been purposely ct and replace. What dos this feed? I can't see a purple one on the wiring diagram.