Burstner Ducato 1992 A Model - 12V supply Dead

Hi there, this is my first post here - got this wagon 6 months ago and with COVID only beginning to drive it now so please forgive some newbie cluelessness.

I'm setting out the symptoms here at length to give you the full picture - any advice most welcome because the 12V electrics are completely dead at this stage.

I brought it to a dealer who says he doesn't know what's wrong, would take him a few days at dealer prices which would not be economic given age/value of vehicle so I'm trying to diagnose/fix it myself.


We bought the van in February, all electrics - lights, pump, shower etc working.

We got it home and all was working for a week or so when we showed it to people.

We didn't drive it anywhere for that week - it was parked in the yard.

After having it for a week my wife, her sister and kids stayed it in for a night to try it out.

They wanted to plug in an electric heater to the 220V supply so I hooked up the hookup lead for them, they plugged into the onboard 220V and all appeared to be working fine.

In the morning they woke up and everything was dead - lights, heater off etc

When they examined the hookup lead it had come loose or perhaps had never been plugged in properly.

Since that the 12V supply has not worked or is working very erratically.

The Cramer control panel will come on after a while plugged into the hookup lead and will show the engine battery at 14V, and the leisure battery at 0V or 0.1V.

Over many hours the leisure battery will gradually increase to 4-6-maybe 8 Volts but the pump never works when we try to switch it on.

The voltage reading on leisure battery never gets above 8V even after charging for 3 days.

The Burstner instruction manual says if the leisure battery reading falls below 8V to switch on the engine until it gets to 8V and then the hookup lead will take it from there to 12V. However, we've driven for hours at a time and the engine never seems to charge the leisure battery at all although when I measure the voltage of the leisure battery with a voltmeter it's at 12V.

Occasionally if we try to switch on the lights they will either come on momentarily and then die and it's back to square one with the control panel or they will come on for a few minutes and then die.

When the lights come momentarily and go off we can hear a click like a relay but we don't know which one or where.

I went out one night to lock up the van and when I opened the door the footwell light was on. Normally it never comes on.

The fridge will not work on 12 or 220V but will work on gas but to ignite the gas we have to connect the hookup lead.

We can light the gas heater [img][/img]- not sure if we need hookup lead to light that.

The red 12V on switch underneath one of the benches has two trip switches and half a dozen fuses - the trips have never tripped and the fuses are all intact.

I've checked as many fuses as I can find under the dash and under the hood and all are intact.

There are many relays and I don't know how to check them.

I came across a small linear block of 6 fuses (see pictures) near the engine battery which had fallen down near the engine and which has a black lead loose. There was a blown 25A fuse on this block which I replaced but didn't seem to fix anything. Am afraid to connect the loose black wire for fear or frying something. Have no idea if this block has anything to do with the 12V habitation system.

I have a wiring diagram which came with the camper I don't know if that's any use.

Losing my mind here - any advice welcome.

Thanks Albert, I was thinking that myself - that when they ran the battery down flat the night they stayed in it it killed it off. But the dealer said he tried another battery on it and it didn't help. Is there some way to check if that is so without buying a new battery? Perhaps by using jump leads from car battery?

Thanks a mil - will try new battery. The loose black lead under the bonnet - what should I do with it? Could it be the earth fault?

The black lead under the bonnet is the earth lead,if it is loose then that is a fault.

Black Moose,
Take a minute and find Talbot Owners Club, register and say hello in the New Members Section and then copy and paste your first post into the electrical section. There are some very knowledgeable people on there with vehicles of the same era as yours my own included.

They may not resolve this problem but I can assure you they will be of great assistance in the future.
It’s free but if you want into the Guides and How to section you just make a one off donation

https://talbotoc.com/

bring the battery to a garage and have then put it on a 24hour charge and then ask the to test it .

It would also help to know where you are in the country.to suggest someone to send you to.
also but your location on your profile,your county or city.

About as usefully as pockets in socks.as you have found.

If the battery tests good then have a word with Leisure Technical Solutions.

Cheers - I think I tried to get it to LTS before going to Thompson's but he was booked up - will try again. Probably needs an older guy who remembers how the 92 Burstner is put together and possible issues. Do you know is there someone in Ireland or UK who is THE old Burstner guy? Are Donaghey's in Letterkenny any better? I've suggested to the missus that we take a holiday near the best techie and just drop it in to him for a day or two. We just got it and need to get to know a good engineer.

I would say the Battery is most certainty Dead... See Chart.
..
I had the same problem the other day with my Lawn Mower battery exactly as described above .. When I put the load on it just went dead..
Got new battery all good now..

Took her for a spin and the voltage reading for Battery 2 now is 1.3V. The sparker for the fridge has mysteriously come back to life and so has the mains switch for the fridge which lights when you switch it on. The 220V sockets also are working on the hookup lead so it appears the mains functions now are working while it's just the 12V that's down...