Sargent EC50 alarming

[Rachel Skidmore]

Hi, new to the forum and very new to campervanning. We have just bought a newly converted camper from a local company. We have taken out for a couple of drives to keep ticking over but recently when charging the leisure battery from mains the control panel alarm went off and hasn’t stopped since. The only way to silence it is to drive the van but as soon as you turn off ignition the alarm starts again - it’s been going for days and I can’t see anyone who has had a similar problem. The local company isn’t open until Monday so looking for advice in the meantime?

 

[Shaggy1969]

I have the same control panel.

The alarm went off on mine and I was advised to take the cover off, unscrew from the fascia and remove then reconnect the network cable.

This fixed my issue so hopefully fix for you.

 

[Rachel Skidmore]

OK interesting- I wasn’t sure if disconnecting somehow would sort and also concerned it may affect warranty but I’ll take a look - thanks Shaggy1969

 

[Paul Sussex]

Hi Rachel,

The controller will be connected to a charger and that might be the issue.

I had an alarm come on mine when on charge via the EHU lead.

Had a look at the charger and I had a Sargent EC155 charger (big grey thing - with a fuse panel) and when I wanted to charge thought it had to be swiched on with the big red button on. That’s when the alarm would go on.

After a bit of looking around where the battery and other electric boxes were found there had been a second charger installed - so basically when plugged in and charger switched on two chargers were trying to charge the same battery and at the same time - hence the alarm.

Stopped switching on the Sargent one and all good, no alarms and battery charges.

Have you had a look at what charges / boxes you have?

 

[Rachel Skidmore]

Hi Rachel,

The controller will be connected to a charger and that might be the issue.

I had an alarm come on mine when on charge via the EHU lead.

Had a look at the charger and I had a Sargent EC155 charger (big grey thing - with a fuse panel) and when I wanted to charge thought it had to be swiched on with the big red button on. That’s when the alarm would go on.

After a bit of looking around where the battery and other electric boxes were found there had been a second charger installed - so basically when plugged in and charger switched on two chargers were trying to charge the same battery and at the same time - hence the alarm.

Stopped switching on the Sargent one and all good, no alarms and battery charges.

Have you had a look at what charges / boxes you have?

OK thanks - we haven’t done anything with the ‘red button’ - I know the one you mean though as it comes on automatically- will check what’s in there though - the electrical side wasn’t really covered during handover much so a mystery

 

[Rachel Skidmore]

I have the same control panel.

The alarm went off on mine and I was advised to take the cover off, unscrew from the fascia and remove then reconnect the network cable.

This fixed my issue so hopefully fix for you.

Yes!!! The alarming has stopped - heaven! Thank you very much. Now have plugged back into EHU to see if we charge it up

 

[cgtmiles]

Hi Rachel,

The controller will be connected to a charger and that might be the issue.

I had an alarm come on mine when on charge via the EHU lead.

Had a look at the charger and I had a Sargent EC155 charger (big grey thing - with a fuse panel) and when I wanted to charge thought it had to be swiched on with the big red button on. That’s when the alarm would go on.

After a bit of looking around where the battery and other electric boxes were found there had been a second charger installed - so basically when plugged in and charger switched on two chargers were trying to charge the same battery and at the same time - hence the alarm.

Stopped switching on the Sargent one and all good, no alarms and battery charges.

Have you had a look at what charges / boxes you have?

Doesn’t the red button switch on all mains so if this is left off you won’t get the Sargent mains charger charging the battery but you also won’t be able to use any mains outlets?

 

[Paul Sussex]

Doesn’t the red button switch on all mains so if this is left off you won’t get the Sargent mains charger charging the battery but you also won’t be able to use any mains outlets?

Hi Rachel,

I thought that but on my van anyway ‘no’. Below the button it says ‘charger’.

With it off all the mains electric stuff works on EHU including mains sockets (like you have at home).

The red switch is only to switch on the charging part - that’s where I went wrong as got two chargers (so over charging by two).

Like you had no handover from the garage and took me a while to work out what was happening.

Assuming you have a standard 240 socket in the camper, try turning the switch off, put on EHU and then see if socket works.

If you post pictures of the different boxes may be able to help, or someone more knowledgeable than me is sure to know.

 

[Paul Sussex]

BTW - think you have to select which battery to charge ‘L’ is the leisure battery and ‘V’ the vehicle one - not sure what happens if you don’t select either. Need to press the power on button first (top left).

 

[cgtmiles]

Hi Rachel,

I thought that but on my van anyway ‘no’. Below the button it says ‘charger’.

With it off all the mains electric stuff works on EHU including mains sockets (like you have at home).

The red switch is only to switch on the charging part - that’s where I went wrong as got two chargers (so over charging by two).

Like you had no handover from the garage and took me a while to work out what was happening.

Assuming you have a standard 240 socket in the camper, try turning the switch off, put on EHU and then see if socket works.

If you post pictures of the different boxes may be able to help, or someone more knowledgeable than me is sure to know.

Thanks Susan

 

[Rachel Skidmore]

Hi Rachel,

I thought that but on my van anyway ‘no’. Below the button it says ‘charger’.

With it off all the mains electric stuff works on EHU including mains sockets (like you have at home).

The red switch is only to switch on the charging part - that’s where I went wrong as got two chargers (so over charging by two).

Like you had no handover from the garage and took me a while to work out what was happening.

Assuming you have a standard 240 socket in the camper, try turning the switch off, put on EHU and then see if socket works.

If you post pictures of the different boxes may be able to help, or someone more knowledgeable than me is sure to know.

Thanks - I also have the word ‘charger’ under the red button. When we we picked the van up it was on so we have left it that way. We hooked up to EHU earlier and the leisure battery did seem to charge although the unit with the line of lights didn’t show a light on the charging box - pictures below. Not sure if it’s normal or not!

 

[Paul Sussex]

Hi,

I think the black box charges the leisure battery from the vehicle battery. So suspect that the charging light will light when the vehicle is running.

If there are no other lights night too sure what the problem is.

Guessing you have checked the breakers on the Sargent grey boy (right hand side).

 

[Paul Sussex]

Hi, did you get this sorted?

 

[Rachel Skidmore]

Hi, the batteries both seem to be holding charge at the moment and no alarms so I think the reset was potentially all it needed. I’m monitoring the batteries to see whether they maintain charge over the next week or so. I haven’t checked whether the charging light comes on when the engine is running - may well be the case and it will be good to find out for sure. The engine battery does seem a bit low - reading 12.1 using a cigarette lighter reader - that’s after just 48 hours of a good run - it feels low to me so not sure how good the battery is.
Thanks for help and interest - it’s all about learning what’s normal etc for me atm I yhink
Rach

 

[Paul Sussex]

Glad the alarm has stopped, I think if you have bluemotion & start/stop then the battery only charges to 80% to allow it to store regenerated electricity, that said 12.1v sounds a little low.

When I got mine it had to have a new starter battery after a few weeks (probably as it had sat at the dealer for a while uncharged).

If you do end up with a new battery in the future make sure whoever fits it recodes the new one in (my dealer did not know this and I only knew from this forum).

 

[cgtmiles]

Great that the OP has got the answer for a fix but I’m still interested in learning that the big red switch just controls the 240v charger and not all mains in. If this is the case then it could be easy to fit a standalone lithium mains charger!

Despite the instructions saying to switch this on and off when connecting the mains supply I have never once in 5 years touched that switch as the converter told us not to bother

 

[Paul Sussex]

Great that the OP has got the answer for a fix but I’m still interested in learning that the big red switch just controls the 240v charger and not all mains in. If this is the case then it could be easy to fit a standalone lithium mains charger!

Despite the instructions saying to switch this on and off when connecting the mains supply I have never once in 5 years touched that switch as the converter told us not to bother

My vans 240v socket works when on EHU and the red button is off. I also have a seperate Victron Blue Smart Charger installed (not by my) which charges the leisure battery so don’t switch in the Sargent charger.