eberspacher electrical misery

[chubby]

Hello folks

 

In recent times i ve had alot of help fixing my eberspacher and three weeks ago i finally got it going and its been fine ever since and i ve been using it daily for hot water .

Today ..... its dead . Totally . Even the little on / off switch in the bedroom fails to illuminate .

I ve checked the fuses & my batteries are charged well & reading 13.5 v .

I realise i ve asked for lots of help with this unbelievably annoying piece of kit but i think its an electrical issue as opposed to a mechanical issue . Electrics completely crush my brain so can anyone else suggest what to check next please as i really don t know my next move - it seems totally dead .

I was over the moon when i got it going 3 weeks ago as it was by far the most technical thing i d succeeded with so i 'd like to try and find whats wrong but in all honesty this things getting me wound up so i may just have to throw £££ s at it to get it going as this machine has already driven me half bonkers recently & i m running out of resolve now .

 

So , any ideas what i can check ? Fuses are fine , batts are charged but everythings dead as a dodo .

 

cheers

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

Hi ya,

Ok, lets start with the Model EG is it a D5 or whatever.

I know you said you have checked the fuses,

But cheak the COMPLETE feed from Power supply to unit, just to make sure a hidden one isn't overlooked.

Edited May 19, 2014 by Paul's Nulife4-2

[bottle]

Volt meter and work your way from the very beginning of the supply to Erbaspacher

 

Check every terminal for good connection as you go.

[chubby]

Ok ,

 

Cheers guys . Its a Hydronic d4wsc model .

 

Ive put a voltmeter on my batteries - 13.5 v it reads & all terminals and vonnections are tight .

 

ive checked the fuses inside and all are fine .

 

i have a grey eberspacher fuse box mounted nr the heater unit . Into the left side of this box are thick brown & red cables . I put the meter on these . They too read 13.5 v .

 

I ve pulled the 8 pin connector apart & checked it -13.5 v

 

OK . i stopped typing and went back to check some thing . I ve really rammed various connections tight together inside the fusebox and now the little switch lights up .

 

i turned it on . It buzzed for ten seconds & died .

 

So now i need to check the voltage at the 8 pin connector during start up ?

 

cheers for any thoughts - this things killing me i m sure .

[Bobbybass]

No....No....No !....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......Chubby again.................

 

As has been said....

 

Connect one end of a test meter (or if you do not have one)...an ordinary 12 volt bulb to the battery negative..

 

Start with your Eber +ve feed at the battery end...and then work your way along until you find the break....

 

PS..it's far to warm to need the Eber now..

Why not leave it until October..and then sell the boat ?

Edited May 19, 2014 by Bobbybass

[BlueStringPudding]

Don't throw £££s at it Chubby. I did that. Twice! The Eber still stopped working again after a few weeks of me having paid people a lot of money to fix it. I've learned lots from your other threads. Hope I do again.

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

Ok,

What Type of switch lit up !,

Can you swap that switch to test it with another ?.

But have to agree with above, as suggested if it's nothing obvious presenting itself, it's probably better to start your Fault Finding from the very beginning , if you have power at the beginning of the run, and not at the end, you just have to find the break.

[chubby]

Hello Bobbybass -

 

I m sorry . It was with great reluctance i came back on here as i know lots of folk have helped me and i was concerned about putting people out . But i decided i would try one more time with this bitch of a machine .

 

It seems as if voltage is getting to the heater ok . Everything inside the fusebox is as it should be . The switch lights up fine . Theres 13.5 v at the 8 pin connector .

As far as i can tell theres nowhere else to put a meter ... except in the effing bin .!

I m completely out of ideas . Its been fine for weeks and now its back to 10 seconds of buzz and then its dead .

 

Im not being defeatist but i don t think i can face taking it apart again just now as its actually driven me round the bend pulling it apart and i just don t have the time to dedicate to constantly fixing it as i ve just got too much else going on so i may have to pay up and find extra work to pay for it .

Very disappointing after getting it going for the first time in a year and after so much effort - including from good folk on here

 

cheers

 

edit : i do need the eber - for hot water . I m not running my engine just for that as its plain daft IMO . Especially when i ve got a machine thats made for that specific purpose

Edited May 19, 2014 by chubby

[chubby]

Cheers Paul

 

I ve checked various things and there now is power at the heater . But after 10 seconds its dead ... again . When it dies that quickly my limited understanding is its related to low power . But power is present . At least in terms of volts but this may or may not mean theres sufficient amps .

 

My smartgauge shows that batteries are full so i don t know what else i can do IF iits a power rrlated problem

[NMEA]

Sorry to say that even if you get it working again it will coke up prematurely and go wrong again if all you use it for is hot water, those old things need a good thermal load and a calorifier alone does not provide that. Bin it and get something more suited to the task.

Edited May 19, 2014 by NMEA

[chubby]

Cheers NMEA ,

 

My understanding is that as long as i leave a radiator or two on then this allows for the dumping of excess heat ? I infact leave all 4 rads on for the 1 hour that i run the eber and its been fine for weeks now and made a tank of hot water in the hour it was on each day .

My engines just been serviced ( not by me !! ) and today was its first run afterwards . Could there be any fuel related issues from the fuel pump to eber .

My gut feeling is its electrical though . I can t just bin it as i ve no alternative . i d just as soon have a Morco installed but never seem able to ascertain the rules with new installs aswell as finding someone to fit it etc .

 

I just don t get why these things seem so temperamental

 

cheers

[Bobbybass]

Sorry to say that even if you get it working again it will coke up prematurely and go wrong again if all you use it for is hot water, those old things need a good thermal load and a calorifier alone does not provide that. Bin it and get something more suited to the task.

 

Hey...

 

Well...from my own experience..I used mine (D5W) every day...for hot water...winter water + heating

Summer water only through calorifier

 

It only coked once in 6 years...and after year one....so was still running 5 years after that when I sold the boat.

 

I liked mine...

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

Right, well as it appears to now have power,& doesn't complete it's Start up cycle, does it show a fault code anywhere ?, MAYBE it's the fuel pump, the tiny fuel filter, have you Bled the water Circulation pump,?. Anyone of thease might cause a shut down or lock out.

Edited May 19, 2014 by Paul's Nulife4-2

[chubby]

I liked mine too .... for three weeks !

I do want to get it up & running again as i hadn t had to run my engine for 10 days or so whilst moored up . Solar looked after the batteries and my eber made hot water . It was fantastic and i thought i' d cracked it but now its all gone pear shaped again and this time i m out of ideas .

If i have splash out then i ll just have to but it seems the engineers can come out , spend hours on it and it still breaks down soon afterwards .

I guess i d be prepared to rip it off the wall and dismantle it but i don t really see what thats going to achieve . I ve only just cleaned out the little fuel pump filter , decoked it and replaced the gauze that surrounds the glowpin . I dont think theres much else i can do on the inside .

I m certain its electrical , but if my batteries are as full of charge as they can be & it doesn t work then i m stumped on the electrical side too which is a shame as when it works its a pukka bit of kit .

Cheers again Paul ,

 

The little filter you refer to i cleared out during the decoke service i did . Bleeding the water pump etc i just don t know about . I ve dedicated many hours on fixing this thing and i just cannot put any more time into it as every last thing i do requires me to spend hours reading up etc and i just don t have the time any more .

Like i say i m prepared to take it apart again but i don t think theres many parts inside that are serviceable by me . I could replace the fuel pump etc but again it would not guarantee it to work and i may well end up throwing good money after bad and get nowhere .

All the symptoms seem to point to insufficient power . But the batteries are as full as they can be and so i m lost !

 

cheers

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

My understanding of thease are,

When you switch it ON, the 'Brain' of the unit does like an on board diagnostic, EG Have I got Power, Fuel, Air, Exhaust, Something to Circulate ect, this takes a few seconds, if any one thing is missing, then it just stops.

I could be completely wrong, (I have the D5) and in my simple brain, that's how I see it anyway.so if you re-Check all the above our present, then the only other thing it might be is the Brain it's self, & lets not go there.

[chubby]

Cheers again Paul ,

 

Thats my worry . Theres power , theres coolant ( i turned the bleed screw to check ) , exhaust .... nothings changed there so i guess its fine .

Fuel ? The eber is fed from a fuel pump between the diesel tank & the engine . This would have had " attention " during the engine service a few days ago and i was wondering if in any way this may have affected the delivery of fuel to the eber but i wouldn t know how to test it . So my worry is that the electrical brains are knackered and thats £££ to get fixed which i firstly don t have and secondly i'd be reluctant to spend on a piece of equipment thats so prone to breaking down .

I may just end up having no choice but to get it professionally bench tested because i m pretty much at the end of my tether & can t really see a way forward .

I think i ' m so going to ask around locally to see if theres anyone who can install a Morco and then get a boat qualified gas fitter into do the pipes etc , which i 'd prefer not to do but i live on my boat & i need a reliable source of hot water and eberspachers just seem too prone to breakdown

 

cheers

[Sir Nibble]

Firstly, you are wasting time taking voltage readings with the plug disconnected. For reasons too dull and mathematical to mention a bad connection will not drop the voltage until it is put under load. Your symptoms suggest a bad connection and I would suggest you return to whatever you stopped typing to do and very carefully check those connections. If you have the German type little ceramic torpedo shaped fuse then that is number one suspect for sure. They suffer badly from poor contact culminating in a little burned ring on the end.

[chubby]

Thanks Sir Nibble ,

 

Will do as you suggest & thanks for clearing up the voltage question . I ve checked with a meter at various points but you re saying that any weak links will allow a reading of 13.5 v but when these weak links ( wherever they may be ) are put under the strain of allowing more power ( amps ?????) thru as is to be expected when the heater attempts to start , they fail . This means each connection must be very secure . The torpedo fuses look ok & the little things they fit into are in good condition - i have to force the fuses into the clips so the connection should be good .

I will recheck all this when i return from work tomorrow as i m certain this is an electrical issue rather than an internal mechanical problem ,

 

cheers again ... & to all who ve replied . Grateful as always

Edited May 19, 2014 by chubby

[Psycloud]

Had a blip with ours over the weekend, similar symptoms whirred for a few seconds then died. It coincided with me fixing it's exhaust into place and re-routing the 7 day timer controller so I spent 99% of my time meddling with those parts when in fact what it turned out to be was a poor ground connection. The -ve cable is now directly attached to the battery anti starts fine, just like it has all winter.

[chubby]

Aha , thats positive news - thanks for sharing that . This machine has had me somewhat down this evening as i thought i 'd managed to fix it a few weeks back .

The fact that yours showed exactly the same symptoms as mine - a whirring sound for ten seconds before shutting down & that this turned out to be an electrical issue confirms what i thought & means i don t have to remove the heater again .... hopefully .

I shall start again tomorrow afternoon with a bit more hope and just try to be methodical as boat electrics are baffling to me and check again each connection

 

cheers

[pquinn]

Hello folks

 

In recent times i ve had alot of help fixing my eberspacher and three weeks ago i finally got it going and its been fine ever since and i ve been using it daily for hot water .

Today ..... its dead . Totally . Even the little on / off switch in the bedroom fails to illuminate .

I ve checked the fuses & my batteries are charged well & reading 13.5 v .

I realise i ve asked for lots of help with this unbelievably annoying piece of kit but i think its an electrical issue as opposed to a mechanical issue . Electrics completely crush my brain so can anyone else suggest what to check next please as i really don t know my next move - it seems totally dead .

I was over the moon when i got it going 3 weeks ago as it was by far the most technical thing i d succeeded with so i 'd like to try and find whats wrong but in all honesty this things getting me wound up so i may just have to throw £££ s at it to get it going as this machine has already driven me half bonkers recently & i m running out of resolve now .

 

So , any ideas what i can check ? Fuses are fine , batts are charged but everythings dead as a dodo .

 

cheers

is the ''little on/off switch a digital one that may contain a battery or a loose wire?did the person servicing your engine step on,crush,crimp,twist or bend any wires or fuel pipes when they were servicing your engine?.i have seen it happen with clumsy workers.

[chubby]

Cheers Pquinn,

 

The little digital switch / timer is now operating after a thorough look at some connections inside the grey eberspacher fuse box .

The guy who serviced my engine is a reliable chap so i ' m sure he didn t damage anything , but the coincidence that the eber doesn t work now when it did before the service has crossed my mind .

I ' m 90 % sure this is an electrical problem and will recheck everything later today .

The worst bit is the frustration after getting it working a few weeks ago .

 

cheers

[nicknorman]

I agree with the comment about voltage drop from a bad connection. You mentioned it was completely dead, the you fiddled with a connector, then it was less dead.

 

Possibly what is happening is that after 10 secs the glowplug switches on. This draws a very high current and if there is a poor connection the voltage at the brain will plummet, so it shuts off. I'm only familiar with a Mikuni but is it possible to unscrew the lid from the brain and check the supply voltage actually reaching it during the startup cycle?

[p6rob]

Hi Chubby,

 

Have you tried starting it with the engine running?

 

Good luck. You'll soon be an expert on these heaters.

 

Rob

[bottle]

Hi Chubby

 

You still with us.

 

From a quick look at this thread, I believe you said that:

 

OK . i stopped typing and went back to check some thing . I ve really rammed various connections tight together inside the fusebox and now the little switch lights up

 

A good clue and change those torpedo fuses to something a lot better for example a blade fuse with holder.