Greg Garrard

Ok, it's pretty nearly time for me to give up and get on with my life. Following the voltage drop theory, I got hold of a better multimeter and found there was indeed significant drop from the battery to the main boiler supply, and then more loss before the yellow wire that fires up the boiler. I noticed that the fuse holders were getting hot, so I replaced them with brand new ones, which reduced the voltage drop to the boiler but didn't cure the problem. So then I ran a wire direct from the battery to the yellow start wire. Now the voltage being supplied to the boiler on red and yellow wires is at least 14V (I was also recharging the batteries from shore power at the time)... and it STILL doesn't work. So it works on the bench. It has good fuel supply, with a brand new fuel pump, drawing from a jar of purest white diesel. The electrics are giving it 14V supply. And it still cuts out as soon as it starts to power up. Any last ideas before I throw the b&*&^*&d thing in a skip? Thanks, Greg

Thanks to Roger at Crown Boats for info on how to check the electricity supply at the boiler. My multimeter is a bit vague, but it looks as though the thick red power supply wire has the same V as the batteries, but the thin red to the ECU is about 0.5V down. When the heater is switched on, the yellow shows about 1.5V lower than the boiler. That sounds like a problem - but where could it be losing voltage? When the boiler switches itself off (ie as soon as it starts to shift from startup to boost phase), the V to the yellow wire drops suddenly and rebounds. Is that (a) because it's switching itself off for some other reason and has cut the power momentarily to the yellow wire to 'tell' the ECU to power down, or ( the V drop is what's causing it to cut out? If (, I may have found the problem - though not the solution, of course. Thoughts and experiences welcome... Greg

Dibbo, The other posters are absolutely right - do NOT rely on a diesel boiler as your main source of heat and water. I've had an Eberspacher D10W, which was wrongly fitted at first but then sorted out by some serious (and v expensive) experts. Even then, it has gone wrong constantly in ways that have nothing to do with poor quality fuel etc. Basically, every component that can fail has failed! It's cost me a bloomin' fortune in replacement parts (though it seems I could have rescued some bits if some of these posts are right!). I'm now thinking of just using my immersion heater (shore power) to heat water, and wood and coal in my Squirrel to keep warm. The Eber is just too pricy and unreliable. Obviously other people will have had better luck, but the bad odour surrounding Ebers and boats is very strong indeed... Cheers, Greg

Sorry if this sounds thick, but where exactly am I checking it? If I take the multiplug out of the ECU socket, it won't run the heater (obviously), so I'm not sure how I can check it with the heater in operation. Also: what is the minimum voltage needed? I've tried starting it with the engine running, so it'd need a LOT of voltage drop given the batteries are getting 14.4V... Yes - thanks for that. As a long-suffering Eberspacher owner, I was aware of most of it though! The method for setting up the calorifier circuit will be useful when/if I get it going again... You have my sympathy! I SO nearly lobbed it in the Avon the other day... Has your burner tube been replaced? Maybe if we compare exactly what has been done to both our heaters, we can identify a possible culprit? BTW I replaced the ECU a couple of years ago, so I really hope it can't be that again... Hi Pete, I'm not clear why doing my own bench test would help? I already know it works on a bench. I have, though, tried to isolate the problem much as you suggest, by taking the fuel pipe out of the tank and putting it in a jar of fresh white diesel. I might also try running separate wires from the batteries to see if that does the trick. There's no sign of an overheating cutout (not least because it's only on for a minute or so), and no fault code that would indicate that. I can't tell if it's just conking out or if the heater is shutting it down, but I suspect the former because it just sputters out suddenly. I suspect if it were shut down by the ECU there'd be a fault code to say why? Thanks for suggestions - please keep em coming! Greg

I've been living aboard with a D10W as bathroom / water heating (alongside trusty Squirrel) for 7 years. In that time, I've been thru the red diesel issue, replaced the burner three times, and paid £££ for new ECU, water pump, blower, 2 x glow pin, etc. In fact, there's not a single bit of the system I haven't maintained or replaced. But now I'm completely stumped. Here's what happened. It was starting and running ok (fed almost entirely with white diesel), then cutting out every time it went into 'boost' phase (after five minutes or so). So I took it to Halls Electrical, they ran it on the bench for a few hours, said it was ok - maybe the burner could do with a clean. So I took the burner to a local bike shop, they put it through an ultrasonic cleaning bath. Then the fuel pump started playing up while I was refitting it, and I remembered about the fuel pump filter screen. It was full of crud,, so I cleaned it - and then the pump broke completely. £200 later, new pump, but only air in the system, no fuel. So I worked my way down the fuel line, replacing olives, and trying it with the pipe coming straight from a jar of clean white diesel. Got the fuel pump working eventually, so thought I'd be sorted.... NOW it starts and runs for a minute, but then cuts out as soon as the blower / pump start to speed up. Not much smoke, so no obvious problem there. I took it to Halls AGAIN, and again they ran it for a few hours, no problem. So I've checked and cleaned the whole fuel system. It's been run on a bench, so the boiler itself MUST be ok (right?). I've taken the air supply and exhaust pipes off, still no joy. And I've run the engine whilst trying to start it to see if having a higher battery voltage helps. It doesn't. I'm completely at my wit's end. I spoke to a guy at Eberspacher (a feat in itself), and he said I should check the voltage drop, but I'm not sure how or where (and anyway, I thought the boiler only needed around 10.5V - and had a fault code for undervoltage???). Any other suggestions? Thanks, Greg PS No need to post comradely rage about rubbish diesel boilers vs 'I've had one for years and it's been fine' - I've read those threads already and I know which side I'm on.

Thanks for your helpful replies. I've now checked the battery voltages and the CSCP voltages - they're the same to within 0.01V. I've also checked that the shunt mV value is 10% of the CSCP amp value (as per Mastervolt instructions), and that's fine too. I've also reset the battery capacity for the real 550AHr and changed the discharge floor to 50% (its highest possible value). So... With the CSCP showing 13.25V-ish and all AC stuff running directly off the mains (the Dakar just feeds it through when it's plugged in, yes?), the charge level still seems to be dropping - perhaps more slowly than before. I can't tell from your replies whether the CSCP has *no* effect on the Dakar's charger, or only a minimal effect. There are just two parameters that *might* have some effect: A05, the float V, and A04, the return amps. The MV manual is ambiguous regarding the first of these (in one place it says the ideal value is 13.25V, but elsewhere 13.5V - I've set it for 13.6V to see if that helps). Gibbo has helped me understand the second of these a bit better, but how do I know the right value? Increasing it from 2 to 3.8 *seemed* to help, but was a random value, more or less. I'm pretty certain that it was changing this value, years ago, that stopped the charge level dropping, so I'd like to get it right. BTW, I was also working on the Eberspacher at the same time (the actual bane of my existence), and noticed, not for the first time, that when it's running, the batteries start to charge - presumably to compensate for the DC drain. But the charge level seems to end up *higher* overall than when I started running the heater. I had thought maybe the warmth given off by the heater was helping the batteries charge, but that can't be right because it's not *&*^^%*(^ working (again). Also Tony - I can't control absorption charge V or time, only float level V and 'return amps'. Cheers, Greg

Thanks Tony. The Smartgauge looks amazing, but I'm not too concerned about getting precise % charge values (and can't afford £160). The important thing is that it's the CSCP that actually controls the charge profile on the Mastervolt, so if either (1) the shunt setup is giving the wrong V values or (2) the CSCP parameters I mentioned are badly wrong, the batteries will drain down continuously so that when I go away from shore power (as I just did) they'll *start out* with almost nothing in them. I'll look into (1) myself, but I'd appreciate advice about (2). [NB as of this morning with the new settings, Float V seems to have stabilised at 13.25, and SoC is not dropping. Maybe I did something right?] Greg

I haven't been able to check that the voltages on the CSCP correspond to those on the batteries - borrowing a digital multimeter tomorrow - but I'll check those, verify the mV reading across the shunt (once I find it!) and also check voltage drops throughout the system asap. Right now the Mastervolt has switched into Float mode (13.20V on the screen) and is reporting *discharge* amps of about 2-4A all the time. Why (apart from possibly also getting the wrong current reading from the shunt) could this be? I've set the capacity to 190 AHr, on the basis of the 35% useable capacity advised in the CSCP manual. The float charge is set to 13.25V, although that's not what's showing on the screen right now (see above). I've also set the Charged current % (parameter A04 - confusingly also referred to as 'return Amps') from the default 2 to 3.8 (because 3.8 is 2% of 190....) but I think this might be wrong. It's meant to be 'the current accepted by the full battery as a % of the declared battery capacity', but I have no idea what that means. The manual promises to reveal the ideal values in chapter 5, but never mentions it again. Any insights? And finally there's that 'set level full charge' parameter (70-90%, def 80%) which sounds like it might be similar to CEF, but who knows... All thoughts and suggestions gratefully received. Greg

Thanks for your posts! I can rule out the charger not working at all. The unit goes through its regular bulk/absorption/float cycle fine (LEDs and on the CSCP), and the right voltages are reported for each phase. Unfortunately my multimeter doesn't give an accurate enough V figure to independently corroborate the CSCP, but it looks a bit *lower* than 14V. However, the batteries are fizzing properly. Oddly, though, the analogue voltmeter on the 12V board shows just *under* 14V (14.25V on the CSCP), whereas it shows the same level there as for the starter battery. I've had it from new for six years, too, so is it possible there has been a basic wiring mistake all this time? Perhaps the CSCP is getting an inaccurate voltage reading all the time, and so shifting charge phase before the batteries are charged. I'll get an accurate multimeter and check that asap. Any other way of checking whether the Combi is getting accurate charge info? (And furthermore: why might the CSCP volt reading be *higher* than the real figure?) According to the CSCP manual, the unit should set its own CEF 'after a number of cycles', but there is also a parameter which is 'set level full charge' which is 80% of C AHr (programmed total useable capacity, I think) by default. I presume that's related? I reset the battery capacity to 135AHr after I tested it using a small voltage lamp as per my OP. The only other parameter I could usefully mess with would be return amps (default 6% of C AHr) and charge voltage (default 14.25V). I think it was probably one of these I changed, which stopped the CSCP readout dropping gradually a couple of years ago. There is also an 'advanced' option to set the CEF manually between 70 and 99, but I'd need to know that value accurately first, and I have no idea where to start. Keep the suggestions flowing! Cheers, Greg

Hi CBW users, I have a Mastervolt Dakar Combi 2500/12V hooked up to five 135Ah deep cycle batteries. The whole kit and kaboodle is left connected to shore power 24/7, and used only when I take the boat out to Bath or Bristol, which is probably 2-4 times a year for no more than a day or two. When I first got the boat, I didn't understand about batteries and so I ran them down accidentally on several occasions. I also found that the control panel showed a continuous decline from 100% even with AC attached - but after reading the Combi manual for about a day and making my brain hurt, I found a parameter I could change that stopped the number dropping all the time (but I can't remember what the parameter / value was - didn't write it down, doh). After having the boat for three years, I figured it was time to replace the batteries as they were giving well under 24 hours even if I 'powered down' (switched off everything bar the fridge). So I got a new set, took the old lot out - and found that the latter would hold a good charge anyhow. By then I'd already switched the very heavy batteries and was miles from the place I bought the new ones, and decided to sell on the old ones for a few quid, leaving the smart new ones in place. When I put the new batteries in, the Combi reset itself, so the old problem of the % remaining value falling came back. Thinking it was only an irritation (after all, the charging V values on the control panel were all to spec) I didn't do anything about it. But now, after only two years, no deep discharges and (at a guess) no more than ten days total running on batteries, they seem to be near death again! I tested them, as per the manual, by disconnecting AC and leaving only a light on to check the real charge capacity. It was about 130Ah! So I tried disconnecting the batteries and recharging them individually with a car battery charger, but it quickly told me they were fully charged. I tried refilling them with distilled water, but they weren't depleted. And the little charge indicator on each one is either green (fine) or clear (ok). Now, on a trip to Bath, with the fridge running, the AC started tripping out (10.5V or thereabouts) after only 70Ah!!! Where's my battery capacity going? Any idea how I should reset my Mastervolt so the % doesn't drop? Are these problems related? Thanks, Greg