# Hymer B524 Cabin Step Alarm



## tiffy (Aug 6, 2007)

My 2005 Hymer B524 cabin step alarm has stopped working.
The most obvious items, step switch and associated wiring / connections have been fully checked and verified fully functional, zero ohms on close.
I can not measure any voltage with respect to chassis on either of the switch contacts which leads me to believe there is no power to the switch.
The step itself is fully functional. My questions are :-
Is there a fuse associated with the alarm buzzer, I have checked all of the vehicle and conversion fuses, all OK..
Where is the buzzer situated, from memory the noise came from behind the dash at the drivers side, can`t find the device however now that it does`nt make any noise !

Any help greatly appreciated,

Many thanks, Derek P.


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## linal (Mar 14, 2006)

Hi Tiffy have you checked the earth at the step ? I had a similar problem on my last van and it was corrosion on the earth side.

Alex.


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## takeaflight (May 9, 2005)

Hi go with Linal, most likely earth lead under the step.


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## androidGB (May 26, 2005)

On mine the buzzer is under the drivers seat (LHD) where the fuse also located.


Andrew


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## tiffy (Aug 6, 2007)

Thanks to all for the replies and advice on my problem.

I had earlier discounted the step "bad earth" possibility on the following grounds :-
The switch is mounted on plastic and has two wires connected, as such would not require any earth reference to function as per the normal automotive door / courtesy light switch arrangement with only one wire connection and switching directly to earth.
Having said that, on tracing the two switch wires to inside the van found that one was firmly bonded to the chassis, good sound earth. As the switch was obviously on the negative side of the circuit I would have expected the "buzzer" to have an ignition switched positive, probably via a fuse, so by completing the circuit with the step switch on the negative side with the ignition on the buzzer would sound.

As I could not detect any positive voltage with respect to ground on the "non-earth`ed" side of the step switch, with the switch open and ignition on, I surmised that either there was no supply, blown fuse, or the buzzer was open circuit, that is assuming that the buzzer was a simple coil device and not an electronic sounder !

To cut a long story short, still could not find the buzzer or associated supply fuse so decided to splice into the switch circuit inside the van, tap into a new switched ignition source, fit a new buzzer and fuse, both courtesy of my local Maplin and mount it all in a new readily accessable position. Sounds a bit drastic I know, however it did`nt cost a fortune and can all be reverted to original very easily by moving one connection should I ever locate the original supply and buzzer.

One thing I have realised, the step warning buzzer is very important, having been without same for a few weeks and with only a few van outings, I have managed to drive off twice with the step down and bumped into the side of the house while moving the van on the drive, luckily no major damage ! The step is just below the drivers, rear view mirror line of vision.

Again, many thanks to all for the advice offered.

Regards,

Derek P.


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## Hymie (May 9, 2005)

*Step Buzzer*

Hi,
Remember that the step warning buzzer can be switched off via the 12v display panel!.

I managed to do this at the weekend on our new B544 by accident - im still trying to switch it back on!

Happy Travels


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## tiffy (Aug 6, 2007)

Hymie,

You may well have hit the nail on the head.

The access code for the electronic control panel was recently published on this site and I must admit that I had a little "dabble" and that could well coincide with the step alarm ceasing to function !!
I certainly was not aware that the alarm could be switched off so may well have done this by mistake.

Hope I have not gone to all this trouble after inadvertantly switching the alarm off !!

Will gave a "dabble" with the control panel again tomorrow.

Does anyone know the actual menu location for this function on the 12 volt control panel ?

Many thanks for your help Hymie,

Derek P.


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## tiffy (Aug 6, 2007)

Further to the step alarm saga..

Hymie was correct, I had inadvertantly switched off the function on the electrical control panel. However the plot thickens, the audible alarm now sounds on the control panel when activated and not from behind the dash at the drivers side as it originally did !! I have tried every possible combination, 0 to 9, of the 4 program digits and can get all sorts of options but no external alarm sounder !!

Hymie, I have found, to switch the step alarm function on set the fourth program digit to "1", the little step icon re-appears on the display when the step is not fully up and the audible alarm sounds when the engine is running. Be aware that every time the program mode is entered the top row of 4 digits start at zero`s, make a note of the values on the bottom row of 4 digits to read the currently selected functions then modify the top row to suit the new required options. My panel exit`s automatically when the forth top digit is entered.

I`am beginning to wonder now if I ever really heard a step alarm behind the dash at all ??
Thankfully, the wife also swears that the sound was definately much louder and appeared to come from the front of the van !!

Thanks again to all who offered support.

Regards,

Derek P.


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## Hymie (May 9, 2005)

*Step Alarm*

I have also got my step alarm working again!.

I too had gone into the setup menu - i wanted to turn off the gas bottle "R" warning - but i managed to cancel all the alarms.

Anyway all sorted now.

cheers

Dave


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## tiffy (Aug 6, 2007)

Hymie / Dave,

Regarding the control panel settings, I ended up with a setting of "2001" which gave me the step & low fresh water tank alarms only which is fine for my particular application.

Glad you got sorted again, thanks for your help.

Regards,

Derek P.


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