# Laika Ecovip 2i battery charger



## zebra (Apr 17, 2012)

Hello, this is my first post everyone.
I have a 1998 Laika Ecovip 2i on an Iveco chassis which I bought in September and am very happy with.
Whilst away we normally use solar with no problems. Whilst at home I keep her plugged in with a stand alone CTEK charger for the starter battery and have the control panel switched to the leisure battery to keep it topped up, supposedly via the on board charger. Usually there are no problems and both batteries show as full via the control panel's test button. However, a couple of days ago I was checking on things in preparation for our next trip and happened to press the test button; engine battery full, leisure at 2/3. How can this be if it's plugged in? On testing the voltage across the leisure battery terminals I found it is zero (with the battery removed obviously). At the battery charger fuse on the control panel there is the battery voltage on one side but no charger voltage on the other.
Looking at the (oh so helpful) manual it shows pictures of the battery charger in the kitchen cupboard but there is no battery charger in any of my cupboards. It also identifies three relays on the back of the control panel, hinting that two are to do with charging/sensing 240V supply but then says these two aren't installed if the vehicle has a battery charger. I have all three relays. Does this mean I've never had a battery charger and it's just luck my leisure battery has never dropped below fully charged? We use the MH regularly but I can't believe that in the winter the leisure battery has always stayed that well charged. So, does anyone know where my battery charger is, if I've got one?
Sorry for the rather long winded post and I hope it makes sense!
Thanks.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

zebra said:


> Hello, this is my first post everyone.
> I have a 1998 Laika Ecovip 2i on an Iveco chassis which I bought in September and am very happy with.
> Whilst away we normally use solar with no problems. Whilst at home I keep her plugged in with a stand alone CTEK charger for the starter battery and have the control panel switched to the leisure battery to keep it topped up, supposedly via the on board charger. Usually there are no problems and both batteries show as full via the control panel's test button. However, a couple of days ago I was checking on things in preparation for our next trip and happened to press the test button; engine battery full, leisure at 2/3. How can this be if it's plugged in? On testing the voltage across the leisure battery terminals I found it is zero (with the battery removed obviously). At the battery charger fuse on the control panel there is the battery voltage on one side but no charger voltage on the other.
> Looking at the (oh so helpful) manual it shows pictures of the battery charger in the kitchen cupboard but there is no battery charger in any of my cupboards. It also identifies three relays on the back of the control panel, hinting that two are to do with charging/sensing 240V supply but then says these two aren't installed if the vehicle has a battery charger. I have all three relays. Does this mean I've never had a battery charger and it's just luck my leisure battery has never dropped below fully charged? We use the MH regularly but I can't believe that in the winter the leisure battery has always stayed that well charged. So, does anyone know where my battery charger is, if I've got one?
> ...


Hi Zebra, so sorry to have missed you first post, OK welcome to the site, I'll try to be of help although you may have sorted it by now.

Firstly our last van was an EcoVIP 7RG on a Ducato 2.8 chassis, so I knwo what you mean about the manual, ours came with a VHS tape too, which basically was the manual read out over pictures of the manual, totally useless.

Right the switch seemed to do little or noting on ours on EHU, only when travelling which seemed odd, why would you want to charge the engine battery while driving from the hab side, it's the leisure battery which needs the boost, the engine battery is or should be charged direct from the alternator.

Obviously I'm not familiar with your little treasure (we loved ours to bits) but I'm going to send you a PM with some info that might assist now and if you have any other problems later.

Kev.


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## zebra (Apr 17, 2012)

Hi Kev, thanks for the reply. Don't worry about the timescale, we're currently in a very sunny northwest Scotland. I've 99% decided we have no built in battery charger. In a way that has advantages because it makes it easier for me to incorporate a clever charger like the CTEK one I have; every cloud has a silver lining! In actual fact, I only need the charging whilst we are at home, when we are away we very happily survive on my cunning homemade solar panels. Thanks for the contacts, I have spoken to Julie and bought a couple of bits from Southdowns. I haven't heard of the Huddersfield people but they could be useful; Huddersfield is a lot closer than Southdowns! The contact at Laika could be very useful as I've completely failed in the past to get any info or contacts from the Laika website. I also know people who speak Italian!
Thanks again.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

zebra said:


> my cunning homemade solar panels


You can't use language in here without lots of drawings and all the info, come one spill. :wink: :wink:

Angela at Laika.it is very good at such mundane stuff as wiring diagrams and technical drawings of parts etc, so before they decide to have a house clearance, ask for anything you can think of, I even got a pdf of the original brochure.

Kev.


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## zebra (Apr 17, 2012)

Hi, back from Scotland now; can't believe it, over two weeks and no rain and LOADS of sun!
Having spent time poking around a bit and reading the manual again..... I'm no better off! I can see several specific bits of the manual that point to me having a built in battery charger but then again other bits that say I haven't! For instance, the manual states that when a certain light on the control panel is on it shows that the battery is being charged by the inbuilt charger. On another page it shows a pictures of two relays and sya that these won't be fitted if there is a charger. Guess what? I have the relays. I also have a fuse in the section where the battery charger fuse should be but haven't got a charger anywhere where the pictures in the manual show it to be. I don't mind fitting another charger but it does mean that certain other bits of wiring I've done are now incorrect if I don't have a charger...
My solar panels worked well for over two weeks running phones and computers (had to do some work whilst away) and I don't know how old my battery is. I hesitate to start going on about solar here as I suspect that should be kept for a different thread. I'll try and PM you with a picture of the panels on the roof (in Scotland).


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## zebra (Apr 17, 2012)

Hi Kev, sorry can't PM the picture. I also wouldn't mind exchanging a few emails about the SMEV oven too!


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## Davegreengrass (Aug 17, 2018)

Hi to all.

I know it's been a long time since this post was started but thought I'd add our recent experience as it might help other owners of 'older' Laikas who are experiencing electrical issues. 

We have a 1999 Laika Ecovip 2i on an Iveco Chassis, owned for over 5 years. We do most of the servicing and repair work ourselves......

Our recent issue started when returning from a long trip having not hooked up for several weeks - Hook up would immediately trip the RCD in our house (and the 240v trip in the van would also trip). Got the Laika manual out and employed brother-in-law electrician! 

After a lot of testing and looking through cupboards etc it is our conclusion (as mentioned in this post previously) that we do not have a battery charger as such but do have 3 large relays on the back of the Zig unit and a large transformer located under the van (toward the rear) which combine to supply power and charge the batteries when hooked up.

As I understand it, when 240v is hooked up to our van the supply is split 4 ways (after the main trip) - 
1) To the fridge
2) To the Air conditioning unit
3) To 2x 240v sockets by the door
4) To the transformer located under the van

(A little red light located on the right of the zig unit with '220v' written on it comes on when hook up is in)

It appears that the transformer does it's thing (transforms 240v to 12v) and sends charge to either the leisure battery or the starter battery (depending on which battery is selected on the far right red switch on the 'Zig' unit). Charging is indicated by another little red light with 12v written on it, also located on the right of the zig unit).

When the battery gets up to a certain voltage the relay turns off the charge (you hear it click) and the red '12v' light goes out. It then appears that if the battery voltage drops you have to manually turn the switch back on to start charge again.....

It also appears from our investigations that when on hook up 12v is supplied directly to the van from the transformer (which is why the habitation lights all get brighter immediately when hook up is plugged in!) 

We think we have traced our fault to the transformer as when it is unplugged hook up works fine. However, until we get it out and test it we cannot be sure. Although it has worked solidly for 19 years it seems poorly located under the floor behind the rear wheels where it is exposed to the elements. The cover is completely rusty and I'm really looking forward to exposing it and the 'millions' of cables going in to it. 

Please feel free to add or correct anything in this post. I will endeavour to add a conclusion later.

Good luck with your Laika - the old ones are the best!


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## HurricaneSmith (Jul 13, 2007)

That's a fascinating read Dave.

I hope Kev (Kev_n_Liz) gets to see it and this post will act as a bump to bring it to his notice. He doesn't miss much. 

.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

Thanks for the thought John, however we parted with the Laika way back in 2011 to make way for the self build, and many vans since.

Hopefully the post will help others though.

Here is the wiring diagram I got from Angel at Laika.

Hmm, didn't attach???

Here's a link to it, only 926hb, so not a size problem https://www.dropbox.com/s/busox45zqqlvo5g/Laika ecovip-2000-2001 wiring diagram.pdf?dl=0


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

Now it decides to work, Bleeding forum software.


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## jiwawa (Jun 22, 2007)

Welcome to the forum Dave - that's a very informative post which will surely be helpful to other Laika owners.


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## brittanyspaniel (Sep 9, 2016)

Hi , Thanks for the information, I have the same problem can you please tell me how you resolved the issue. Did you repair or replace the old transformer?.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

This thread hasn't been posted into for over three years, so your question needs to be addressed to whoever you need a reply from, if you go to the post and click quote it might help you.


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