# Autotrail electrical help



## oilslick (Oct 3, 2007)

Can any body tell me how to get the electrical panel out from above the side door on a 2005 Apache? We keep loosing our 12 Volts and I am sure it is a bad connection on the back of the main switch. Do you take the whole wooden panel off, or does the soround come off the panel to reveal some screws? I just dont want to break it!

On a second note does anybody know how the rear speaker wires are routed, I want to tap into them so I can use these speakers with our telly.

Thank you,
Grant


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## Annsman (Nov 8, 2007)

As far as I know, and I'm not an electrician but I've seen one do this to our Cheyenne. You just put a small flat screw driver head into the edge of the casing, I think there's a little slot for it, and gently prize it away.

The speakers at the rear of our Cheyenne are already wired into the telly system because it all comes from the "entertainment" centre" in your dash board. Is there a socket to plug your ariel into near where your telly will go? In fact is this an Autotrail fitted point or a DIY one? If DIY then I'm afraid it's outside my "zone on knowledge".


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## worzel (Apr 12, 2007)

Hi Grant,
Before you take of the panel.
Look by the engine battery for a BROWN and PURPLE wire and after it leaves the battery about a 12ins away there is a connector make sure it is not a bad connection as this is your main 12volt feed to your van.
I have had this problem.

Mike.


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## CliveMott (Mar 10, 2008)

Chack the main battery fuse. Corroded holder / blades niot uncommon.
Does it go off when the water pump starts up??

If so it could be interferance from the pump upsetting the computer in the panel.
C.


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## oilslick (Oct 3, 2007)

*Thank you so far..*

Thank you for all the answers so far...

I want to intercept the speaker wires to plug them into our seperate telly at the back, not the dash system. I am surprised they dont put a jack plug on the TV panel to give this option. I just wanted to know whether the speaker wires went along the roof or underneath.

I know the wires you mean under the bonnet I will check these.

The power tends to dissapear after we have not had anything on for a few hours... Park up, switch 12V on, tv, lights etc all fine, pump too. Then we go out for a couple of hours leaving the "master switch" on above the door. Come back and the power has gone. Cant turn the lights on. Turn the master switch off then on and every thing came back once, but not the second time. It simply came back 10 mins later on its own. It never seems to die when we are using power, just dissapears when we arent. Most surprising!

Grant


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## seamusog (May 10, 2005)

Hi grant,
I have had the same problem on three previous vans,all of them on the x250 chassis,on one van I had to have the panel changed three times.As annsman said,use a small flat screwdriver to carefully prise the plastic casing,remove the two small cross headed screws and the panel will come out,I removed the multi plug from the panel for a few seconds and that done the trick.


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## Sargent (Feb 1, 2008)

Hi Oilslick,

I believe on that year of van you had the CP2010 Control Panel fitted which is a large square unit with two rows of switches (correct me if I'm wrong) and a round analogue volt/water level meter.

Simply pulling down in the centre bottom of the surround will bring it off to reveal four screws once removed the rear of the switches are accessible. Let me know your findings I may be able to point you in the right direction once you have some results.

Best Regards

Karl Hulse
Sargent Electrical Services Ltd


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## oilslick (Oct 3, 2007)

*It is shaped like this..*

Hi Karl,

I think our van was on the changeover year, or built from scraps!!

There are two panels, on the right is the heating and light switches, on the left is the services one with one row of 5 or 6 switches with a rectanular analogue volt/water meter.

(I am at work at the moment!)

hope that helps...

Grant


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## 04HBG (Dec 9, 2007)

Oilslick,
if you are still having problems with the 12v cutting out check the fuse holder that is connected to the leasure battery under the rear locker if it is the same as my 04 apache 700. 
I lost all power and on checking the fuse it looked fine and after still trying to trace the fault i went back for a second look and the fuse holder just fell apart in my hand, i replaced with an inline fuse holder from a local motor factors and it has been fine ever since.

R.D


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## oilslick (Oct 3, 2007)

*update...*

Thank you all so far..

I have now removed the panel, and the switch and spades appear fine.

I checked the fuse holder/connections under the bonnet and they are fine. (and I also think that a bad connection here would still allow the battery charger to power everything, rather than the leisure batteries, as we are on hook up - having said that we have also lost the power not on hook up!)

(I will know when I find the problem, because the lights are flickering slightly, so any wiggling of the bad connection will be obvious).

The fuse holder by the leisure batteries is fine (I have two leisure batteries and they are on two seprate tails with 2 fuse holders).

Studying the wiring diagram I am wondering if it is a bad connection at the common earth... does anyone know where the earth for the charger, 12v circuits and leisure battery all join up?

Also does anyone know where the "EMC" relay is situated? this is the one that turns all leisure circuits off when you start the engine. I know that the two under the bonnet are the split charge one and the fridge one.

Also... any idea what the 5 amp fuse behind the switch panel above the side door is for?

I am about to run a seperate lead from the leisure batteries up to the 12v TV plug and wire a couple of LEDS (with resistors) in series this will tell me if I am loosing the earth or the supply side...

Grant


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## zulurita (May 9, 2005)

When you removed your control panel did you unplug the unit and leave it for a minute? Then reconnect. that sometimes sorts out the problem, but usually when the control panel goes haywire is that trick needed.


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## oilslick (Oct 3, 2007)

*Non intelligent control panel*

No,

The apache has the cheaper non- intelligent control panel. the switches simply go back through the multiblock to the main PSU unit. Disconnecting the multiblock would be the same as switching the powere switch on and off. There is no processor to reset here.

We definitely have a bad connection, sometimes the lights flicker very badly when you turn something else on. Sometimes they suddenly go brighter.


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## oilslick (Oct 3, 2007)

*Found it!*

Just to update you all.

Bad connection found on plug behind heater. This is where the chassis loom meets the internal loom. The blue/brown terminal was a bit singed! Cleaned it up, bent the female terminal in a bit and reassembled with silicon grease. All ok now.

Many thanks to Autotrail for the help sending loom diagrams, and to Sargent for there help.

Grant


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