Several electrical issues - any help appreciated.

Ours is 8.7m long and has side marker lights. It's an Autotrail Comanche but a newer model than the Cheyenne you pictured David. Perhaps it was something that Autotrail introduced into their range on later models?
 
This looks to have one in front of the arch

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Here are some offical descriptions for the lights we are talking about which the regs seem to bundle together in regulations ....
front and rear position lamps, (so these are the regular 'sidelights' that people are familiar with)
rear registration plate lamps, (number plate lights)
side marker lamps, (these would be the markers alongside a long vehicle)
end-outline marker lamps (these would be the lights in the top corners of a tall vehicle)

Are Side Markers needed on a Motorhome? I think it is one of these things where IF they are fitted, they need to be working, but if they are not present, it doesn't matter (so if say you had them and they were not working, it would fail an MOT, but if you removed them or put duct tape over them, it would pass).
Personally, I think they are a good idea and don't know why on a long Motorhome, it isn't needed but an equivalently sized 'working' van must have them. I guess some makers may add them for their own reasons, but not legally needed.

Example of a fairly long Motorhome without side marker lamps, but with end-outline marker lamps due to height ....
View attachment 64507
If this were a plain van of that length, it would have them for sure.
Point of interest my motorhome had an advisory that the orange side marker lights did not work so still passed the MOT, had the technician turned on the ignition not just the lights they would have come on.
 
Remove the fuse box from its location behind the seat and check the electrical contacts. You may find some are melting. It is a known problem.
 
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Spot on Froodie!

It was the EM40. One of the plug/socket combo's on it was melting which caused all my spurious issues. A new box was around 70 quid from memory and solved the problem.

Apologies for not updated the thread before.
 
Will it happen again?

If you carried a spare could you fit it?
 
I'll be gutted if it went again Kev but yes as it's relatively cheap and relatively small, it wouldn't be the worst idea.
 
It did cause you some mild grief, there is also the chance that if it melted once it could do again and with worse results, so extinguisher in working order and easy accessed would also be on my list, maybe two, or flog the van as I think you mentioned that recently, you may be light on your feet but is Mrs G?
 
All good points Kev. I'll give it some thought. The FE is at the front in the MH so as close as possible (we keep a spare in the back too).

We are planning on changing the MH either in 2023 or 2024 anyway.
 
The Sargant electricals don't appear to be the best. The terminals should not overheat and cause problems. Probably down to cheap Chinese components.
 
Sargent are actually usually quite good and are very supportive to customers, but like anything else electronic they can go wrong.
 
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I think the problem is they make it to complicated. The Carthago we have has separate units for charging, B2b, Fuse Board and Control panel. If you get a problem the modular approach means you only have to sort out one bit. Also means it's easy to update.
 
Ah, yes, But, we are talking British design and engineering here, none of that foriegn stuff going on :D :D
 
The main advantage of an all-in-one system is that the rats nest of wiring is still present but it is mostly hidden inside a box with a fancy logo on the cover so people don't realise it is still there :)
 
It seems a lot more complicated than my build was, I had 230V inlet which powered the fridge and the Ctek plus two sockets we never used except for the vacuum, 12v via a fuse board to the hob, oven, Truma E4000, fridge light/fans, Carver Cascade, a couple of battery voltage gauges USB sockets & LEDs, a MPPT controller, but no structured access point as such, I put things as close to where they were needed as possibe, the solar controller was electrically midway between the panel and the LBs, Ctek right next to the batteries, 230v inlet next to the fridge and the air blower.

Having said that I was and still am clueless so it had to be simple.
 

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