No power to radio, central locking, electric mirrors and front interior lights.

[Holly428]

Hi there,
I purchased a 2001, 2.5 petrol Bongo at the end of last year. It's our first Bongo and camper in general, and we've encountered a bit of an issue with the radio, central locking, electric mirrors and interior lights over the last week.

The central locking had been a bit temperamental for a few weeks, sometimes working and sometimes not, however the other aspects mentioned had been fine. We took the Bongo up to Aberdeen last weekend and had my phone connected to the radio unit via an AUX cable. Whilst driving over a speed-bump, a small black box (which we assume to be the leisure battery relay) fell down next to the pedals, we pulled over and whilst securing it back in the slot the radio cut out briefly and then reconnected seconds later. We thought nothing more of it and carried on with our journey and the radio worked perfectly, as did everything else.

The following day, everything worked as normal for the first couple of hours however after stopping briefly, the radio lost power, and then gradually over the next day or so, so did the central locking, mirrors and interior lights.

We've done some research and checked the fuses (in the cabin and under the bonnet), tested the relevant fuses and replaced a couple even though they tested fine - still no luck. We've looked for any loose connections and can't find anything obvious. We've also taken the housing off around the dash and lower the steering wheel to look for any issues and again nothing jumped out at us as being a problem.

One thing we have wondered is weather the leisure battery is not charging as it should, having not been away properly in our Bongo yet (hoping to do our first trip next weekend!), we've never had a real reason to really test this before, however upon looking at the battery charge meter in the rear of the Bongo, it's fully charged when on 'Car' however when we switch to the 'Caravan' setting it shows there is no charge.

We're thinking of taking it to an auto-electrician, however in the hope of saving money, I just wanted to check with the knowledgeable folk on BongoFury whether there was anything obvious we were missing?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Holly
'

[Northern Bongolow]

Black box dropping down by the pedals maybe the coolant alarm, don't disconnect that.

[lucklesspedestrian]

The black box was definitely the leisure battery relay as I identified it with help on this forum a few months back (I'm the OP's dad!!)

Found this thread Holly which looks like it's relevant and might suggest that the culprit is a blown fuse on the leisure battery relay, not sure which one that would be though and it looks like the fuses on Bongos with 2 batteries and a LBR tend to have been changed? Anyway, here's a link to the thread I found:

viewtopic.php?t=60342

Any ideas which fuse it might be on a Bongo with a Leisure battery and relay box folks?

[g8dhe]

It will have been the fuse top left in the box by the drivers knee, however its quite possible that a Swap loom has also been fitted which means the fuse will have been removed and refitted in the LB fuse box, and additional wires run between the two fuse panels, the fuse should be a 10 Amp Red mini fuse.

[lucklesspedestrian]

Is it possible that the ' common main fuse' on the leisure battery has blown when the relay dropped and was disconnected?

Also, I wasn't aware that there was a separate LB fuse box, any idea where this is commonly found?

Thanks once again for all the help!

[g8dhe]

What common main fuse on the LB ? All LB are add-on by third parties each tends to be unique.

You should have TWO charging fuses, these protect the cables from the SB and LB to the Split Charge Relay, ratings are set by the cable size used.
The LB fuse panel would then normally be situated close to the LB with a short feed cable, if its not short then a larger cable and fuse should be added.

The basic layout is as below;

[lucklesspedestrian]

That's really helpful Geoff, thanks yet again!

[Alkers]

Can you test your leisure battery with a multimeter and see what voltage is has? Then at least you'll know if it's charged or not

[lucklesspedestrian]

Can you test your leisure battery with a multimeter and see what voltage is has? Then at least you'll know if it's charged or not

Apparently my daughter checked the voltage by checking the meters inside above the kitchen conversion. Car battery is fine, Leisure battery is dead as a duck so it's not charging as you suspect. Am I right in thinking that a blown fuse to the leisure battery would mean that it wouldn't charge and also account for the other symptoms? i.e. no radio, only one electric mirror working (weird I know!) and no interior lights?

[g8dhe]

Basically yes. if the either of the charging fuses blow then the battery will loose charge over time but it will normally show some small voltage unless its been left a long time, or the 10 Amp fuse to the unswitched power has been blown for some reason.

[lucklesspedestrian]

Basically yes. if the either of the charging fuses blow then the battery will loose charge over time but it will normally show some small voltage unless its been left a long time, or the 10 Amp fuse to the unswitched power has been blown for some reason.

Makes sense, anyway she's booked it into an auto electrician, who has been helpful in the past, for Friday. The Bongo's through in Edinburgh and I'm in Perth so the frustrating thing is that I can't tinker about and try to sort it using the info given here.

I'll post back to let you know what transpires on Friday!

[Holly428]

Hi all,

I see my dad has kept you up to date on what we've tried etc.

Thanks again for all your help - it's very much appreciated!

Holly

[lucklesspedestrian]

Well my daughter put the Bongo into a local auto electrician as per plan and it turns out that there was a problem with the leisure battery relay and splitter which caused the leisure battery not to charge and then led to the failure of the interior lights/radio/wing mirrors and central locking which must be on the same circuit.

£70 (such a good price!) later and new relay/splitter fitted, everything is working again and they are off for their first weekend adventure in rural Perthshire, 'wild' camping tonight by a lochside and booked into a camp site tomorrow where they can test the external hook up for the first time and probably blow everything in the process!

Watch this space!

[Bob]

Great result.

This wee gadget will let you plug in to mains at home:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/Maypole-UK-Hoo ... 3cffd31d4d

Also handy for an 'over nighter' on a mate's drive.