Question

I have a problem with the electrics on my Swift Conqueror and if possible am seeking your comments please. There seems to be two related issues, one with the NE183-T56 in conjunction with a Thetford N112 fridge. NE183-T56 with NE189 R1 With no vehicle connected all functions are OK. Panel show voltage 13.8 for van, zero for car which is correct. If car is selected on the NE183 this causes the ALKO ATC to engage although no car is connected. Therefore, in some way the NE189 must be feeding current into the car-live circuits. Also panel then shows voltage for two batteries, van 13.6, car 13.9 although only the van battery is present! After several minutes both panel lights (green & red) flash in unison. Pressing van button causes a return a normal display. Normally when the vehicle is connected and running the NE183 switches off. Connecting the vehicle now makes no difference. The two relays in the NE189 appear to be solder-fit so presumably if faulty the panel has to be replaced. Thetford N112 Fridge Other than via earth, is there any interaction with the NE183? Obviously there is a connection with the NE189 because of the fuse elements. Can a relay fault back-feed into the fridge circuit? The fridge has a completely blank display (no current) and has no response to the on/off switch regardless whether the NE183 is on or off. There is constant ticking which sounds like the igniter. Although not turned on the ticking causes the LED awning light to flash in unison. Turning on the light causes the flashing to stop (light becomes constant) although ticking continues. This really foxes me because with the switch turned off the only cable to the light is the earth! The low-voltage connector to the fridge show 13,7-volts but even with no car connected the heavy duty 12-volt circuit shows 0.4-volts. Any comments or advice you can offer would be very much appreciated. Best regards, Jim Slocombe

Answer

hi Jim, The first thing i would try would be to disconnect the 12v multi connector to the fridge which has both the high and low current supplies within it. Then try the panel operation to see if the fault is still present. If it has cured the fault then it would suggest it is the Thetford PCB that is causing the issue. ( I suspect there is an issue there as the fridge should power on/off as normal regardless of whether or not the system thinks there is a car connected. Also you mention a constant ticking- possibly the igniter. However the igniter should only tick for 60 seconds before the PCB stops it as part of the flame failure system.)
If the Nord panel problem is still there with the fridge disconnected then it would seem you may have a fault within the Nordelettronica fuse board. However unfortunately the easiest way to diagnose this is to swap it for a known good one, This might be something a local dealer can try for you, or you could bring to our workshop in Devon for us to diagnose.
Hope this can be of some help.