Electrical fault light - possible causes?

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ohp
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Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2008 8:15 am

Electrical fault light - possible causes?

Postby ohp » Wed Sep 03, 2008 8:36 am

Had a berlingo for a few months, and it's been going like a charm, doing 40-50 miles on a charge, but this morning, the ECU fault lamp lit up while driving (was doing about 50mph on the dual carriageway at the time). Is this going to be an auxilary battery problem?

I had to rush to catch my train, so I havn't had a chance to investigate, but it would be useful to know where to start looking.

cianof
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Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:28 pm

Postby cianof » Wed Sep 03, 2008 2:14 pm

When was the last time you changed your motor brushes or watered your batteries?

The latest version of EVlite can do some diagnosis of ECU faults. It can also clear the fault memory.
http://www.tuer.org.uk/evs2/evlite.html

ohp
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Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2008 8:15 am

Postby ohp » Wed Sep 03, 2008 2:42 pm

The Evlite told me a couple of weeks back that it has had 18AH of overcharge since the last service charge.

The Brushes.... that's a bit of an unknown. I've been meaning to inspect them.

I'll plug the evlite in it when I get back, see if that shows up the problem.

cianof
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Postby cianof » Wed Sep 03, 2008 2:50 pm

It's very important to know when your next brush change is due. If you drive on a set of brushes that have worn down to the wire your risking both your motor and your controller.

ohp
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Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2008 8:15 am

Postby ohp » Wed Sep 03, 2008 3:34 pm

this is a point that I made very clearly to the people that supplied me with the van! Inspection of the brushes is definitely on my list of things that are worrying me at the moment, but it's not a trivial task is it?

Are worn brushes likely to cause this error? It's not exhibiting any of the other symptoms of worn brushes.

ohp
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2008 8:15 am

Postby ohp » Wed Sep 03, 2008 7:43 pm

OK, I've decided to garage the poor thing until I can solve this problem.

plugged in the evlite, the overcharge counter is at 290AH, not 18 (my memory isn't very good is it :-) which is still well short of the 850AH official overcharge, and still short of the 500AH overcharge that is reccomended by berlingo bods.

I ran the "read faults" menu option, an it returned E0 Q0. Q0 is listed in the evlite guide as:

Clean dust from around motor brushes, clean around fuse
holders and check for damaged battery cables.
If fault persists, check motor field insulation resistance

I think I'll check the brushes as the top priority, might be asking for help on this one!

cianof
Posts: 196
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:28 pm

Postby cianof » Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:12 pm

Remove the fuse behind the axillary battery.

There's a black pastic inspection hatch at the bottom of the motor. It on the driver side of the motor. There 2 bolts holding it in place. It has a rubber seal. I think it has the Leroy Somer Logo in it too.

I usually drive my van up onto 2 solid concrete blocks to give me more room, but you could also park the van up on curb.

Remove the cover, you'll be able to see 1 of the brushes. The brushes are held in with a spring clip.

ohp
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2008 8:15 am

Postby ohp » Tue Oct 21, 2008 8:08 am

I thought I'd update you on this... Basically the brushes are fine, but the warning light comes on after being reset, generally when I'm doing about 50mph on the dual carriageway.

The vehicle drives fine, no reduction in performance and range.

I'm just wondeing if driving it on the dual carriageway jiggles one of the fuses, and causes a momentary interruption in supply, or something like that.

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ChrisB
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Postby ChrisB » Thu Oct 23, 2008 9:32 pm

mmm sounds like it might be an insulation fault.

How carbon'y was the brush area in the motor ?

Also what was the weather like when the fault occurs

ChrisB
I reject reality and substitute my own !!!!!!

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timpootle
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Location: Chorlton-cum-Hardy, UK

Postby timpootle » Thu Nov 06, 2008 8:24 pm

Any more news on this one? My 'good' Berlingo has just developed the same fault.

I changed the brushes last month, and a week later did the battery service/watering thing. Just coming up to 18,000 miles, right on cue. Everything happens at once :shock:
Tim Crumpton


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