I have a Heritage 560/4. The battery gets hot. I have been told it could be a regulator problem with the charger. I need to fix it before I buy a new battery.
Is this a common problem and if so is there an easy/cheap fix rather than replacing the whole board and charger?
Thanks
Response
I think the info you've been given is correct on the charger regulator, you can check this by inserting an in-line ammeter in the battery circuit to measure the current draw to the battery for different charge states of the battery. If the current draw doesn’t change and drops off to a trickle (low value) charge eventually the regulator is at fault
I think MES manufactured the unit (you didn’t state the year of your caravan). They are still in business so you could try them for a repair, although I’m not sure what response you’ll get, as they tend to restrict their dealings to the trade / dealers only.
The charge regulator is not a sophisticated circuit and is used in many applications in industry so you may be able to have a general electronics company take a look and repair this for you.
Other options:-
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Obtain a complete used PDU from a caravan breaker - you'll find some listed under Links.
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Disconnect the input and output of the installed charger and install as a separate unit, a good quality mid-range charger that will deal with a leisure battery charge cycle.
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Go to an ex-Fleetwood dealer and have the OEM PDU / Charger unit replaced to maintain the caravan to original specification. This would also give you a warranty on the unit.
Hope this helps,
