Van Diary

27/11/25

The following was observed as emailed to Milldown on the 28th:

I’ve noticed over the last few weeks (now the daylight is fading I suppose) that the LED lighting flickers and fades when other things draw power such as the fridge kicking in. This is very irritating but probably tolerable and understandable since the fridge I imagine draws a reasonable amount of power. However, I have discovered that it is becoming worse, and now the leisure battery will drain over a few hours to the point that when the gas is on if I turn on the tap it crashes the controller and the gas goes out (and it fades the LEDs at the same time). See video here. The controller light configuration upon crashing is in this image, though flashing on and off in this pattern:

It doesn’t do it immediately upon parking after a 30 minute journey. Only if it sits for a (very) few hours. You can see in this photo also that the leisure battery is showing 9.9V, which is hardly low…! The gas heater controller has also crashed under similar circumstances though I’ve not tested it thoroughly as yet.

04/12/25

Visit to Milldown. All appears fine electrically. I noticed after visiting Milldown that the LED in the Sargent switch only illuminates when hooked up. I thought it was illuminated when the box was on regardless but perhaps I was wrong.

09/12/25

Switched on fridge

10/12/25

Two 2-hour drives. Minimal electrical use.

11/12/25

Two 45-minute drives. No electrical use.

12/12/25 *

One hour-long drive to Peterborough; parked for 2 hours while working, then sat in van for 90 mins with warm LEDs on and Propex heater. After 1h the gas controller was in error (and needed to be reset), and the tap made the warm LEDs fade to off as before. The cold round LEDs fade only slightly, but the warm ones CONSIDERABLY. See videos of tap affecting the warm counter lights here, not really affecting the cool lights here, and the voltage indicator when the tap is turned on here.

Cloudy all day. I wonder if this problem only sometimes manifests because when it is sunny the solar panel keeps the leisure battery topped up.

Have driven home (one hour) and turned off everything (including fridge) except the Sargent box. Presumably all nicely charged up.

(To add insult to injury today the bloody bed has come away from its frame and squeaks like hell at motorway speeds. I will try to fix.)

13/12/25

Covered solar panel this morning with towel. 9:30 confirmed everything switched off except Sargent and warm counter lights. 1:30pm those lights are showing dim. Turning on panel showed voltmeter at 10.1V and LED scale at one red dot. Turning on tap dimmed lights to near darkness and crashed the gas controller. Video here.

1:40 hooked up to electric overnight to fully charge for further testing.

14/12/25

8am. Solar panel still covered. Electric hook-up unplugged. Voltmeter showing 12.2V and (briefly 4 then) 3 lights. Warm LEDs left on. Shining brightly.

9am - Voltmeter showing 12.0V and 3 lights. Warm LEDs shining normally. Slight dim with tap-on.
10:15am - 11.9V and 3 lights. Warm LEDs shining normally. Slight dim with tap-on.
11:15am - 11.9V and 3 lights. 11.7 with tap on. LEDs look normal except slight tap-related dimming.
12:45pm - 11.5V dropping to 11.3 with tap and associated dimming (moderate).
14:20pm - 10.3V dropping to 9.6 when the tap is on, and crashing the gas controller.
14:30 - Hooked up to electric and solar uncovered.

15/12/25

8am - Hookup unplugged. Voltmeter reading 13.6V, 5 LEDs on scale.
8:45am - Drove 30mins. 12.4V, 4 LEDs on scale. Turned on warm LEDs and gas controller. Ran Propex heater for one hour then turned off heater but left controller on. Sunny winter day. Went into work.
1pm - 12.0V. 11.9V if tap running. No issues.
2:45pm - 11.9V. 11.8 if tap running. 3LEDs on scale. No issues other than the 5-point scale feels vague…! Drove 30mins home.

16/12/25

30min drive to work. 12.4V showing, 4LEDs. 12.3V when tap running.
2x 30 minute drives, then advice from David:

Turn your control panel on so that the voltmeter comes on.  Let the voltmeter settle for a couple of minutes and then start your engine up.  You should see the voltmeter reach about 13.5/13.6 approx. 

Done - 12 point something on voltmeter, then followed David’s advice and sure enough it climbed to 13.7V with engine running.
30 minute drive home. (Curiously I listened to see if I could hear the switching sound upon startup as before, but I didn’t. Will keep checking…) Everything off once parked at home...

17/12/25

David’s alternator check: 12.2V and 3/5 LEDs, then 13.6V and 5/5 LEDs. Then 1h drive: 12.5V and 4/5 LEDs. ANother hour drive: 12.7V. Warm LEDs on 1:45-5:30pm (and Propex for an hour). All fine.

18/12/25

Alternator check: 12.1V 3/5LEDs then 13.5V.

19/12/25

2x 30minute drives then 12.6V 4/5LEDs - Engine on, no switching noise - 13.7 5LEDs. Remained parked with engine off and solar covered:

09:00-10:00 12.6V 4/5LEDs warm LEDs and heater on.
10:00-11:15 Heater off 10am. 11.9V 11.8 with tap on.
11:15-12:30 11.8V 11.7 with tap on. (Solar uncovered now cos wind).
14:00 11/7V, 11.6V with tap on. Clearly fine.

17:00 Connected to electrical hookup.

21/12/25

17:00 Disconnected from electrical hookup.

22/12/25 *

Driven nowhere and not used van since 19/12/25. Wondered seriously if the split-charge relay is the cause of my problems because I no longer hear it on startup. Hoping for a blown fuse, but not knowing where or which, I (with the ignition off, obviously) pulled each of the fuses one at a time from the 2-fuse panel beneath the relay. Both seemed fine. I pulled, separately, and naively, the “ignition supply” fuse then the “Charger” fuse from the Sargent controller. Both looked fine.

I then switched the panel on and the Vehicle Battery alarm sounded (LED gauge 1/5 lights). Nothing had been left on the last few days to drain the battery.

For completeness I noted the Leisure battery reading on the voltmeter (12.2V) then started the van and read it again (13.6V).