The Schaudt Elektroblock is an all-in-one power distribution, control and battery charging system for Motorhomes & Caravans – predominantly fitted to German built vehicles. Our’s recently started misbehaving on a recent trip to Europe, and while it was sent away and repaired by a specialist after the trip it made me lose some faith in the 20 year old components it is made from!
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Category: Technical Articles (page 2 of 6)
The 8140.43 2.8L Diesel engine used in various Fiat Ducato, Peugeot Boxer, Citroen Relay and other vans and MotorHomes uses a fairly unusual cold start system, here we’ll look at how it works so if you need to do any troubleshooting, you know where to start!
Continue readingA lot of information on the internet would suggest that swapping out your replaceable gas bottles for a refillable system is an upgrade that would benefit everyone, but as with many things the reality is a little more complicated…..
Continue readingAn often touted statement on the internet is that burning Propane or Butane creates a “Wet Heat” – potentially leading to damp in your van….
While there is a lot of truth to this statement, I’ve also seen people advising use of electric heating instead of gas to combat the problem, and here things get a little more complicated (I’ll get to that shortly!)
Continue readingMotorhomes tend to have pretty appalling rear visibility, so reversing cameras are a popular accessory. You don’t need to spend hundreds of pounds, perfectly acceptable wireless reversing cameras kits are available for less than £25 from places like eBay, and are really easy to install!
Continue readingA common issue with the absorption refrigerators fitted to most motorhomes is insufficient cooling performance when operating on gas. Absorption fridges are interesting devices that cool using no moving parts, and require only heat to drive the cooling process (which seems counter intuitive, but if you want to read more about the working principles Wikipedia has a good article here)
Continue readingYou may need to remove the fridge from your B544 for troubleshooting (see article on troubleshooting a fridge not working on gas here), or just for access to something else. Here’s the process for fridge removal based on our 1999 model:-
Continue readingA common issue on Hymer B-class motorhomes seems to be the headlight height adjustment failing.
The system is hydraulic and consists of a main unit on the back of height adjuster knob in the dash connected to hydraulic actuators on the headlights themselves via tubing. Over time the oil can leak out of the system leaving the headlights in their lowest position.
Fortunately replacement parts are available. Unfortunately it is a sealed system that needs to be replaced as a whole, and is likely to cost over £100 for the parts! Occasionally you might get lucky and find cheaper parts overseas. I managed to get parts shipped from Germany which saved a decent amount versus buying them in the UK.
This is the system as supplied (as modeled by Muffin) with the dash mounted unit on the top right. You can see one of the headlight actuators at the end of the blue hose on the bottom left (the other headlight unit is hidden behind Muffin’s sleeve!)
First step in replacing this lot is to get the old unit out of the van! If you pull the adjuster knob off on the dashboard you can get to the two fixing screws that hold the adjuster.
The hoses on the adjuster go up underneath the dashboard to the bulkhead where they pass through a grommet into the engine bay.
Here you can see the grommet and hoses on the bulkhead:-
Next step is to remove the actuators from the back of the headlight units – these just twist to unclip.
You can just about see one of the actuators to the right of the headlight unit here (looking down from the top):-
Once you’ve removed both actuators from the headlights you need to poke the grommet through the bulkhead (from the engine side) and feed the hoses complete with actuators through the hole in the bulkhead to underneath the dashboard. The whole lot can then be pulled out from under the dash.
Fitting the new system is effectively the reverse of removal:
- Feed the actuators though to the engine compartment from the dashboard side and seat the grommet in the bulkhead.
- Route the hoses to the headlights and clip on the actuators.
- Attach the switch unit to the back of the adjuster knob.
In reality it’s a bit more difficult than that makes it sound as access/visibility under the dash is limited, and access to the headlights requires a bit of a contortionist act. It’s all do-able with a bit of grunting and swearing.
Here’s Muffin in position feeding the actuators through the hole in the bulkhead:-
Total repair time – a couple of hours including brew breaks……..
How to equip your motorhome with multiple user WiFi – without spending a fortune!
Even if you use your motorhome regularly over the winter it is still vital you prepare it properly for any period of storage where the temperature is likely to drop below freezing. Failure to do this can cause expensive damage to your motorhome!
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