Fuses

Morning all, We've just got back home after weeks stay in Norfolk. On the way there we got calls from Sargent Electrics telling us our 12v was low we explained we were driving and couldn't do much about it. As soon as we got parked up on site we found we had no 12v power at all which meant the fridge wasn't working and me being at a bit of a loss with auto electrics I had to call in a local mobile repair guy. We plugged into 240v he flicked a few switches and got us going charging me £80 for his services:shrugg:

When we packed up we realised he hadn't really done anything because after unplugging the 240v we realised there was still no 12v so once again no fridge and also another call from from the lady at Sargents telling us no 12v and there were no engineers there (it was Saturday) to help us out. I managed to get in touch with our dealer who ran through a few things then discovered the 20amp fuse at the battery had blown this had been the problem all along (so much for recommended mobile repair man).

Anyhow the dealer said it would be OK to replace the 20 amp fuse with a 25amp and just wondered if anyone else has done this and it really is safe.

This change to a 25 amp fuse has been posted about many times. This was advice from Sargent following the installation of lithium batteries.

Sapper wrote:Morning all, We've just got back home after weeks stay in Norfolk. On the way there we got calls from Sargent Electrics telling us our 12v was low we explained we were driving and couldn't do much about it. As soon as we got parked up on site we found we had no 12v power at all which meant the fridge wasn't working and me being at a bit of a loss with auto electrics I had to call in a local mobile repair guy. We plugged into 240v he flicked a few switches and got us going charging me £80 for his services:shrugg:

When we packed up we realised he hadn't really done anything because after unplugging the 240v we realised there was still no 12v so once again no fridge and also another call from from the lady at Sargents telling us no 12v and there were no engineers there (it was Saturday) to help us out. I managed to get in touch with our dealer who ran through a few things then discovered the 20amp fuse at the battery had blown this had been the problem all along (so much for recommended mobile repair man).

Anyhow the dealer said it would be OK to replace the 20 amp fuse with a 25amp and just wondered if anyone else has done this and it really is safe.

No one from Sargent rang you.  It was the 24/7 manned tracking centre in Bedford that rang you.  Sargent who are in Beverley and are not 24/7 would know nothing of it.  As far as I am aware the tracking centre is contracted to support a range of tracker providers, Sargent being just one of them.  Had the LB become discharged you would also have received a SMS and/or email alert (if you have set up the alert on AS Monitor) but this isn't triggered when the LB is disconnected e.g. because its in-line fuse has blown.

I’ve had the same problem with the 12 volt system on my ‘21 Symbol. After replacing several 20amp fuses asked the dealer to check it out on first service and after contacting AS the dealer was advised to up the fuse to 25amp. Had no problem since.

AS actually sent out an email instruction to change the 20amp fuse to 25amp back in 2021 to all dealers, so it should've be changed prior to handover from dealer but no doubt with workshop changes of staff this doesn't get passed on to the necessary personnel.

Appreciate the thoughts, many thanks.

Hi Sapper,

My Van is a 21 reg but had the same happen to me, luckily, I aske on here and when I checked the 20amp fuse it had blown so changed it for a 25 amp (that was two weeks ago) and all is fine.
Pete

I've just read elsewhere that if you have a B2B fitted, then this fuse is now being replaced with a 30amp. No idea if this is correct, just read it on FB group.

Hi Paul,
Auto sleeper fitted my b to b but they didn't even uprate the 20 amp to 25 amp.
When I spoke to Tim when the 25 amp blew he just suggested that I put another 25amp in as the first one might have been a dodgy one.
Pete

Perhaps a call to Sargent ?