[chopsie]

I have been having problems with my new propex 2000 heater. I installed in in the van connected up to van battery, It killed my van battery in a few hours on first night. So off i went and bought a leisure battery, hooked it all up...........nothing, not a hint of life. Charged it up (charger said it was full within an hour (never checked in between) so hooked it up to heater again......nothing. Decided it must be dud battery, so off i go and swap battery,they say it tests as good and fully charged, tried 2 more batteries whilst there and still no joy, hook it to van battery and it works  Spoke to propex and said should work off leisure battery ok, cannot understand why it works off van and not leisure battery. I got to thinking that the only difference between van battery set up and leisure battery is that van battery is earthed to van (isn't it?).
Anyway I ring propex again and ask if battery should be earthed and they said no. So after some head scratching I decided to experiment, I connected a jump lead to van earth point on engine block and connected other end to negative on leisure battery, then hooked up heater to it and bingo it worked!!
Rang propex and told this to them, they said this should not be happening and could not understand what was going off 
So I rang rainbow conversions who i bought it from, explained to them and they are adament there will be nothing wrong with heater, Suggested I ring auto electrician, I said no chance am i paying out for that if its a faulty unit, they said i will not be. went through it with them again and they said it would be my error connecting electrics, no there is a cable with 5 wires in and a cable with 2 wires in, they come with connections ready fitted one end for heater and other ends one connects to battery (2 wire) and other connects to thermostat 5 wire), its pretty straight forward with easy instructions where to screw each coloured wire in.He suggested i re did all the wires again.
So I did this and still have same prob, works only with earth from jump lead to battery as before.
I tested on van battery and worked as normal, But then I thought I would try connecting positive alone through van battery and it worked, So to my thinking this means unit is earthing somewhere it should not?
I wonder if this is a reason it killed van battery as I was told today it only draws 2amps so should power heater over night no worries!!
I am considering driving over two hours in morning for rainbow conversions to have a look at it as they were adament it was not the unit as they had fitted hundreds with no problem, I am seriosly peed off.
What do you make of it? p.s sorry for extra long rant....But thats how poope my days been, I keep saying no more diy but i never learn 

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

strange cant believe yr getting no luck m8
seems sum thing a miss there 

[chopsie]

tell me about it gav, nice enough to talk to at propex.....but no solution 

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

hang on m8 il see if theres a stockist close to u 

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

how far fr chesterfield r u m8
found a place around there
auto craft caravans
speedwell industrial estate
fan rd
stavely
01246  471199

post code S43 3PT

[dazmond]

chopsie you always seem to have bad luck!

the worlds hostile powers are out to reek  vengeance upon you!!!

[chopsie]

30 miles away, dam sight closer than wisbeach at 100 miles away, cheers gav.
Yes Dazmond  i seem to get bad luck, I recon its a local voodoo windie got it in for me 
I should learn from many a lesson in my life...........NEVER DO BLOODY DIY  :

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

sure they could help u m8
as they r on offical stockists same as rainbow
just ring em m8 

[chopsie]

will do gav cheers.

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

hope u get this sorted m8 as its
a grrr8 bit of kit when its working

[darren clarke]

if it works with just teh pos connected then it is earthign its self some where,  u only need a split in the wire and it will do it,   sounds stupid try connecting up via cig lighter and see what happens,

[chopsie]

why will it be different through a cig lighter? I have checked for a split but cannot see anything, I will look again in the daylight. cheers

[chopsie]

no luck off them gav, they gave me a number for a place in derby but they can't really help either, they have passed my number on to their electrician who might ring later and come in his own time. Been to an auto electrician who cannot fit me in until wednesday at £48 an hour    and to top it all off someone nicked my mirror glass out my nearside mirror on van overnight 

[chopsie]

sorted by a mate who is a mechanic, blown circuit board with blown bit touching outer casing causing it to earth through casing. Sent off to propex for repair 

[Spruce]

Chopsie

You have found a faulty CB so this must be the problem. However, I am a little confused as well.

For every electrical product to work, there must be a postive and a negative. Now it could be that there is only one cable for a power supply but you need an earth/negative to create your circuit.
I know nothing about those heaters but it could be that the heater unit earths itself once its bolted to the body of your van. The leisure battery must be earthed to your van as well to complete the circuit. Then a single supply wire to your leisure battery would work. This would also explain why you got a result when you put a jumper cable from your van battery earth terminal to your leisure battery terminal. You are infact completing the circuit though the chassis.

I have a Eberspacher Airtronic heater in the van and that has 2 wires to connect up to the battery, one negative and the other positive - black & red. I have also been experimenting with a Webasto Thermo top and to get it to work, it also needs to have a positive and negative connection. The negative can be through the chassis of the van, but none the less, a second wire is required.

Spruce

[chopsie]

I do not know mate, It has had me stumped, and everyone who i phoned who should know i.e suppliers/manufacturers 

[Spruce]

Chopsie.

I have just read the fitting instructions for your heater. You have a 2 core cable with a red wire (+) and a black wire (-). The red wire has a 5amp fuse fitted. The red wire is for your positive terminal on the battery and the black wire is for the negative on the same battery. You need both wires for the unit to work. This is exactly the same as the 2 heaters I have that I mentioned earlier.

The other 5 core wire is for your thermostat.

Spruce