[chrismroberts]

It does get confusing yeh! Doesnt help that I'm confused myself! I think you probably know a lot more than me! My knowledge of auto electrics is....... non existent  thanks mate, will keep you all posted! 

[chrismroberts]

Roy,

I'm going to get a volt meter from Screwfix tomorrow. So, it should read 13.6 volts across the van battery?

[Wayne Thomas]

Sounds like your battery isn't holding it's charge properly. Don't forget in the winter vehicle battery has to work harder supplying the lights, heater if constantly on (demisting and heating the cab), wipers, etc so less amps going to the split charge relay for spare battery to charge up because vehicle battery takes longer to recharge to it's running state first.

I have an Omnipole hot water heater installed in my van. I have a 110amp leisure battery I run from a split charge relay for 2 pumps & a varistream. The heater is being run from a 30 amp gel battery which is connected up to the 110amp leisure battery and split charge relay. I find on these cold days that I can't get enough amps out of my 30amp gel battery for the heater (because it cuts out when the voltage is too low), so my next job is to replace it with a 110amp leisure battery so I have more running time for the heater during the day and will have to recharge the main battery overnight with an intelligent battery charger so I don't cook the battery. Does anyone know of a good website for large amperaged GEL batteries?

[chrismroberts]

Hi all,

Bought a volt meter this morning, tested the battery, got between 12 and 13v going through there so thats not the problem. Tested the voltage coming out of the varistream and thats the same. The pump is still making that fast clicking noise and not drawing anything through, and the varistream light is flickering green really fast. So its not the battery, and its not the varistream? Cant be the pump, thats new??

[Davew]

Would it be a good idea to contact these people?


http://www.williamson-shop.co.uk/varistream-auto-compensating-pump-controller-48-p.asp


Williamson Pumps Ltd
Aviation House
The Street
Poynings
West Sussex
BN45 7AQ

Tel: 0845-226-3638

[Wayne Thomas]

Hi all,

Bought a volt meter this morning, tested the battery, got between 12 and 13v going through there so thats not the problem. Tested the voltage coming out of the varistream and thats the same. The pump is still making that fast clicking noise and not drawing anything through, and the varistream light is flickering green really fast. So its not the battery, and its not the varistream? Cant be the pump, thats new??

I had to replace a 75psi pump for a 100psi pump and my varistream was also flickering like mad when I first run the pump although I was getting water out of the pump despite it being eratic (fast....stop....fast....stop).
I think the varistream frequent monitoring/automatic compensation settings had been messed up by changing the pump from a 75psi to 100psi.
I simply let the pump run for a couple hours continuously back into the tank and it settled down to a smooth flow without the erratic behaviour.
Then I readjusted the blue dial inside the varistream so that I have a greater flow of water and it shuts off quickly.
I think when a pump has been playing up the varistream tries to compensate any adjustments so when a new pump is fitted the varistream is still running at the old compensating settings. Let it run continuosly for a few hours and see if the varistream settles down like mine did.

One last suggestion: if you have a non-return valve or stop connector fitted before the pump take it off as it could be the cause of the problem.

[chrismroberts]

Hi Dave, thanks for that. Gave Williamsons a call earlier on, had one of their sales managers call me back... he was mystified so was gonna get a more techie person to call me back. Will see what they say!!

Hi all,

Bought a volt meter this morning, tested the battery, got between 12 and 13v going through there so thats not the problem. Tested the voltage coming out of the varistream and thats the same. The pump is still making that fast clicking noise and not drawing anything through, and the varistream light is flickering green really fast. So its not the battery, and its not the varistream? Cant be the pump, thats new??

I had to replace a 75psi pump for a 100psi pump and my varistream was also flickering like mad when I first run the pump although I was getting water out of the pump despite it being eratic (fast....stop....fast....stop).
I think the varistream frequent monitoring/automatic compensation settings had been messed up by changing the pump from a 75psi to 100psi.
I simply let the pump run for a couple hours continuously back into the tank and it settled down to a smooth flow without the erratic behaviour.
Then I readjusted the blue dial inside the varistream so that I have a greater flow of water and it shuts off quickly.
I think when a pump has been playing up the varistream tries to compensate any adjustments so when a new pump is fitted the varistream is still running at the old compensation settings. Let it run continuosly for a few hours and see if the varistream settles down like mine did.

One last suggestion: if you have a non-return valve or stop connector fitted before the pump take it off as it could be the cause of the problem.

Hmmm.... thanks mate, will give it a try. When the original pump first started playing up it was bringing a small amount of water through every now and again so it might be worth it running it for a while..... will go start it going now and keep you all posted.

Thanks!

[Davew]

I love this thread! The varistream blurb says that when you first set it up you should connect your pole etc,  push the numpty in and make sure the green light is constant then turn the dial to max and wait ten seconds for the pump to gradually start working. If the pump has not started working after ten seconds then push the button again and wait another ten seconds.
It goes on stating the obvious things then says to check that the four wires are connected properly and that the pressure switch is NOT connected.
Trouble is it seems like your still at the flashing light stage??

[chrismroberts]

LOL it seems to be going on for a while doesnt it??

Yeh I'm still at that stage. Thing is, it was working for 5 months before this without a hitch, WITH the pressure switch connected....

....cant shake the feeling I'm missing something REALLY obvious.....

[Davew]

You haven't reversed the polarity at any time? Like swopped the clips on the battery terminals by accident?

[Davew]

What if your pressure switch failed whilst it was connected would that mess things up? Anybody know?

[chrismroberts]

Could be, but this is a new pump.

[chrismroberts]

OK, bit of an update for anyone who is interested....

Tested my pump and varistream with a mates van the other day, no problems at all, everything ran. So looks like its a wiring problem. Connected the pump to the stereo supply in my van and it worked... then didnt, again. It works fine if I connect it DIRECTLY to the van battery, so it must be a problem somewhere between the battery and the pump. Dodgy earth somewhere??

For now, will just run a feed directly from the battery, stick a fuse in there and use that until I can afford to have the problem tracked a bit more precisely. Tis a good thing I was taking a couple of weeks off anyway