For the record, the Fiat campervan chassis is from 2017, but the Jayco FD19 conversion is from 2018 and I may have received the very first converted model.

Now 7 years later I have done ca 50 000 km (only). No dramas with the Fiat at all. Only expenses on the Fiat where for raising the chassis to clear the ground better and installing a bullbar and a towbar.

The Jayco home partition however did require significant repair costs after the 5 year warranty was up. The electric step slowly jammed more and more over the first 4 years until it was fully buggered. Repairs where too expensive. I went for a mechanical solution, an external step for less that $100.

The tank sensors became faulty. Service wait time too long and requires a dealership with a hoist. So I just live with the loss.

Then the tablet packed up. All roughly around the 4 year mark. I didn't use the van during the Covid years. 

Tablet is very expensive to replace. So I bought a different android tablet very cheap  and I had to buy a new node of the BMPRO brand from the Jayco dealership. I am not quite sure anymore why. Presumably BMPRO have upgraded the JHub application and hence we needed to that for compatibility reason. Costs (I am guessing in retro) ca $400 instead of ca $800.

Another fault was on the 240V wiring system that blew the fuse in 2023 almost consistently. Was very hard to fix as the wiring is hard to get to and highly complex. I succede myself to isolate the problem after many attempts while on the road.

The house batteries got weak - routine replacement

Very annoying however is that the car battery charging circuit also deteriorated. I see a problem with with Jayco's design and wiring. Contacts overheat even with a moderate 13A charging current and then deteriorate. 

The bluetooth link has also caused concern during a trip 

Other minor mechanical problems where promptly fixed by Jaco during its 2 year warranty granted for the vans cabin. 

I highly recommend to carry tools on any remote trip. I have only used the van on bitumen roads for 3/12 months per year.

Overall still happy with the van, but 4WD would be nice to have.

​24 April 2019

​I bought aJayco Conquest Motorhome (C-Class) / Ducato Fiat Campervan FD19 ...

from PageBrosRV  in March 2018 and took delivery in April 2018. After one year I've done 13000 kms and I really like my van. I do appreciate its cleverly designed interior layout and the comfort features offered and that for less than $100k on the road in Melbourne, Australia. Its design layout at that price point deserves 5 stars.  

The warranty terms and the service network is extensive, which is also a big plus. On the downside however is the significant amount of time required for workshop appointments to rectify problems during the first year of ownership. Some problems are systemic and others that are more trivial should have been detected and rectified before handover.

Generally wait time for a workshop appointment is pretty long at Jayco as well as at their dealerships. Hence my appreciation to Tom, who squeezed me in today on short notice to fix a few probs while I was waiting for the van (that deserves 5 stars).

The van comes with a 3 mode charge system, but the AUX/Solar Energy System is not suitable for sustained off grid camping. Furthermore the AUX/Solar charge system has some noticeable deficiencies. A system capacity upgrade is very difficult to implement due to space restraints. In this area Jayco / PageBrosRV  did disappoint and I had to find a solution independently. Now that I finally did manage and have also succeeded in locating a water ingress problem I expect to be a happy camper. 

A huge fringe benefit for the Jayco brand are its independent self help groups, where members bounce off their problems. We hope to be able to get Jayco's ear as a group once we reach critical mass (1000+).

I am still experiencing my fair share of challenges with Jayco's JHub in my FD19 campervan (motorhome). My best advise after one year of ownership is Don't mess with the Android7 Tablet.  Please take the funny problem solving flowchart below kind of seriously. 

The JHub tablet is kind of a cockpit that monitors and drives your home on wheels. There is a reason why carmakers don't let laptops or tablets drive their cars. How often would they crash ? But as you know RF links and computers can crash and actually its often due to human error ! Don't mess with that unless you are a geek that enjoys solving problems !

And to be accurate, the jhub tablet is not fully driving your energy management system, its just monitoring its performance and switches the lights and battery on/off. If the JHub tablet and node101 system fails then your cabin lights can be still switched on and off without the jhub tablet and your J35C's battery charging flash codes can still be read if you lift your mattress and look through the service hole.

So if your Bluetooth based monitoring system does crash because you crashed your tablet computer, then you kind of drive blind. This could be a bit of a worry if you camp in the outback and you no longer know how much battery power and water you have left.

HENCE I WROTE A FEW HOUSEKEEPING RULES FOR JHUB TABLET USERS

1- Don't use your JHub tablet for anything else then a JHub controller and manual look up !
2- Don't hook up your JHub tablet to a computer, unless you have crashed beyond repair !
3- Don't change any settings, except for updating the battery capacity if it has changed !
4- Never switch on the Data Log function. This is a time bomb that fills up your DCIM / SSD !
5- Don't install or use any would be nice to have apps !
6- Don't disable any apps such as the location service !

Violating these rules could potentially make your bluetooth link and pairing process volatile or dysfunctional !

So, why do I give Jayco's Conquest FD19 Campervan / Motorhome only 3 STARS ?

I want to do a lot of off grid camping (Free range camping. Out in the nature. Don't want to pay $50 per night to camp in Lego Land while I travel Australia)

Unfortunately the Off Grid Energy System (12V) lasts only for about 3 days and then you will need to rush back to a 240V Power point. That is disappointing while you travel a lot while you see the sun shining, but you can't be sure that your battery is full at the end of the day. The charge can easily drops to half during the night, which borders on the red zone and isn't good for the longevity of the battery either.

But not having a full battery after a day of travel  suggests a poorly designed system concept. The van would have benefited from utilising a DC/DC converter for AUX charging (smart alternator), a better blended charge concept and the use of a 140Ah battery (same size as the original 100Ah battery). A better roof top layout layout would make a solar upgrade much easier and less costly. And Aftermarket advise for upgrades is none existent (Jayco refers to their policy and Warranty manual which has issued after I bought my van).

A two year warranty is impressive, but I have spend a fair bit of time in workshops and unfortunately the wait time for a workshop appointment is long (weeks to months) and at Jayco Service they keep the van for days to weeks dependent on the size of the job. The whole industry is very busy. Advance orders of 3 months to half a year is not uncommon. Service bookings are typically required 3 months in advance. ​

My Upgrade (going to the max)
​

1. ​Added Second battery under the dinette table
2. Added Slimline Solar panels 2x100W (Coast to Coast)
3. Added Inverter 1500W - fits under the kiddie seat
4. Added BmPro Miniboost
5. Added 2x Fans

The system performance falls way short of best in class performance, which is aggravated by it not being sufficiently expandable. Even after installing the BMPRO Miniboost I only get 15A Aux charge and I suspect the Solar charger uses the inferior PWM method rather than the more effective MPPT method. Other systems, such as enerdrive are far superior ! 

• http://www.enerdrive.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/DC2DC-PLUS-User-Manual-WEB-1.0.pdf (Manual)
• http://www.enerdrive.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/DC2DC-Plus-A4-2pp-WEB-01.pdf (Brochure)
• http://www.enerdrive.com.au/product/epower-dc-to-dc-battery-charger-40a-plus/ (Overview)
• http://www.enerdrive.com.au/mppt-vs-pwm-solar-controllers/ (Discussion Solar controllers MPPT vs PWM).

--------------------  Review Details  ----------------------- 

My Campervan requires frequent and sustained access to AC Mains power (the grid). What's the problem ?

I have travelled more than 10 000 km and tested the system extensively. I have experienced black outs multiple times and was forced to return to the grid frequently after entering the battery charge red zone (charge indicator bars on jHub). The system is often not sufficiently capable to just power a fridge 24/7.  I have restricted energy use for other loads i.e. lights, TV, pump, showers and set the fridge to medium cool.

At 10..15A the BMPRO JHUB-J35C underperforms in AUX charging mode.  Combined AUX and Solar charging is load dependent when blended and hence frequently NOT activated. A Solenoid bypass (Redarc) installed by Jayco underpins my point that BmPro's JHub on its own does not perform well enough. Further proof of my point is that BmPro has suggested I install their Miniboost (to be paid for as an Aftermarket improvement). It is designed to boost AUX charge. But in my opinion neither the crude solenoid (battery isolator) in the BMPRO-J35 circuit, nor the Miniboost make enough of a difference and match the Enerdrive DC2DC 40+ system (40 Amps Plus). Modern vehicles have smart alternator charge systems and people want to be able to run 300W+ Solar Systems with 200Ah+ Batteries.

The BMPRO Miniboost is offered as Aftermarket system supplement and should have been installed by OEM Jayco, so that the Redarc SBI (solenoid) can be removed and the JHub tablet readings don't get messed up. With a Miniboost installed the Jhub-J35 performs better at 15A output combined for loads and charge (spec rates Miniboost capability at 18..20A). Jayco's original thin wiring for the J35-Aux Input appears to be sufficient to drive 15A when a Miniboost is installed. The Miniboost  seems to outperform the thick wire Redarc solenoid bypass that Jayco has installed to boost the AUX charging mode. Now the weakest link is the J35's charging algo. It is capable of running a twin charge mode, but often selects only one charging source instead of both, i.e. either AUX or Solar and frequently the weaker one.

DC CHARGE MODE (1.5*)

I do expect that AUX charging and Solar charging via J35 work in tandem all the time full blast until the House battery is at least 80% charged. The currently implemented charge source priority & activation algo that tests loads should only kick in when the battery is nearly fully charged (if at all). Furthermore the J35 may to often give the highly fluctuating solar charging circuit dominant source preference. With a Miniboost installed and only one solar panel available in a FD19, Solar is always the weaker source compared to AUX (15A constant vs 9A max). If we can get 15A+9A=24A most of the time, then the fridge (4A) can be sustained in a typical mixed cycle of daily driving and occasional sunshine.

AC CHARGE MODE (3*)

In AC charge mode The JHub system bulk charges with 15A from the grid and provides additional current to power all loads. This is quite acceptable for charging one 100Ah battery, but marginal for 200..300 Ah battery blocks. The J35-AUX/Solar DC twin charge mode in my opinion only deserves 2 stars, but the innovative tablet features would have deserved 3 stars. The JHub with its SBI bypass (by Redarc) has not scored too well in the caravanersforum (see link below). 

CONCLUSION (2*)

The JHub has been promoted as an advanced technology innovation that makes system modifications fast and easy (via Tablet). It appears that there are virtually no programmable performance options. I would love to change my grading of only 2* in due time. I love the concept of having a tablet monitoring my energy system, but an improved CONTROL SYSTEM and energy self sufficiency for off grid camping is currently my main concern.  

Jayco and Setec are system development partners. It took lots of tests and emails to their respective Service departments to slowly get a picture of the DC charge systems performance limitations. I feel DC charging of Jayco's RV leisure battery bank needs major improvements.

I suggest that Australia's dominant mass manufacturer of Australian RV's (Jayco) and their System Partner (BMPRO/Setec) will consider Enerdrive's benchmark performance and improve their JHUB.

------------------------------------------------------------ Links  -----------------------------------------------------------------

BMPRO JHUB-J35C RV-POWER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (JAYCO FD19 CAMPERVAN-MOTORHOME)

https://www.catchyadreams.com/Jayco-FD19
https://caravanersforum.com/viewforum.php?f=111
https://teambmpro.com/products/solar-battery-management-system-j35c/
https://www.jayco.com.au/blog/jhub-and-bmpro-make-the-perfect-team
http://www.enerdrive.com.au/mppt-vs-pwm-solar-controllers/
http://www.enerdrive.com.au/product/epower-dc-to-dc-battery-charger-40a-plus/

Available in Australia since early 2017, BMPRO’s JHub is one the World’s first portable power management systems for monitoring and controlling caravans and motorhomes, operating from Android tablet. Designed specifically for Jayco Australia

J35 Specs -extracts

​Spec A-B states https://teambmpro.com/wp-content/uploads/171213_M-J35AB.pdf

MULTIPLE INPUTS J35-A may have two sources present AC mains or auxiliary. J35-B may have three sources present, AC mains, auxiliary or Solar. Priority of the sources are given below. 1. AC mains is the most dominant source for both variants and will be the only source even if other sources are available 2. In the case of J35-B, when only the auxiliary and solar are both available, both sources are turned ON at the same time, this allows for current to be drawn from both sources. Note: The AC mains and Auxiliary will still independently power the unit and output loads even if a battery is not connected to the J35. In this situation where the AC mains and no battery mode, the output voltage is set to 12.8V.