Fitting the Autoterm add-on

Before you start

Update the panel first. Heater support improves with releases, and a panel a few versions behind may not offer Autoterm at all. Update instructions are in the SavvyVan3 user guide.

Then turn the heater off at its isolator and give it a few minutes. You will not touch the heater itself, but there is no reason for it to run while you unplug its controller.

Moving the cable across

This is the whole wiring job.

1. Take out the existing Autoterm controller. It is usually a round dial or a small panel in the living area. Ease it out of its opening carefully - the cable behind it is the one you are about to reuse.
2. Unplug the cable from the back of it. One connector, and it only goes in one way.
3. Plug that same cable into the add-on. It carries power and heater control together, so there is nothing else to connect.

That is it. No new cable, nothing to cut, no separate 12V feed to find - the connection you just moved already carries everything the module needs.

Siting the module

The add-on talks to the panel wirelessly, so it does not have to live near it. It does have to live somewhere sensible:

• Dry and protected. A locker, or behind a removable panel, is ideal. Not a wheel arch, and not anywhere it will get wet.
• Within range, and preferably not with a sheet of steel between it and the screen.
• Reachable again. It is a serviceable part, so it must be mounted where it can be reached, disconnected and removed without dismantling fixed furniture or bonded panels - nobody should be taking a cupboard apart the first time it needs looking at.

Secure it so it cannot rattle about. There are lugs on the case for a screw or a cable tie.

If the wireless link between the add-on and the panel drops, the add-on switches the heater off straight away. When the link comes back the panel starts it again and leaves a note in Notifications, but each drop costs the heater a full shut-down and restart - one more reason to give the add-on a clear path to the screen.

What the light is telling you

One LED on the module tells you where you are - check it before you go near the panel.

The light	What it means
Solid green	Powered up and booting. Allow 60 to 90 seconds - the Autoterm module is slower to start than the others, and people mistake it for dead
Flashing blue	Booted, and waiting to pair
Solid blue	Paired to your panel. Nothing more to do
Red	Something is wrong - see troubleshooting
Nothing at all	No power reaching it - see troubleshooting

Pairing it

Same as every other SavvyVan add-on.

1. On the panel, open Installer Settings, enter the passcode, and go to the device pairing screen - the one with Scan on the right.
2. Tap Scan and give it a few seconds to look around.
3. Tap the green + next to Autoterm. That is the add-on. It moves across into the saved list on the left.
4. Wait for the symbol to turn blue. That is the panel telling you it is connected.

Setting it up

Back in Installer Settings, tap Heater Settings and check the model reads Autoterm - pairing sets it for you. Leave Enable Auto Heat Mode ticked: it is what puts Auto Heat on the heating page.

Then give the heater a temperature to work to. In Additional Settings, set one of the panel’s temperature sensors to Inside - the installation guide shows the page. This step is not optional. The Autoterm’s own sensor sits in its air intake and reads the heater rather than the van, so the panel does not use it. With no sensor set to Inside, the heating page shows the van’s temperature as UNKNOWN and, from software 2.5.1, the heater will not burn at all - not on Auto, not on a level, and not on the schedule. Press Diesel and the panel turns it straight back off and says why: The heater needs an inside temperature probe. Assign a temperature sensor to “Inside” in Additional Settings. Fan still works without one.

Head back to the main page. The heater now sits on the right of the screen with your target temperature on it - tap it for the full heating page.

Using it

Auto Heat is the reason to fit this rather than keep the original controller. Choose the temperature you want and the panel manages the output to reach it and hold it, easing off as the van warms - instead of picking a setting and living with whatever it gives you.

Tap Diesel again to step past Auto to a level from 1 to 10 instead, if you would rather choose how hard it works. From software 2.4.5 a level still follows your temperature: the heater runs at that level while the van is below it, rests once the van is a degree over, and starts again at the same level a degree under. The flame stays lit on the main screen while it rests - the heat is still on, the heater is simply waiting. Fan on its own moves air and burns nothing.

Alongside it:

• A weekly schedule, with its own timer. Tap the clock at the top right of the heating page, pick a start time and the days, and how long it runs - from 1/2 hour to 8 hours, or Off to keep heating until somebody turns it off. One start time applies to every day you tick, and Enabled, top right, switches the whole schedule on or off without losing them. A scheduled start is always Auto Heat. A panel updated from older software keeps the schedule it already had, so after an update it is worth opening the schedule once to check it says what you expect.
• Faults by number, in words. If the heater reports a fault, the panel turns it off and puts up a pop-up headed with the heater’s own fault number and what it means - Fault 17 - Faulty Fuel Pump, for instance - with what to check underneath. The heater then stays off until you press Reset on that pop-up, whatever asks it to start: the heating page, the phone app, the schedule or Auto Heat. It stays locked through a restart or a power cut, so a heater that has shut itself down for a reason is never started again behind your back. Reset unlocks it but does not start it - switch it on again once you have dealt with the cause.

Troubleshooting

A pop-up says Heater Switched Itself Off. The heater stopped by itself without giving a fault number, so the panel has locked it out just as it would for a fault. It may have been switched off at its own controller. Check the heater, its fuel and its wiring, then press Reset and switch it on again.

A message says Heater Didn’t Start. The heater was switched on but stayed in standby for 30 seconds without reporting a fault, so the panel has turned the button off rather than show heat that is not happening. Check the heater and the cable into the add-on, then switch it on again.

A pop-up says Unknown Fault, with a number. The heater has reported a fault the panel has no words for. Look the number up in Autoterm’s own documentation, deal with it, then press Reset.

It used to stop just as it was starting, with a low-voltage fault. From software 2.5.1 a brief dip while the glow plug warms up no longer stops it. A real problem with the supply is reported by the heater itself - Fault 15 for low voltage, Fault 12 for high - and on a 12V system it cuts out below 10V or above 16V, measured at the heater.

No light is a supply problem, not a pairing one. Check the fuse and the feed before you rescan - it is the commonest reason a module never appears.

A red light means the module cannot do its job. Power it down, check the wiring against this guide, and power it back up. Still red? Tell us rather than working around it, and send us the logs from the passcode screen: Get Help, then Send Logs.

Warranty

The Autoterm add-on carries our 12-month warranty. The free second year you get for registering is for the SavvyVan3 panel itself, so there is nothing to register for this one.