No 12 volt suppy

[JG Grant]

Hi

No 12 volt supply.

 

We have a Herald Templar 1994 (Pool Built) motor caravan on Ford Transit fitted with a ZIG X2 Battery Charger.

On a site with electric hook-up it was noted that the green light on

the charger was not illuminated.

I was advised to remove the spade connectors from charger and reconnect

them as this would clean up the contacts.

This was done connecting the thick black lead to terminal 4, the thick red

lead to terminal 3, which is were I thought they came from. The two

red leads which are connected to the same female spade I could not really see so I connected them to terminal 2

.

The Green Light Illuminated on the ZIG X2, problem solved?

No, unfortunately my Control Panel "ZIG Marque 3 M” shows no lights I cannot get water, flush the loo or use the lights in the Van. The only 12 volt item that works is the TV/Accessory socket. The 4 Fuses in the Panel are ok as is the 10 amp one behind the Panel

Both Batteries are showing a full charge.

 

I emailed ZIG for advice on a solution, their reply:

Hi

You will have to look at the wiring for your van it sound like you

have put the wires back in the wrong place, the X2 is not designed to

charge more than one 110amph battery.

Regards Peter

One leisure battery was been charged the second was the vehicle battery. We do not have a wiring diagram and I cannot find one.

 

We had to abandon the holiday and on return home removed the ZIG X2 from the Van to discover that terminal 3 and 4 were very loose. On closer

inspection the solder joints had broken and had to be resoldered.

 

Instruction for the ZIG X2 were gratefully obtained from: 12voltsdc@blueyonder.co.uk

It was refitted by connecting the single thick red cable to terminal 1.

The black cable was connected to terminal 4.

The two red cables one thick one thin connected to the same female spade terminal were connected to terminal 2.

Then connecting to a mains supply the Control Panel lit up and every thing

worked perfectly. Unfortunately when I disconnected the mains supply nothing worked on 12 volts. Connections to terminal one and two were reversed with the same result. The single thick red cable shows continuity at the switch in the Marque Panel and the thick and thin reds on the same spade shows continuity at the 10 amp fuse behind the panel.

 

Looking at the Leisure battery I see three negative wires one to earth one to terminal 4 on the X2 and one to the solar panel. On the positive side there is one thick red wire to the solar panel via fuse and relay. One terminal with two red wires attached goes directly to the split charge relay. A second terminal with two red wires attached goes behind the bulkhead but is untraceable but it is Ford cable.

 

There is no continuity between the cables at the ZIG and the Leisure battery suggesting that a fuse or something was blown when I first stupidly messed with the ZIG. All the fuses in the vehicle fuse box are intact.

 

Can you help please?

 

Thanks

JG

[Rayjsj]

I think you need a motorhome electrician, Do you live near Dave Newell at Telford ? he would be able to sort it for you.

Ray

[Brambles]

I suggest you look for a fuse in a holder near the battery. Appears you had it working on mains but not when mains was unplugged. Suggsting battery is not connccted... but it probbaly was. So check fro a fuse. Other than that afraid your tale of woe is too difficult to follow and is dangerous to just try connectors here and there in an attempt to get working so goodness knows what you might have blown. Sorry! but if you cannot even take some connections off and put back in same place, you need an expert to look at it.

[Brambles]

As far as I can tell, and I have not double checked the info I have so could be wrong. Term 1 and 4 are the liesure battery, 1 being +ve.

Your solar charger should connect across this as well I would think.

 

Terminal 2 is fron teh split charge relay, and 3 id negative from the engine battrey or chassis ground if it is vehicle zero volts.

 

You say no continuity from any connections at Zig to the liesure battery, so check near leisure battery for fuse as I mentioned in previous post.

 

Good luck and try not to blow yourself up and I accept no responsibility for my advice/comments on connections.

 

 

 

 

[Derek Uzzell]

JG

 

I owned a 1996 Templar and had a wiring-diagram for it (not that it was much use) and technical details of the ZIG-made charger and control-panel. Unfortunately these went with the vehicle when I sold it in 2004.

 

I do remember that the wiring arrangement was (in principle) pretty simple, but there were fuses and relays all over the place - in the control-panel, behind the glove-box, in the seat boxes, etc.

 

If I were in your shoes I'd go back to Square One. I don't recall a fuse on, or near, the (under-bonnet?) leisure-battery but, if there is one somewhere (behind the glove-box?) and it has failed, then clearly you'll have no habitation 12V electrics. If there is no 12V power evident at the ZIG control-panel, then that's the first thing to sort out as this now seems to be the root of your problem.

[Rayjsj]

JG,

Don't know if you have sorted your problem yet ?

Don't forget that when you remove ANY contacts/connections unless you are absolutely certain that you KNOW where they belong that you get out a pen and draw a diagram, so that re-assembly doesn't result in a blown fuse or worse. Anyway found this website that lists 'Zig' wiring diagrams

which might help ? http://12voltsdc.webs.com/zigmanuals.htm

 

Good luck ! ;-) Ray

[Brambles]

JG,

 

Having re read the original post it all makes sense now. Managed to decipher.

 

Go back to way you 1st wired after consulting manual you got from blueyonder chappie. (two red together go on term 2).

Then look for inline fuse between liesure battery and Zig unit, there must be a fuse and it has blown as you even suggested yourself.

I think Derek has made some reference to this.

 

 

Anyway, welcome to the Forums and hopefully you will post back soon to let us know how you get on with finding the fuse, it will exist, and definetly has blown.

Jon.

[JG Grant]

Thank you all for your posts, which enabled me to find the solution after weeks of effort. The Van had almost been stripped down in search of the obvious but never found. This evening after reading your posts I removed the glove box which was not an easy task but as Derek had said there were fuses there, high up and hard to see a small row of 5 fuses two of which are blown. They are 25 amps which I do not have but just to test the result I put in 10 amps, Eureka, the control panel lit up and all 12v habitation works.

Will double check all tomorrow.

My wife also send her thanks, she will now get me back in the house, she was just about to through in a sleeping bag.

Best regards

JG

:-D

[Brian Kirby]

OK.  So now you know what blew, but not why.  Be cautious!  Fuses blow for a reason.  Sometimes the reason is poor quality, or age, but more often it indicates there is a fault somewhere. 

If a fuse blows, it is generally because too much current has flowed through it.  That may be because too much equipment was connected at once, but it could also be because there is a loose wire somewhere, or something else (possibly you trying alternative connections! :-)), that has cause a short circuit or overload.

Do replace the 25A with another of the same rating, do get more than one so you have a spare, and don't be tempted to try a higher rated fuse if it blows again!  Above all, do get to the bottom of what went wrong.  I don't wish to alarm you unduly, but although it may only be 12V, it can still cause fires!

[JG Grant]

Hi

Have now double checked all and replaced the two blown fuses with the correct rating. Every thing is now working fine. The fuses were blown because I shorted them when removing the spades from the ZIG, while still connected to the leisure battery. The time and effort it’s taken to resolve has certainly taught me a lesson.

Thank you all,

Best regards

JG