Fiat Ducato Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 Hi everyone Got a 1997 Fiat Ducato 1.9TD Auto Roller Motorhome, which I bought last year for a good price as had water ingress and needed work. Been doing a lot of work renovating it and modernising it at the same time as well as sorting out all the little niggles, and bodge jobs, thinks not working etc. Nearly complete, one of the last jobs is to sort out the mess of tangle of wires, wires joined to wires joined to wires, melted mate n lok connectors on the main unit, household twin and earth 2.5mm cable wired in. Took the main 12v/240v Nordelettronica NE13GT_CI unit apart and had to remove the melted damaged connectors and solder in new ones, remove the added wires soldered in as a result of these damaged melted connectors 4 pins no longer were usable. Put back together and now ready to rewire it all fresh and correctly following the user manual sent to me by Nordelettronica, along with the photo's taken before ripped everything out. Now I understand about 95% of the wiring and what goes where. Just not sure about the wiring for the 240V fridge. The previous owner had only the live wire connected out of the 3 wires via a blade inline fuse directly to the main 12v alternator feed. Now I'm fairly sure that this not correct for the mains connection of the fridge. But just not sure of the arrangement for the 240V connection in my motorhome with the main power management/charger unit. In the instructions it shows the 12v fridge connection and translated from Italian no 12 pin of the mate-n-lok connector is for Accensione Elettronica Frigo which according to google translate means Power Electronics Fridge. (presuming this could mean fridge ignition) So my question finally is where or how do I wire the 240V cable for my fridge? Does it connect to the main 240V consumer unit so as when on site or connected to 240V via the 3pin 16A blue plug connection on the outside powers the fridge. Or does it have to go through my Nordelettronica power unit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiat Ducato Posted March 2, 2017 Author Share Posted March 2, 2017 Here are a couple more pics that show the extent of damage and mess I started with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alanb Posted March 3, 2017 Share Posted March 3, 2017 Hi Paul, You have given us some great pics of how wiring should not be done, but you have not told us what type of frridge you have. Since you mention 240V I assume that it is a 3 way absorbtion type running on 12v DC, LPG, or 230V AC. Earlier 3 way fridges had separate controls for gas and mains operation. The 12V operation is only used when the engine is running. The gas ignition was piezo electric push button Later fridges can have either automatic (AES) or manual energy selection via a selector switch. Both of these latter types require a 12V supply for the electronic control system and ignition, whenever the fridge is being used even when on LPG. I would expect this 12V supply to come from your 12V Nordelettronica unit. The supply for the 12V heating element which can take over 10A will be from the vehicle battery and needs to be controlled by a relay that operates only when the engine is running. This can be done by supplying the relay coil from the alternator D+ terminal, but can be done by a combination of an ignition switch controlled supply to a voltage monitoring relay. I would recomend that cable of at least 2 sq mm is used for these connections. The 230V supply to the fridge may be from your 230V AC distribution board, but I suggest that you include a standard domestic type 13A plug and socket. The plug will only need a 3A fuse, and will provide a simple means of isolation. I hope that I have sumarised the basics. I am not familiar with the specifics of your Nordelettronica unit, but others may be able to help in this respect. As regards the single core used in a 3 core flex could this be a 12V connection using an available piece of cable? An automotive blade fuse is not suitable for use on 230V circuits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiat Ducato Posted March 4, 2017 Author Share Posted March 4, 2017 Alanb - 2017-03-03 7:42 PM Hi Paul, You have given us some great pics of how wiring should not be done, but you have not told us what type of frridge you have. Since you mention 240V I assume that it is a 3 way absorbtion type running on 12v DC, LPG, or 230V AC. Earlier 3 way fridges had separate controls for gas and mains operation. The 12V operation is only used when the engine is running. The gas ignition was piezo electric push button Later fridges can have either automatic (AES) or manual energy selection via a selector switch. Both of these latter types require a 12V supply for the electronic control system and ignition, whenever the fridge is being used even when on LPG. I would expect this 12V supply to come from your 12V Nordelettronica unit. The supply for the 12V heating element which can take over 10A will be from the vehicle battery and needs to be controlled by a relay that operates only when the engine is running. This can be done by supplying the relay coil from the alternator D+ terminal, but can be done by a combination of an ignition switch controlled supply to a voltage monitoring relay. I would recomend that cable of at least 2 sq mm is used for these connections. The 230V supply to the fridge may be from your 230V AC distribution board, but I suggest that you include a standard domestic type 13A plug and socket. The plug will only need a 3A fuse, and will provide a simple means of isolation. I hope that I have sumarised the basics. I am not familiar with the specifics of your Nordelettronica unit, but others may be able to help in this respect. As regards the single core used in a 3 core flex could this be a 12V connection using an available piece of cable? An automotive blade fuse is not suitable for use on 230V circuits. Hi Alan Thank you for your reply, I have sorted it out now. After some investigating and running some test. I discovered that the fridge was connected to the 240v supply as it should be, along with the 12v supply via the alternator relay. So only works when Engine is running. Sorry if I made it sound like I am a complete novice, I can assure you I am NOT. I am fairly competent in electrical and electronic insulation and diagnostic testing. Repaired the Nordelettronica unit myself, which involved de-soldering and removing the damaged and melted connectors and re-soldering brand new ones, removing the added make shift cable and wiring the connectors to the unit how they should have been as per instructions ans schematics. Oh and very first thing I did was to disconnect and chuck out the twin and earth 2.5mm domestic cable. The only small part I was slightly unsure about was the extra 3 core 240v flex cable, which was only connected to my unit by the live wire via a blade fuse holder directly to the alternator 12v feed. Completely through me off. However after some investigation I discovered that it turned out to be connected to a relay for the electric step. Relay had been removed and some of the wires cut. Another bodge job to sort out. Really appreciate your advice and input. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baden87 Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 mate that wiring looks very dangerous it all needs re doing in my opinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveSlim5 Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 Looks like you will need some new connectors and wire. Should be able to get replacement connectors and crimp pins/ sockets from RS Components http://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/connectors/pcb-connectors/pcb-connector-housings/?searchTerm=MATE-n-LOK The 12V for the fridge in my van is only powered when the engine is running / ignition on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveSlim5 Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 A point to note is that you must have fuses / circuit breakers for all the power feeds. You run the risk of having a fire if you don't. Warning 12V wiring directly shorted across a battery will soon catch on fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiat Ducato Posted August 10, 2017 Author Share Posted August 10, 2017 baden87 - 2017-03-10 2:04 PM mate that wiring looks very dangerous it all needs re doing in my opinion Hi there yes was very dangerous and I did redo it all, correctly even down to changing the burnt out melted connectors. And wired it all as per schematics for my Nordelettronica model NE13GT_CI charger/transformer/power distribution unit. Now all works 99% perfectly still got a few niggly bits to sort out when I get the time. Here is a pic of before and after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 Well done that man! Looks a nice, tidy, job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiat Ducato Posted August 10, 2017 Author Share Posted August 10, 2017 Thanks Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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