Zig X70 battery charger/converter - deceased!

[john_5040735]

Just arrived back from a great week at Rowntree Park, York. On arrival home and upon connecting 240v I find that my Zig 12v charger is no longer working and will therefore not charge battery and/or provide 12v electricity. The unit was working perfectly as I uncoupled 240v from bollard at site this morning. The green diode that usually glows when on is not lit - unit is dead! All other electrics 240v and battery 12v are working fine. Also 240v is being supplied OK from MCB/LCB to the charger - have checked with meter at junction box!

Is there any reset buttons on these things - I'm led to believe not? Is there a way that I can check condition of charger? Does anyone know of any decent suppliers of such a charger?

Thanks folks in advance of your assistance in this matter.

 

[Rod_5041370]

I wouldn't be inclined to replace your Zig with another as the do not really charge your battery fully and are expensive.

Look at replacing it with a 3 or 4 stage charger/psu such as one from the Sterling range.

Do a google search on sterling to find best prices.

 

[Rod_5041370]

I wouldn't be inclined to replace your Zig with another as the do not really charge your battery fully and are expensive.

Look at replacing it with a 3 or 4 stage charger/psu such as one from the Sterling range.

Do a google search on sterling to find best prices.

Start from www.sterling-power.com then google search for the model that interests you.

 

[RogerL_5041474]

The Zig X70 has an on/off switch on top - are you sure it hasn't been accidentally turned off?

If you use a lot of sites without hookup, a proper charger like the CTEK 3600,

 

[john_5040735]

The Zig X70 has an on/off switch on top - are you sure it hasn't been accidentally turned off?

If you use a lot of sites without hookup, a proper charger like the CTEK 3600,

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello John,

Your other respondents have identified an issue about how much a caravan power supply will charge a battery.

As the caravan construction regulations sit at the moment, manufactures must ensure that the 12V dc system must not exceed 13.8V maximum. So if you choose any systems that is designated as a caravan power supply it too will limit to 13.8V.

If you use a battery charger, then there are some items of modern caravan equipment that might see the 14.4V as being too high and may be damaged by it

Its a risk you must assess and make you're choice accordingly.

Best of luck.

 

[john_5040735]

Hello John,

Your other respondents have identified an issue about how much a caravan power supply will charge a battery.

As the caravan construction regulations sit at the moment, manufactures must ensure that the 12V dc system must not exceed 13.8V maximum. So if you choose any systems that is designated as a caravan power supply it too will limit to 13.8V.

If you use a battery charger, then there are some items of modern caravan equipment that might see the 14.4V as being too high and may be damaged by it

Its a risk you must assess and make you're choice accordingly.

Best of luck.

Thanks John - I had an idea that this was the case!

 

[RogerL_5041474]

Hello John,

Your other respondents have identified an issue about how much a caravan power supply will charge a battery.

As the caravan construction regulations sit at the moment, manufactures must ensure that the 12V dc system must not exceed 13.8V maximum. So if you choose any systems that is designated as a caravan power supply it too will limit to 13.8V.

If you use a battery charger, then there are some items of modern caravan equipment that might see the 14.4V as being too high and may be damaged by it

Its a risk you must assess and make you're choice accordingly.

Best of luck.

John L's comment about exceeding 13.8v are correct as far as the EN caravan standards go, but still a bit of caravanning myth.

When your car's attached to the caravan, with the engine running, the "12v" system in the caravan will be running at 14.4v which all current cars run at. In practice it might only be 14.3v due to voltage drop but will certainly exceed 13.8. I've never seen any warnings in caravan handbooks about NOT using caravan electrics with the car attached, nor have I heard of equipment failures when the car was attached.

While motorhomes have their "domestic" 12v appliances disabled when the engine is running, to the annoyance of many motorhomers, most caravan 12v appliances can be used whether the engine is running or not.

 

[gary]

Hello John,

Your other respondents have identified an issue about how much a caravan power supply will charge a battery.

As the caravan construction regulations sit at the moment, manufactures must ensure that the 12V dc system must not exceed 13.8V maximum. So if you choose any systems that is designated as a caravan power supply it too will limit to 13.8V.

If you use a battery charger, then there are some items of modern caravan equipment that might see the 14.4V as being too high and may be damaged by it

Its a risk you must assess and make you're choice accordingly.

Best of luck.

Three quick points,

All caravan electronics will run safely up to 15 volts and to some degree beyond but the battery will be suffering...and the radio!!

I am not entirely sure but it seems 'proper' battery chargers 'are' being fitted to vans of late, commonly fitted Plug in Systems chargers have this facility although it can be manually switched to 13.8v float charge.

Drawback of properly charging a battery is more gassing which requires more topping up, much more than the 'never' most seem to get.

 

[AveryWildWildCamper]

you'll also find www.marcleleisure.co.uk will give you discounted prices on the Sterling equipment. They also do the CTEK range of chargers if you want an alternative to Sterling

 

[keith_5081818]

John L's comment about exceeding 13.8v are correct as far as the EN caravan standards go, but still a bit of caravanning myth.

When your car's attached to the caravan, with the engine running, the "12v" system in the caravan will be running at 14.4v which all current cars run at. In practice it might only be 14.3v due to voltage drop but will certainly exceed 13.8. I've never seen any warnings in caravan handbooks about NOT using caravan electrics with the car attached, nor have I heard of equipment failures when the car was attached.

While motorhomes have their "domestic" 12v appliances disabled when the engine is running, to the annoyance of many motorhomers, most caravan 12v appliances can be used whether the engine is running or not.

I dont know about older cvans but newer models will switch off the lighting when the car engine is running ( sometimes after a short time delay) & only leave the fridge on, i was working on an abbey today that had to have the leisure battery fitted for the fridge to work, running on 12v through the 12s cable from car,

The changeover switch had to be set to van, & when the engine is started the lights go out.

All swifts with the new dometic fridges are the same.

The reason for the leisure battery to be on, is for the 12v power, to the changeover relay that switches the fridge on & the lights off.

 

[john_5040735]

Thanks folks, but I do wonder if the "car charger" has acyually done the damage on the way home from York. The charger was working perfectly just prior to switching off 240v on site - as indicated by the voltage meter. However, on hooking up to 240v on arrival home the charger was dead. I wonder whether or not the charger was damaged by having 14.4v delivered to during transit with an already fully charged battery. Just a thought, although I'm not that technically minded!!

I now await delivery of a newly purchased Zig X70 which I've decided to stick with given advice given and also given that its a straight replacement with not much messing about!

Thanks anyway