What shall I connect to my Zig?

[longwori]

Hi people,

OK, I have had my Bongo about two weeks now and so I am ready to start messing with it.

It has a zig CF8 in it which charges the leisure battery when hooked up to the mains or whilst travelling. It also can distribute 12V power from the leisure battery to other accessories when on site without a hookup.

Now, all that is currently connected to the Zig is the pump for the tap. It has two spare sets of connectors on the back to connect other items to it. Please note that the fridge is wired independently of the Zig, is connected to the main battery and is powered from this only when the engine is running or the mains is connected.

So, what shall i connect to the two Zig 12V outputs and what shall I connect directly to the leisure battery? And for that matter, what difference does it make where I make the connections (direct to leisure battery or to the Zig) as the LB is being charged when on hookup anyway?

Things I am considering are: Interior lights, blinds, some lighter sockets, car stereo but I cant decide whether to connect to the Zig or LB or does it make no difference?

[g8dhe]

It makes sense to connect things that you might want to run from either battery via the Zig, as you can switch the power source. The down side is running cables from existing devices back to the Zig.
Blinds can be manually operated so direct to L/B.
Lighting, at least some, might be worth connecting via Zig just in case the L/B fails overnight when the mains supply has dropped out.
Radio, its simpler to connect direct to the L/B rather than cabling all the way back to Zig unit.
If you install any extra 12 volt power sockets then take these from the Zig, for instance up in the AFT or in the back door.

[longwori]

Hi Geof when you say "run from either battery via the Zig" what does that mean? Maybe the Zig does more than I understood. Can it feed 12V sources from the main battery as well as the leisure battery?

I assumed it was just from the leisure battery or from the converted 240V.

Do I need to set the switches in some way to drawer power from the main battery instead of the LB?

Thanks in advance,

Ian

[g8dhe]

Yes when the middle one of the three switches is set in "Touring" position then the 12 volt supply comes from the Starter Battery & the Leisure Battery, when its set for "On-Site" then it comes from the Leisure Battery. When your plugged into a hook-up then you can also turn on the mains supply to enable charging of the leisure battery from the charger / 12 supply as well as supplying whatever is connected to the Zig with 12 volts. Take a look at Page 2, Para 5 of the manual.

[longwori]

Oh I see. I have read the manual a couple of times but I still did not realise that I could access the main battery when the switch is set to touring.

Thanks,

Ian

[longwori]

Geof,

You say the blinds can be operated manually. Is it ok to push them up/pull them down when they are th motorised type?

Thanks,

Ian

[g8dhe]

Yes, don't push to hard, just let them go at there own speed, you will find its been discussed on the forum before and nobody has reported problems to date.