Should my fridge work this way?

[tuttiweb]

Hi all,

Firstly, I have a Zig CF9 alongside a Vitrifrigo C42L fridge system installed in the van, and my fridge works.

But, should the fridge work all of the time, even when the 12v rocker switch on the Zig is set to the off position?

I only discovered this was happening when I recently returned form a trip, remembered to switch the 12v off, but didn't rotate the knob inside the fridge off and I ended up with flat leisure and vehicle batteries.

When everything was recharged, I tested the 12v switch was working (the light has always come on when in the on position) by turning on an internal 12v light and then switching off the 12v rocker switch. The light went out, as expected, but the fridge remained on.

With all of this, the other rocker switch on the Zig is always set to "Caravan battery".

Is it likely a wiring issue or is this intentional, and I need to remember to switch the fridge itself off?

Thanks all.

[g8dhe]

Here is the User Manual for the CF9, it ought not to be possible to flatten BOTH batteries, unless either a fault exists or somewhere along the line some one switched from Car to Van working in which case then they may have been flattened sequentially.

http://www.g8dhe.net/bongo_images/Zig/Z ... nual-1.pdf

[tuttiweb]

Thank you.

As I thought then, what happened, shouldn't have been able to happen and it's likely that my fridge is incorrectly wired.

[LordBongoOfBanbury]

Hi Tuttiweb,

Did you ever resolve this issue?

I have just bought a 2002 Bongo myself. The advert said that the fridge was faulty, and that the likely problem was a faulty compressor that needed replacing.

I've taken it to a specialist today who, after 2 hours of his time, has managed to get the fridge working (clearly the compressor wasn't the issue!) but has not been able to completely resolve the situation. I had the identical issue you've described, and the only way to stop the fridge was working now is to turn the thermostat off.

The mechanic suspects that either/both of the Zig unit or the wiring connecting the unit to the leisure battery is faulty. Ideally, I don't want to have to replace the Zig unit if there's a cheaper fix. Fingers crossed!

Can anyone shed any light on this for me?!

Matt.

[g8dhe]

If it was a personal conversion by someone then I would suspect some form of wiring problem, I've seen several vehicles which I basically wouldn't want to carry out any serious work on! Often some one has used just one colour for all the wiring, if they were labelled then the labels have fallen off and your left with a dozen wires disappearing in all directions, which means the only way is to disconnect and buzz out every wire to find out where they go - possibly several hours work!
There really isn't any excuse not to use different colours for each circuit and to draw up a labelled diagram which can be left with the vehicle.