dis carnect not working

[scottbott]

well I had a check today and removed various 'earths' from the starter battery,the earth from the seat and turned the dis connect off and checked if lights came on,they did,I then did the same with the sub,split charge relay,the fridge with the same results.I then noticed that the split charge relay and the relay on the passenger seat was clicking every time I touched the earth lead of the split charge on the starter battery neg even though the leisure battery was not fitted,to cut a log story shortish I tracked it down to the earth lead of the fridge,if I disconnect it the battery disconect works fine,connect it to the battery again and the disconnect does not work.the only thing I have done is remove the positive lead of the fridge from the starter battery and connected it to the leisure battery,the fridge relay is clicking away when the earth touches the battery,I assume it works ok.the fridge has never worked on 12 volts WITHOUT the headlights/side lights on ever since I replaced the headlight switch,I have dim dip and was sure that was what I ordered for its replacement,any thoughts, ??

[AdrianC]

Remember that both battery earths are connected together by the bodywork, and everything else earths through the bodywork.

Sounds like the fridge is your culprit, then - there's clearly some odd wiring feeding it, if the headlight switch affects it!

[scottbott]

yes strange,I replaced the headlight switch,indicator switch/lever and the ignition switch about two years ago,no problems apart from the fridge suddenly not working without the lights on,just thought a bit curious and as long as it worked do not worry about it though it has bugged me why,are light switches different?

[MidLifeCrisis]

There is absolutely no reason why your fridge should only work when the headlights are on - those two circuits are completely separate - so you definitely have some very strange wiring going on that needs attending to!
Also, if your split relay and the relay under the passenger seat (what does that do?) always click when you connect their ground to the battery ground then that is also a problem as they should only click when the engine is also running (I assume it wasn't running when you tested)
I'd really suggest that you draw us a picture of the wiring - how the split charge wires look, how the fridge 12v wiring looks;
given that your wiring is 'very odd' it's unlikely that anyone is going to be able to guess a solution without that information?

[AdrianC]

There is absolutely no reason why your fridge should only work when the headlights are on - those two circuits are completely separate

Shall we leave it at "SHOULD BE" separate...? <grin>

[scottbott]

is this of any use,excuse my artistic expertise,this is how things are connected to my batteries,the earth lead from the fridge has been disconnected and the terminal has been covered over,the Disc connect is working correctly at the moment with this lead not attached.I have not touched the fridge earth lead only moved the live from the starter battery to the leisure,the fridge earth has one of those crappy insulated terminals fitted by a previous owner,trouble is it and the live is covered over with carpet and goes under the units by the look of it so cannot get to

[AdrianC]

The electric seat(? can't read your writing!) is fed from both battery +ve, by the look of the diagrams.

[Oldiebut goodie]

Negative and positive starter, positive leisure is how it looks to me - whatever it is it appears an odd setup to me. Electric seat appears to be on both positives.

[Tufty_B]

Is there a reason why the electric seat is fed off both batteries?

Also are the diagrams how you think the van is wired or have you traced the actual wires?

[AdrianC]

Also are the diagrams how you think the van is wired or have you traced the actual wires?

Yep, there's a large dose of that, too - those diags don't explain the score with fridge and headlights, for a start.

Also - the charger connected to both +ve... What's the score with that? Is it just the split-charge relay? Because "intelligent charger" makes me think you've got a single-output mains charger connected to both.

[scottbott]

the electric seats are wired to to each battery indivdually,is there anything wrong with that?,the leisure battery has one lead off the positive battery with ten wires coming out of it to connect up to a fuse box to power various circuits,eg tracker,sub woofer etc

[scottbott]

the split charge is an "intelligent dual voltage sensing 40 amp split charge relay"

[MidLifeCrisis]

Maybe we are missing something obvious here .... can you answer these questions ...

• Is the disconnect on the positive or negative terminal of the starter battery?
  
• Is anything connected to the battery terminal that the disconnect is connected to (other than the disconnect)?
  
• When you say that the disconnect is 'still live' - what do you mean by this? (what is your test to confirm that it is live?)
  
• How did you move the radio from the starter to the leisure battery? (i.e. what wires did you change/cut/add)
  
• So, we are assuming that there are two electric seats and only one seat is connected to each battery?
  
• Where/How does the ground for the intelligent split charge relay connect?
  
• You have not included the fridge relay in your diagram - how does that connect? Incuding the ground wire and the trigger wire?
  
• You also mentioned a relay under the passenger seat - what does this control and where/how does it connect?
  
• Also as Tufty_B asked, "Also are the diagrams how you think the van is wired or have you traced the actual wires?"
  
• You mentioned that the split charge relay clicks when you connect/disconnect the ground wire - does it do this when the engine isn't running?

Sorry for the many questions but there's a lot there to be confused about !!

[AdrianC]

the electric seats are wired to to each battery indivdually,is there anything wrong with that?

So LH seat to one battery, RH seat to the other?

Quick and simple check, just to confirm that we're all thinking the same thing...

With the leisure battery connected, totally disconnect the +ve terminal of the starter battery. Check for voltage between the LEAD and the starter battery -ve.

[scottbott]

well I think I have thoroughly confused everyone including myself,midlife crisis to answer your questions are

the disconnect is on the negative post of the starter battery
the negative post of the starter battery has the earth of the electric seat,the earth from the underseat subwoofer and the earth from the split charge
if I disconnect the fridge earth terminal from the negative post the dis connect works as it should do,no sidelights etc,if I reconnect it the disc connect still has power running through it,eg the sidelights come on and the headlight buzzer is buzzing
I ran a lead from the leisure battery direct to the radio,fed through the extra fusebox,it has one thick cable from the positive post of leisure battery going into 10 "pigtails" into the fusebox(bought from Raw Components)
yes there are two electrics seats,each connected directly to the battery under each seat
the earth for the split charge goes from the terminal number 85 of the relay directly to the earth post of the starter battery
the fridge relay is the one as fitted by autosleeper,12V D.C S.P.S.T,70 amp contacts,the red wire I connected to the leisure is ( I think) the trigger wire,when I touch the earth wire to the neg post of starter battery the relay for the fridge clicks away
the relay that clicks away is under the passenger seat and is one of the saab seat electrics,the seats are heated and cooled as well but these operations are not wired up,seat power is off the leisure positive post and earthed through the swivel base
I have traced the wires to where they go
yes the split charge relay clicks when the engine is not running when I touch the fridge earth,it is working ok when the engine is running as both batteries get charge
just had a thought that maybe this bloody earth lead may not be anything to do with fridge,though if I disconnect it the indicator light on the MC 2000 control panel does not light up when running on 12 volts
still cannot figure out why the fridge indicator light does not light up when driving until I put side/headlights on
hopefully this is a bit more clear for everyone