Possible battery problem ?

[Wolfy]

I had trouble getting the camper (a 1.9 water cooled) to start last year on its own battery, it would jump start with no problems though. Some times it would eventually start on its own. But very rarely. I had the battery checked by the RAC and at GSF and both said the battery was fine. I've checked and cleaned all earths and connection but still the same problem. On one occasion I had driven for over an hour then stalled it at some traffic lights and it wouldn't start.

I've just tried it with a different battery and it started fine so I'm guessing that it could of been the battery. Having said that, with the battery removed I still got lights to come on on the dashboard. This turned out to be power somehow coming from the leisure battery through the zig (a cf8).

Before I shell out on a new battery could this have been some part of the trouble towards the starting issue? I'm staring to think that the zig may be faulty as when I plugged in the hook up and switched the zig to charge the leisure battery the volts measured at the leisure battery started to drop.

Any help would be great.

Many thanks.

[CovKid]

Zig should have no bearing on starter battery though.

[ghost123uk]

It shouldn't affect the starter battery, but there is something amiss here, likely summat is wired up wrong.

You certainly should not have dash lights on when the starter battery is disconnected !

Plus, when on hook up and charging your leisure battery, the starter battery should be completely out of the circuit, so it's voltage should not be dropping (unless you are referring to the usual drop from 13.x Volts to 12.x Volts you always get for a good few minutes after turning the engine off)

It sounds like either the starter battery is not receiving a charge from the alternator whilst driving, or summat is sapping power from it that shouldn't be.

Unfortunately for you, remotely trying to figure out what is going on in a case like this is very hard. Annoyingly, it would be quite easy if someone who knows about it was actually there with his / her test meter

Tests need to be done to find out what circuits in the Zig are feeding what "bits" in the van.
Tests need to be done on the starters charging voltage and it's "I’ve been resting disconnected for 24 hours" voltage.
Tests need to be done on what current drain(s) are on the starter battery when parked up.
Tests need to be done on why the starter voltage drops when on hook up and charging the leisure (but re-read para 3 above)

Unless you know about electrics or have a friend who knows (note knows, not says he knows ) you are going to struggle I think.

Sorry I can't be of more help

[CJH]

It shouldn't affect the starter battery, but there is something amiss here, likely summat is wired up wrong.

Over the years, people do seem to swap the wiring of these around. I'm sure I've seen on here where someone connected the starter battery to the leisure battery terminals in the Zig, to 'solve' the problem that the Zig charger doesn't charge the starter battery.

Ghost is right - it'll be very difficult to diagnose remotely, but if you can post a photo of the chocolate block terminals on the back of your Zig we might be able to make a start.