to Zig or not to Zig

[Biggydog]

My mate has bought a half sound T25 and we are in the process of repairing the old gal, the old pallet wood interior was removed last week and I have made some plans for the new one. Currently there is a mains hook up terminated into a RCD fuse box from this there are 3 single sockets, Fridge was working on gas, 240v and 12v, the lights are running directly from the leisure battery. Both main and leisure battery are charged from the alternator when engine runs.
Give me wood and I will give you units, give me pipework and I will give you a cooker/fridge/sink and running water, even give me a water level gauge and I will wire it up..............but just what is a zig? I have one and it looks lovely but everything in his van worked without one and the only thing I can think of that my van does that his doesnt (and please correct me if I am wrong) is charge the batteries when I am plugged in on hook up.
Anyway my question is as Mark has seen that my van has a zig he thinks his should have one, so if someone can fill me in which way to go i would be most gratefull

thanks Mart

[1664]

The Zig unit was originally designed for caravans not campers. A camper doesn't actually NEED one, but it does give a couple of benefits - if it's a CF unit it does have a battery trickle charger (leisure or van battery choice) built in and will also run the camper internal electrics at the same time whilst hooked up. It also seperates the individual camper circuits to some extent so that if you get a fault on one of the camper circuits, a fuse goes isolating the problem but you don't necessarily (depending how it's connected) lose the lot. It also concentrates all the wiring in one location making finding a problem a lot easier than having bundles of 'floating' wiring and blade fuses stuffed in your passenger battery box. Other than that it looks nice

If you're starting from scratch the possibilities are endless................

[Biggydog]

Thanks for that, i will leave it to him to decide on if he wants to spend the wonger on one then, it certainly has its benefits and yes looks good too
cheers Mart