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A quick check is to switch a few 12v lights on and then switch the charger on and off, you should see a distinct improvement in the brightness of the lights while the charger is on.

Not sure though why you think the charger is anything to do with water heating? certainly 12v runs the control for gas to heat the water, but on mains electric heating 12v is not involved

right here are the problems, we found out at a site earlier in the year that the x-3 isnt charging the battery, we were told when we bought the van at the begining of the year that the zig unit in this van ( a 1994 elldis golden crown 4 berth ) powered all the 12 volt system aswell as charging the battery and would run the 12 volt system ( lights etc ) wether a battery was connected or not, it certainly doesnt work without the battery and the battery status indicator doesnt go up when you switch the mains on, ive hunted around for a seperate switch for the charger but not found one, ive replaced the inline 12 volt fuse but still nothing hence i came to conclusion the x-3 is dead, i also tried a mutimeter on the battery then connected the mains but it made no difference.

the next 2 problems arose when we were out on a site that has no mains electric, firstly the fridge would light on gas but as soon as you released the nob the flame went out, i kept trying as usual but eventually the flame simply wouldnt light, its a good job i had taken our stand alone camping gaz fridge, what a lifesaver, then the water heater wouldnt switch on on 12 volt, or it did for a short time but next time we tried it wouldnt, no lights on the heater control unit etc, ive tested it on mains and that works fine but as we spend alot of time on sites with no mains power its a major pain, i have a generator but it wont power the fridge and wont power the water heater.

so does anyone have any ideas? this really is a major pain in the butt

Well it seems certain the X3 is cap-put and needs replacing, slightly good news is being a standalone charger your not limited to fitting another Zig, more or less anything suitable will fit in it's place and probably do a better job!

As for your fridge, set the knob to the correct lighting position and then pull the knob off and try lighting it without, if the flame holds on now when you let go? put a 2mm thick packer in the hole in the knob and then replace and it will work fine.

hello Gary thanks for the advice.

i looked at getting a standalone charger but they all seem to have either 2 or 3 output wires wheras this x-3 has 4 or 5 output wires, also i was told by the bloke in the shop that you didnt need a battery connected to use the 12 volt system as the charger was also a transformer to power the 12 volt system? i have been told that 2 wires ar 12 volt output, 2 neutral and 1 earth, ive also checked the wiring diagram in the caravan handbook and it shows that there is a 12 volt supply to the battery and also to the zig unit / control panel.

i have tried the fridge without the knob on and it makes no difference, the fridge has worked fine in the past, i know we had a swift caravan which had a similar problem and had the get the controller replaced as it was gummed up with a gelly type substance, apparently gas can do this but im not sure.