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Mmm, the zig doesnt work without a battery connected. I have a zig and recently had it replaced with a new one as the old one died. I now have a x80 which is great. They are good chargers..

How it works is simple - it senses EHU power and switches over to the main power which is stepped down to 12v. It then charges your battery too so your battery gets no drain - just a charge. It still has to have a battery connected as far as I know - i think i disconnected mine whilst hooked up and the 12v went off.. I may be wrong but if there are any 12v appliances the charger acts as the battery diverter/charger and 240v step down.. so its unlikely.. you have to have a step down somewhere in the van circuitry to power the 12v stuff.. the zig is the only thing that can..

As for your problem - it you have 12v lights then either the battery is so dead it is interfering with the zig charger and the power isnt boosted enough to power them all OR the zig is dying..

if the battery is so bad then it wont boot enough power out to light them all so the front ones in the circuit will glow and the back ones will go dim.. if you take the bulbs out of some then if the lights glow higher there is not enough power...

I would first get a new battery. if you dont plan on using battery on its own and will use EHU then just get a small one as a back up - thats all we have and it will work with the lights and water pump for 2/3 days...!

If that doesnt cure it then its time to get a new zig - they are around £100, but a dealer will have to supply, the new ones are x80 and x90 - the x90 is just bigger.. you cant egt them direct - they should use all the same plugs so are easy to fit.

If in doubt try taking the van to a dealer or autoelectrician - there are some mobile ones - they will tell you what the fault is.

If you have a mains tester then test the output to the main van from the charger - it should be a nice 12/13v..

Also have a look at your wiring, to make sure there are no shorts.  Hope this helps a bit...

I think the dcu3 is an early 90's charger with a fairly low output of 5 or 6 amps, this should be at 13.8 volts max. It should however be enough to power the van on it's own if your careful. You might find the charger has a mains on/off switch somewhere that you have not found or it's mains input fuse has blown.

What should happen then is the zig should give power without the battery and connected to the battery it should raise the voltage of the battery. You can test this by measuring the battery voltage without and then with the charger, if the battery voltage does not rise with the charger connected then the charger is faulty.

thank you seanP for the advice.

arc systems, i think you have confirmed what i had expected but was hoping wasnt true thanks

if anyone knows where i could get a second hand dcu3 unit from or a cheap replacement thats the same size please let me know and thanks again for the replies