Fridge Issue
Went off for a short trip the other day. The fridge had only been on the mains for a short time before we left, so hadn't really cooled down.
When I switched it over to the car, it didn't work. The display just flashed.
On leaving the site to start our journey home, it worked fine. After a 6 hour stop enroute, it worked fine.
Surely the fact that it didn't work when we left home was not due to the fact that it hadn't cooled down enough??
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No it wasn't due to that. There is no requirement to pre-chill the fridge in order for it to work on 12v from the vehicle battery.
I assume you had the car's engine running when you checked if the fridge was working? The 12v feed to the van will not be live otherwise.
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At best the 12volt system will maintain the temperature so if it wasn’t very cold to start with it won’t get any colder. If it is actually not working then there is obviously a problem with the wiring, either in the car or the van. Is your 13 pin plug actually wired for fridge and battery charging? If it was done by a towing specialist it will be but a standard “trailer” wiring would not include this, particularly on some foreign cars.
There should be a fridge relay which detects that the engine is running then activates the auxiliary supplies.
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It worked on subsequent occasions, HG, so that tends to rule out a 13 pin plug wiring issue.
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cos sometimes these relays need a bit of a kick to switch over. Not so much these days, but if you rev'ed your car you'd see your (normal filament) lights get that bit brighter with the increase in rev's, that's sometimes what's needed to make the relay switch over. These VSR usually have a pot on them that you need to tweak to alter the voltage at which they'll switch.
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We have a similar problem - the car has been checked, the towbar wiring has been checked, as has the caravan 13 pin connector. The problem would appear to be that modern cars with 'eco' systems just don't always work with caravan fridges as there isn't enough voltage. We were advised to make sure our car was not set up on 'auto' for lights etc but to run them permanently on. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't and is very frustrating. We cannot switch our car (Jeep Cherokee) eco system off and have sought advice from Jeep who have not been very helpful. They don't understand the issue and can only advise that I pay for a diagnostic check on the car for a fault. All I want to know is how to turn eco off to rectify the problem and that would appear to be impossible.
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I've never used one, but there's a box of electrickery that can disable the stop/start on your Jeep.
https://whttps://www.smartstopstart.comww.smartstopstart.com
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Thanks - unfortunately, that is for a Jeep Grand Cherokee and our buttons are different. However we are going to try and disable it anyway - it would be so easy with an 'eco' button
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I had a jeep Cherokee ( as pic ) and that worked as normal, no probs when towing. when you say "eco mode" do you mean stop/start as I always pressed he button on the dash to turn this off as nothing but a pain in the A R S E . auto wipers/lights are nothing to do with eco.
sorry forgot to say that before start/stop would work, all conditions had to be met ie- battery fully charged, engine warm, cabin temp correct either hot or cold whatever you set it to.
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We have a somewhat similar problem with our VW Touareg.
These newer cars are so clever, they minimise everything, and do not always charge the battery, in fact we found ours was trying to drain the van battery.
Initial advice was to turn off Stop/Start and to drive with full headlights not auto, thus forcing it to generate power.
However, we were arriving at a site and not getting enough power from the van battery to use the mover as much as usual, plus we were not at all sure that the fridge was being powered.
This seems to be a very common problem with newer cars.
The car also takes over when we stop and will not let us use power in the van on stops like we used to, we have to pull out the 13 pin plug when stopped.
To help solve the problem I have fitted a "battery to battery" charger, and this does seem to have helped us arrive with a fully charged van battery.
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Thanks all - we've been using headlights 'on' not auto for a while and turn of Park Sense as well as it doesn't like the caravan. However, we've not turned off Stop/Start and will try this as it may be the cause as like lornalou advises, it doesn't always work due to a variety of conditions which would explain the intermittent working of the fridge.
Away this weekend so a trial will be conducted. Wish us luck as very frustrating especially on a longer journey.
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So prior to setting off, we put the fridge on 12v. Had the engine running on the jeep and switched OFF the start/stop and the parksense. We switched ON the headlights (not auto). Disappointingly, the fridge was flashing but left it on 12v. Failed our mission!
On arrival at site, I jumped out to guide hubby onto pitch and glanced into the van - the fridge wasn't flashing. I do believe that a slow tickover affects the use of the fridge. Will try again on the way home.
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We don't have auto on our fridge - I meant from electric to 12v which we set manually.
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Hubby has always towed with lights on - a case of being visible I believe! I don't know what a DRL is though so can't answer your question.
Incidentally, on the return journey, we plugged in and the fridge worked straightaway. We wondered if it was because we'd just been out in the car and it was at a running temperature, rather than from cold.
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turn of Park Sense as well as it doesn't like the caravan
If your towbar is fitted correctly and has the correct setting in the engine management system when you hook up the rear parking sensors should be disabled. We had factory fitted bar on our Tiguan and when set up correctly it would disable park sensor and also alter driving dynamics so it would rev higher and alter gear changes on the DSG box. Even if it is not a factory fit there will be a setting to change on the engine management system (this may also do something to the relay for the van???)
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I don't think headlights are required when towing as the big white caravan on the back makes you visible. DRL's are daylight running lights and come on when the ignition is turned on. Some are small LED's but very bright so can be seen in daylight. Supposed to be a safety feature.
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My new Coachman digital Fridge flashes when towing but will not work when towing, its a new caravan and new CX5, with new Mazda Tow bar. my last van a Bailey had a manual fridge and that worked fine, and towed with a Mazda CX5, Thetford say its the car. but no answers.
Mazda say its the fridge as the wiring is from the manufacturers so as standard, why will no one take responsibility, Coachman say they just fit them, but to my mind they are not fit for purpose.
My Mazda salesman was thinking about it and said don't turn off the stop/start, that didn't work, so tried leaving it on, still same so at a loss, would just like it working for next season. frustrating !!!!
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Have a look inside the plug. Mazda is saying that the socket is wired as per standard ..... it seems that different car manufacture have a different interpretation of standard and only wire to comply with the road lighting and ignore the fridge & battery charging. You could always take your car to a reputable towbar fitter & ask them to check the socket.
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With an EU5 or EU6 diesel engine the car alternator only works when the car battery needs charging or when you slow down with engine braking. That’s why some people try to beat the system by driving with their headlights on. If you need the fridge to work continuously while you’re towing then a battery to battery charger can give a solution. Personally I don’t find it necessary to run the fridge continuously whilst towing for a few hours in the UK climate. However, I wonder if your problem is because the socket on the rear of the car is dirty or corroded. After a few miles the vibration could complete the circuit which would account for it working after driving a few miles.. You could spray the socket with WD40 and insert and withdraw the plug a few times to improve connectivity
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so ..... as above, is it all wired up to power the fridge/battery charging? Not all are as car dealers don't know their harris from their elbow re caravans & their electrics aand so just wire up the lighting bit. Take your car to a proper towbar fitter & ask them to look.
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