Fitting fridge fans to Bailey MH
After much internet research and reading various forums I have today fitted refridgerator fans to my Bailey Autograph 75-4. I thought I'd share my experience.
I fitted the following:
A CBE Refrigerator Fan kit sourced from http://www.otoparts.nl/webshop/index.php?item=refrigerator-fans_-12v-_-2_6w_-double-fan--_set_&action=article&aid=109507&lang=en
An inline mini spade fuse holder and 2amp fuse from Halfords.
Some 1.2mm wire, red and black.
I chose CBE because other switchgear in the Bailey is manufactured by CBE and seems well made. Other makes include Brunner, which some people report failing fairly soon, and Dometic, which are more expensive. Another alternative people use are computer fans, but I thought I'd buy ones manufactured for the purpose.
The fan comes with a fixed 1 metre cable which needs to be plugged into the switch controller device by a small 4 pin plug into the circuit board. The length of this cable limits the distance from fan to switch. The switch also has two thin wires attached, about 18" long which are the positive and negative power leads and can be extended.
In the Autograph 75-4 the fridge has a microwave above it, then above that a cupboard. The cupboard houses the 240v sockets for the fridge and microwave. The cables for these provided a useful channel for my cabling.
The instructions suggest the switch controller is mounted on a wall (screwed to the surface with a nice surround which clips on hiding the screws, with the cable coming through the wall, which obviously requires drilling a small hole. I decided to actually surface mount this switch controller inside the cupboard above the microwave so that, a) I did not have to drill through the wood cupboard wall, and if I have to remove the installation there is no lasting damage, and b) any lights at night when the switch is on would not be visible.
After checking the fan worked before fitting I installed the fan inside the top vent, to blow hot air out through this vent. I velcro'd then screwed it to the top wooden surface in the vent. Then pushed the switch cable up into the cupboard above the microwave. This cable plugs into the back of the switch.
I surface mounted the switch inside this cupboard after plugging in the fan lead. I use spacers to lift the switch out so not to squash the lead. I attached an extension cable to the switch power leads and pushed this down through the same access hole and fed this lead own the the lower vent.
Inside the lower vent is a 12v connector. I connected the cable to this 12v connector putting the 2amp inline fuse into the live side of the fan cable. Attaching to this has two advantages. In the fuse box this is protected by a 5amp fuse, whereas the 240v side has a 20amp fuse. The 12v side means I can run the fans off the leisure batteries when not on hook up.
That's it really, I'll try to post some photos when I work how how to reduce the size of them.
Comments
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Apperley
Don't know if you are a Facebook user but if so there is a Bailey Motorhome Owners Group and I am sure they would be interested in your installation.
David
PS thanks for the photos.
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Hi DD. The switch gets power from two 18" leads, a positive (red) and return (Black). These are pre wired (soldered) into the switch. The lead from the fan to the switch is prewired into the fan about 1 metre long and plugs into the switch with a four pin prewired plug.
I extended the power leads by attaching a 3 metre cable using block connectors and ran it down the back of the fridge, using the hole access already in place to take the fridge and microwave 240v leads.
Through the bottom vent I could see the fridge electrical connections. One block connector is marked '12v lighting' and the other connector is marked up '12v heating' (with far thicker wires).
My theory is that whenever the fridge is on, either battery, hook up or gas, the interior light in the fridge works so I used the 12v lighting connection to connect the switch power, and hey ho the fan works on all three settings so, importantly, if I am not on hook up the fans will run off the batteries. On leisure batteries, when the fan is working at it's top speed, there is a 0.2 amp difference in amp usage.
Hope that helps.
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I used two pc cooling fans in our Bailey caravan which I acquired for nothing. Managed to thread the cable up behind the bench seats to plug into a 12 volt socket. Everything was done with bits I had in the garage so I was quite pleased. It made a small difference to the fridge performance but not enough to recommend. Fortunately the Thetford fridge in our new motorhome is outstanding even in temperatures in the thirties so no need for improvement.
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