Driving with fridge on

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  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
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    edited August 2019 #32

    You should just need to select 'battery' on the fridge and nothing else .... Mains on or off won't make a difference.

  • lornalou1
    lornalou1 Forum Participant Posts: 2,169
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    edited August 2019 #33

    Agree with MM, you need to set the fridge to battery once the engine is running and connected to van.

  • Ph1lTurner
    Ph1lTurner Forum Participant Posts: 51
    edited August 2019 #34

    Thanks - that is what I thought. Will get it checked out next service.

  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,668 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2019 #35

    You cannot run the fridge from the leisure battery if your van is wired correctly.

    This may be of help.......

     

    https://caravanchronicles.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/troubleshooting-fridges.pdf

  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,668 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2019 #36

    Could be the power board or a fuse.

    However, it should have stayed cold for that time if it was chilled well beforehand.

  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,668 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2019 #37

    Edit,,,,,,got the 2 problems muddled!

    to Phil....,,,,could be your 12v heating element is broken.

    to Pete,,,,,,fuse or power board maybe.

  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited August 2019 #38

    However, it should have stayed cold for that time if it was chilled well beforehand.
     

    Indeed it should stay chilled. I never bother to turn my fridge on to battery option. I leave home chilled and tour from site to site without problem. The longest without power is probably 4.5 hours

  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,668 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2019 #39

    Another thing to consider, if the 12v does not seem to be keeping the fridge cold at all, is what is your car doing?

    If it is a newish car, say under 4-5 years old, it may be one of those that minimises everything to save fuel and thus have lower emissions.

    For example, the VW we have, 3 years old now, is correctly wired as regards the 13 pin socket but as I understand it,  the alternator will only produce power when the car battery needs it, and when you brake it can return power to the battery.

    So the first thing to do, we were advised, is turn off the stop/start function when towing, and also turn  on dipped headlights.  Using from the battery will help fool the alternator into producing more power, hopefully a high enough voltage to charge up the van battery and run the fridge.

    Even doing this, we found that the van battery was not getting enough charge for any prolonged Mover use on arrival on site, and we had no idea what was happening with the fridge.  It did stay cold enough however, as discussed above,

    The eventual solution was to invest in a "battery to battery" charger that is fitted in the van.  This device takes whatever DC voltage it gets from the car and converts it to a high enough voltage to charge the battery and run the fridge,

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