Where Do You Put The Fridge?

Pam · Guru

Where Do You Put The Fridge?

dave06 · Guru

the fridge is normally carried in the boot or back seat in an infrequently used setup and then despatched to the rear or side of the tent trailer when setup, the battery lives in a "box" mounted on the "a" frame of the trailer,

this will also allow you to have a light or two in the camper trailer, with dimmer switch of course for the more romantic times

if you are looking at a bit more sophisicated permanent solution then build the lockable box on the front of the trailer drawbar so as to house the battery/batterys and the engel side by side,

the power to recharge the battery can come from an anderson plug via the tow vehicle through an isolator system, this also makes the wiring short to the engel from the battery and overcomes the need for exceptionally heavy wiring,

if you like I can draw a diagram of a typical setup, but it is so simple that even a wacker like me could put one in, if you take a look here http://www.redarc.com.au/smart-start.htm go products a-k, dual battery isolater, battery isolater diagram this explains in layman terms what I'm getting at, it will also give you wiring sizes in there as well

cito · Veteran Member

Hi Pam,

We also have a similar c/t and have found the best place is in the rear of the Pajero. One school of thought is that the suspension of the tow vehicle is not as harsh as the trailer and therefore not as hard on the fridge compressor. My semi technical brain agrees with that and have put the fridge in the car.
This also ensures we have our fridge with us if we head off for a short trip. The second battery is installed near the fridge and the isolator switch.
When set up the fridge is simply on the floor of the annex running off the battery in the trailer. Whichever way you go, you must have an isolator fitted to protect your starter battery.
This mode has worked well for us thus far and will be re-tested when we do an unpowered trip of the west coast of Tassie next week.

cheers

Smokeydk · Guru

Hi Pam,
I towe My CT with a sedan...My Waeco goes on the back seat.it powered to the car battery with a special heavy duty wired type cig plug I got from Waeco ...I have a 120amp/hour battery about $230 in a black plastic already wired box I got from Super Cheap.for about $53...it will run My Waeco fridge for about 6 days.at 1amp per hour.( in my CT)..but I keep it charged via a 80watt solar panel, that cost Me around $820...it arent cheap.......but it works out good as theres no on going costs .like fuel to run a generator or noise.

Dave

dave06 · Guru

Dave, you got it in one mate, it doesnt have to be expensive or radically difficult to set up, how many times have I banged on about "keeping it simple" your's would and I bet does work a treat and it didnt cost you an arm and a leg, well done, spend the difference on the good things in life

Pam · Guru

Thanks for all the replies. I will pass the info onto hubby.

Our Captiva has a cigarette socket in the back . We can plug the fridge into it and it runs even when the car is turned off. Is there any way to tell if this has the isolator on it or if the wiring is ok weight for the fridge?

You can tell that electrics is not my area of expertise so thanks again for the advice and suggestions.

dave06 · Guru

unfortunately the lighter socket does not have a battery isolater on it, but the wiring should be fine as the current draw from the engel is only light, dont let it run more than a couple of days without recharging the vehicle battery