Yep, sure do, 12 volts it be. Contacted the builder....."Don't have wiring diagrams as every van is purpose built".  Finally managed to sort it out.

In most cases you would install a hot wire to an anderson plug to run the fridge as the current draw may be more than the normal accessories plug wiring can handle.

If you plug it into your normal connection and start the fridge does it run ,if so it's wired to the accessories circuit and should be modified to a hot wire system which is only active while the vehicle is underway . If you intend running it off the van battery while stationary then you will run the battery flat very quickly. The 12volt side of a fridge is only worth it while underway or if running off a suitable genny when camped up for the night.

If running off the vehicle battery make sure the power to the fridge is isolated if you pull up for more than an hour or so as it will drain the tugs battery and your then stranded. Most portable fridge produced in the last five years have a cut out so when the supply voltage fall below a certain point the fridge will cut out leaving enough power to start the tug . I'm told this is not the case with installed van fridges.

Gidday Tezza and Deb, I'll leave the technical answers to those more knowledgable than me. However, my fridge will run on 12 volts when hooked up to the car as well as on the battery. Maybe they did not wire the battery up correctly?

if you have batterys on board your van why would you be looking at connecting to the vehicle for any reason, grab an onboard charger (for when you hook up to 240) and find another way to recharge your onboard (house) batterys seperate to the tow, I suggest an 80 watt solar panel (briefcase type, or flat as long as it has an inbuilt regulater)

do not try to hook up a "hot wire" from the vehicle using an anderson plug or any other means unless you have a battery isolater on board, you will fry your whole system, car included if you do this

do not try to run ANY fridge or freezer off 12 volt unless you are dragging a powerplant behind you, the batterys will die in a matter of hours

engel and waeco portable fridges do not have a low voltage cutout as standard, the part must be purchased separately, from memory about thirty dollars, I have one here for a waeco that I have yet to use, leftover from a job

yep it happened to us ONCE, but the problem was we were free camped about 100 k from anyone, luckily we were able to give the old girl a shove and she fired up, we learn by our mistakes and hopefully we are able to survive them and pass the knowledge on

jimricho wrote:

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I power my van fridge while "on the move" from the tow vehicle's electrical system via a relay (as you suggest) and a 12 volt 20 amp booster (output set to 14 volts at the fridge input). I found this quite effective on a recent trip to Nth Qld. The system wiring is such that the fridge cannot be run from the van's house battery.

Dave, I have read your post elsewhere on this forum regarding the adequacy of the vehicle's alternator to handle the extra load and take "on board" your comments.

As I mainly camp at powered sites I rely on the "ground" or "shore" power to charge the "house" battery. I do have a "Bushman" (Engel style) fridge in the car but this has it's own auxiliary battery.

I have two (separate) friends who live nearby who have both killed their car's battery by leaving their fridges running on 12v while they stopped for lunch. One has since had an isolator installed, the other said "he'll remember in future to turn it off" (oh yeah!).

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G'day,

I have a Bushman portable fridge, 35,42,52 litre configuration. I run this off a Projecta 1500amp power pack with a 33AH battery, I have had the fridge connected for at least 48 hours without recharging the Power Pack and the battery voltage dropped from 12.9v to 11.5v.  Fridge is set at -5 degrees.  I also have a cigarette lighter type socket ( wire is minimum of 6mm) in the back of the car so if needed I can charge the Power Pack whist driving with the fridge connected.  I also have a 80 watt fold up solar panel so I can charge the power pack when bush camping, another outlet on the outside of the caravan so I can give the house battery a boost as the roof mounted panel is quite often in the shade.

 

dave06 wrote:

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just watch those projecta battery packs, they only have a motorcycle battery in there and are well known to give false readings, full one day, flat the next

the waeco battery packs are the go but very expensive for what they are, far better and cheaper to place an onboard battery in the boot of the caravan somewhere

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G'day Dave,

I have a Projecta 1500amp with a 33 AH deep cycle battery ( total cost $476)  this will run my compressor fridge for a minimum of 48 hours and the voltage drops from 12.9v to 11.5v in that time.  There are a lot of cheap and nasty projector battery packs on the market, I definitely do not have a motorcycle battery in the model I have.

John

 

Tezza and Deb wrote:

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I have just bought a new (second hand) van..had some batteries and anderson plugs put in. and now the say the batteries will charge on the road,,,,but wont run the fridge and freezer ,,,only the lights
Is that true,,,can it be wired so it will run the fridge and freezer off the battery.

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The replies seem to be all referring to portable fridges. As a rough guess I would reckon you have a three way (absorption) fridge in your van. It is best not to have those types of fridge hooked to the battery. Batteries can be too easily killed by accidentally leaving the fridge running on the battery if it is not being charged with a power source that is capable of supplying the fridge power plus a little more for the battery.

You will possibly find that the battery and light circuit circuit has been divorced from the fridge circuit. You may find that the fridge will still work from a 12 V source connected to pin 2 of the trailer plug. Have this checked out. If the fridge will still work this way then have a hot wire connected from the tugs battery to pin 2 on the trailer socket. You will then be able to power the fridge whilst on the move. Use cable of at least 6 squ mm for the hot wire.

My preference is to have the 12 V circuit to an absorption fridge to be kept separate from the house battery system. My van has a 12 pin connector for the trailer power and navigation lights. Pin 8 is for the circuit to the battery booster and pin 9 for the fridge. Both of these circuits are wired through relays that are controlled bu the ignition switch.

 

", apparently not that reliable but it does work"

Not wishing to be dogmatic Dave, but I find that on the 11.4v setting that if I go below 12.1v then the Fridge will shut off. Now when you consider that the draw is about 3.6A and the Waeco wiring is probably a bit light IMO, then depending on Battery capacity, the voltage at the Compressor could well be 11.4v or less when the Fridge kicks in. With the Fridge off and reading the Battery volts under these circumstances one could assume that it's not reliable whereas in fact it is. Would you mind asking your man to elaborate further?

Michael.

glad to hear it works for you John, to keep the drain off your vehicle's sytem is always the goal

Michael I wont be seeing our distributer for at least another month and a half, I dont know the in's and out's of his description of "problems" that could mean anything, I took it to mean "inaccuracies" in the voltage detecting module, I dont know the extent or numbers but I do know there has been "some" returns due to fault but sales are also reasonablyhigh, what that would equate to in problem percentile terms I dont know

he has been selling engel and waeco fridges and accesories as well as caravans, motorhomes and camper trailers for over twenty years, he is also a very keen self contained camper, we have done desert country trips many times together, when he speaks I tend to listen

having said that I would not have any restriction in recomending waeco products, I have done so very often in the past and will continue to do so, I think they are a very good product

I tend not be too concerned about changing settings or fiddling with things, cant be bothered, plug it in, forget it, we have an engel 45 in the kenworth and an engel 60 on the back of the traytop, I have an engel 45 for travelling,

they all get a serious hiding and have yet to give any sort of malfunction, the two that are in the field are under serious attack all day, dust, dirt, knocks, and sun, regularly piddled over by the dog quite simply you wouldnt treat your worst enemy like this, and they just keep on going without fault,

the one on the back of the traytop has been "spilled" off twice that I know of, it has a couple of "war wounds" but always keeps my sangers and drinks cold as ice, just what the doctor ordered after stepping off the header

yep I'm the same, double protection, makes it hard though when things arent labelled, do you have one of those "dyno labellers" I find they are good or just a texta, but I would be labelling the lot as i go for "next time" my forgettery is exceeding my memory these days