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Post Info TOPIC: 12bcdc25 or 12bcdc40 to run van fridge?
mjt57


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12bcdc25 or 12bcdc40 to run van fridge?
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6B&S from the car battery to the van battery. And it's not just "my belief".

I've just pulled the van's trailer plug apart to see what wiring there is. Sure enough, P2 has an 8B&S. P2 on the Jeep has a lighweight cable which runs through to the rear cargo power outlet (that's switched on and off with the car's "ignition". When I bought the van I was told that the owner installed a second battery so it would run the fridge from the van battery. Obviously this is incorrect.

I should've gotten the autolec to do it when he set the Jeep up for towing, but I'll have to get him back to run another 6BS cable to the trailer socket.

I'll retain the wire from the power outlet as a switching wire for a relay to isolate the fridge when the Jeep isn't running.

 

 



-- Edited by mjt57 on Wednesday 29th of June 2016 01:32:39 PM

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swamp


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HI

KeznGaz,

The situation is easily rectified

Lead acid 10 -20 % charge rate

AGM  20-30% charge rate

25amp redarc dctodc and solar as well  ideal

from ignition solenoid switched in engine bay to towbar Anderson plug

good 13mm2 cable      absolute minimum

better 16mm2

best   25mm2   

Van Anderson plug to Dc to Dc charger

13mm2/ 16mm2

PRIOR TO THE DC TO DC ,JUNCTION OF TO FEED THE FRIDGE,  VIA AN INLINE FUSE

Donot run the fridge power feed from the output side of the dc to dc as this will eventually overcharge the battery

eg the charger will never float and supply higher volts to batt constantly . FLOAT VOLTS ARE CRITICAL TO BATT LIFE .

** U do not want more than about 1.0volt drop in main feed cable . It effects every thing otherwise .

8mm2 cable is not acceptable

swamp

 

 



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oldtrack123


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kezngaz wrote:

What i also never mentioned was wanting the house battery fully charged when arriving at camp. if we were lets say free camping for 3/4 days then turning up with less than 100% charged batteries could be a problem.

We are also considering mobile solar.

Other than the fridge,which will run on gas,we dont realy have much more draw, leds and radio.

We think a second battery is is a lots of unneeded weight, so a 680gram charger would put us in good shape.

If we ever lived in our van full time then a second battery would still be easily charged with the bcdc.

Phantom..
How is your fridge wired, through anderson or 12 pin plug?

Delta 18..
think its auto 6mill as this was fitted to run smaller battery on old off road camper. Coupled with the style of alternator, something more upto the job needs to be done!!

 

Hi

 If it is auto 6mill then you are wasting money even with a DC DC charger

 

Running a fridge from a dc /Dc charger  that is trying to charge the van battery is not a good idea!!

The charger cannot read the true battery condition & therefore may not charge the battery correctly

The right way to run the fridge is from the tug battery with it's own dedicated 6B&S cables

But model number of the fridge is required to give correct details.

Even with modern alternators ,the fridge ,if correctly wired ,will get at least 12V & work to specs

Then use a DC /DC charger for the purpose it is designed for  ,charging the van battery [with its own circuit]!!!



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