Am I correct in thinking that if you connect a 3 way fridge direct to your 12v van battery/s with a inline fuse and battery charged by Solar, you will only use 12v power when fridge switched to 12v??
Reason, while travelling you could run fridge from van battery instead of tug and the Solar will keep battery charged while away from tug for lunch or similar.
Tug is wired up ok and am aware of all that. I am also aware that movement is needed for fridge to work best while on 12v.
Keep Safe on the roads.
__________________
Live Life On Your Terms
DOUGChief One Feather (Losing feathers with age)
TUG.......2014 Holden LT Colorado Twin Cab Ute with Canopy
DEN....... 2014 "Chief" Arrow CV (with some changes)
Fridge draws 12 amps....solar puts out 10 amps...so not quite keeping up with fridge , but it helps as it takes a lot longer to flatten battery ....which means we don't have to hurry over lunch etc . Tug charges battery at 30 amps once we get moving again ...and it generally recovers in a couple of hours or so. It also means no rush when setting up camp ....as solar or mains will charge it up the next day. Would be nice to have another panel....but roof is already a sneak-up-on-it job now to open it .
So far ...over the last 3 years ....system has worked well so not complaining.
I think it would flatten your van battery overnight (especially in summer) - when Solar not working! We run on 12v from vehicle when travelling and gas when parked up when Free Camping. The vehicle anderson plug has a DC monitor which cuts it if the battery drops too low - ie if parked for an hour or so.
We use solar or generator, if necessary, to charge the van batteries.
Glen
__________________
Glen
A diesel Nissan Pathfinder towing a Coromal Element 542.
Hi Doughie
What happens depends very very much on the fridge model
Without the model number you cannot get accurate advice!!!
All 3way fridges are not the same ,even if the same make
But I would be very careful about connecting the 3way fridge to the van battery & operating it on 12V, unless you have LOTS of solar AND a BIG battery bank
Fridge draws 12 amps....solar puts out 10 amps...so not quite keeping up with fridge , but it helps as it takes a lot longer to flatten battery ....which means we don't have to hurry over lunch etc . Tug charges battery at 30 amps once we get moving again ...and it generally recovers in a couple of hours or so. It also means no rush when setting up camp ....as solar or mains will charge it up the next day. Would be nice to have another panel....but roof is already a sneak-up-on-it job now to open it .
So far ...over the last 3 years ....system has worked well so not complaining.
Cheers Keith
Gday...
3-way fridges draw considerable power running on 12v. As others have stated on this thread, it would take a lots of 'watts' of solar to fully maintain the fridge at 12v AND have sufficient amps left over to charge and then maintain the van battery's SOC.
Even if the van battery was 100% charged when you hit the road in the morning there is every chance that, even with good sun all day 'on the road', the solar panels would struggle to run fridge AND maintain full charge in the van battery.
My fridge's 12v comes from the battery in the vehicle, with the 'relay' to stop it draining the battery when ignition is switched off.
When travelling, and I stop for lunch or sightseeing etc, I simply pull the plug between van and vehicle, put fridge on gas. No need to hurry then and no need to be concerned about impact on battery condition.
The ONLY time the fridge is running on 12v is when connected to the vehicle AND the motor is running.
Obviously, this only applies to absorption fridges (3-way gas/240v/12v) and not compressor fridges (240v/12v) which have completely different power consumption needs.
Cheers - John
__________________
2006 Discovery 3 TDV6 SE Auto - 2008 23ft Golden Eagle Hunter Some people feel the rain - the others just get wet - Bob Dylan
I was just thinking of running the fridge while on 12v from the van batteries and only while travelling during daylight hours, not all the time as it is a 3 way fridge and they are not designed for that.
I do as Rocky has mentioned now, apart from putting on gas while 'doing lunch' or site seeing. I tend not to site see much while travelling anyway. I stop for a couple of days at least to do that.
I will stick to the tug providing the 12v power to the fridge.
Keep safe on the roads.
__________________
Live Life On Your Terms
DOUGChief One Feather (Losing feathers with age)
TUG.......2014 Holden LT Colorado Twin Cab Ute with Canopy
DEN....... 2014 "Chief" Arrow CV (with some changes)
I turn my fridge off when driving. Every thing in the freezer remains frozen and everything in the fridge stays cold. Put it on gas when camping and 240v at parks. Haven't had any problems yet, and yes have been in hot places. In Broome ATM.
Hello Doug
My van was wired to have the 12 volt coming from the 12 pin on the car, but I have rewired it to run off the van batteries when I am travelling.
It seems to work better and the temp gets cooler when I am travelling
always use 240v when on power and gas when free camping and have had no troubles
Ken
Hello Doug My van was wired to have the 12 volt coming from the 12 pin on the car, but I have rewired it to run off the van batteries when I am travelling. It seems to work better and the temp gets cooler when I am travelling always use 240v when on power and gas when free camping and have had no troubles Ken
Your Fridge WAS wired in accordance with the fridge makers instructions
Those instructions are for very good reasons
Your problem very likely was that the wiring was not 6B&S, ALL the way from the crank battery to the fridge!! [to limit voltage drop ]
Fridge draws 12 amps....solar puts out 10 amps...so not quite keeping up with fridge , but it helps as it takes a lot longer to flatten battery ....which means we don't have to hurry over lunch etc . Tug charges battery at 30 amps once we get moving again ...and it generally recovers in a couple of hours or so. It also means no rush when setting up camp ....as solar or mains will charge it up the next day. Would be nice to have another panel....but roof is already a sneak-up-on-it job now to open it .
So far ...over the last 3 years ....system has worked well so not complaining.
Cheers Keith
Gday...
3-way fridges draw considerable power running on 12v. As others have stated on this thread, it would take a lots of 'watts' of solar to fully maintain the fridge at 12v AND have sufficient amps left over to charge and then maintain the van battery's SOC.
Even if the van battery was 100% charged when you hit the road in the morning there is every chance that, even with good sun all day 'on the road', the solar panels would struggle to run fridge AND maintain full charge in the van battery.
My fridge's 12v comes from the battery in the vehicle, with the 'relay' to stop it draining the battery when ignition is switched off.
When travelling, and I stop for lunch or sightseeing etc, I simply pull the plug between van and vehicle, put fridge on gas. No need to hurry then and no need to be concerned about impact on battery condition.
The ONLY time the fridge is running on 12v is when connected to the vehicle AND the motor is running.
Obviously, this only applies to absorption fridges (3-way gas/240v/12v) and not compressor fridges (240v/12v) which have completely different power consumption needs.
Cheers - John
It would appear that you have not read my post properly M8...regarding van charging while on the road. I suggest you go back and do so!!!!
Am I correct in thinking that if you connect a 3 way fridge direct to your 12v van battery/s with a inline fuse and battery charged by Solar, you will only use 12v power when fridge switched to 12v??
Reason, while travelling you could run fridge from van battery instead of tug and the Solar will keep battery charged while away from tug for lunch or similar.
Tug is wired up ok and am aware of all that. I am also aware that movement is needed for fridge to work best while on 12v.
Keep Safe on the roads.
Hi Dougwe
When we first obtained our caravan it was nicely set up with solar, battery, a power lead running though a andrson plug to charge the battery and back the solar up.
Simple system but at the time we were only getting away leaving near lunch time for a overnight camp travelling about less then 2 hours from home.
When we stopped at the camp site the first thing I did was change the frig over to gas from 12 volt and then about 7pm we would notice we were running out of lights.
This happen 3 times, I was really having trouble with this, finally we found that the 12volt switch was jaming on draining the battery, now we have isolate the frig from the caravan battery and the frig runs direct from the second battery in the ute. Now on the way around to gas bottle I pull the lead out, great had no more trouble since.
Most times I do change over to gas when stopped, I don't get excited if I leave it on 12 volt for a couple of hours but we don't practice doing that.
I think our frig is drawing 16.5 amps.
160 watt solar feeding 120 amp battery.
Second battery in the ute 100 amp.
Serious beaut wire running everywhere. Not the commonly used type wire.
12v will be fine for short periods . Our fridge / freezer on 12v . Specs say the thermostat doesn't work. So assume it JUST maintains the temp control .. Must say it never cools better or colder on DC . But it does hold the temp if cold already !! We start inbuilt genie if it's too warm while we travel in motorhome .. If need be.,
Hi Dougwe,
You mentioned, "I am also aware that movement is needed for fridge to work best while on 12v."
Havent heard that one before, I am interested to know why that would be the case?
Vince
__________________
"life is too short to spend it with people who suck the happiness out of you"
As the van may not be perfectly level to operate the fridge at its best, the movement while driving around assists with the performance. Maybe I didn't say it right, sorry.
__________________
Live Life On Your Terms
DOUGChief One Feather (Losing feathers with age)
TUG.......2014 Holden LT Colorado Twin Cab Ute with Canopy
DEN....... 2014 "Chief" Arrow CV (with some changes)
Our 3 way fridge always looks for the "most available" power source.
When 240v powered - it auto switches to mains
When being towed and the tug motor is running - it runs on 12v
when tug motor is off and no 240v power - it auto runs on gas
We do check the fridge display when these changes should happen, as once and a while it fails to switch and therefore no cooling
__________________
Cheers Bruce
The amazing things you see when nomading Australia
Hello Doug My van was wired to have the 12 volt coming from the 12 pin on the car, but I have rewired it to run off the van batteries when I am travelling. It seems to work better and the temp gets cooler when I am travelling always use 240v when on power and gas when free camping and have had no troubles Ken
Your Fridge WAS wired in accordance with the fridge makers instructions
Those instructions are for very good reasons
Your problem very likely was that the wiring was not 6B&S, ALL the way from the crank battery to the fridge!! [to limit voltage drop ]
Best of luck with your van battery life
Hello Oldtrack
previous van was wired up direct to van batteries and was being charged from car and solar when travelling and worked very well
This van was wired as you state, but when on 12 volt the fridge was getting warmer over the hour that we travelled, so got some heavy wire from the sparky that originally wired it, with fuse and connectors etc and said go for it
It now gets colder when travelling on 12 v, and when camped it is on 240 or gas
Our 3 way fridge always looks for the "most available" power source.
When 240v powered - it auto switches to mains When being towed and the tug motor is running - it runs on 12v when tug motor is off and no 240v power - it auto runs on gas
We do check the fridge display when these changes should happen, as once and a while it fails to switch and therefore no cooling
You forgot to add that THAT model also thermostat controls when on 12V
One reason why ,when 3way fridges are being talked about ,the model number can be very important& should always be given ,IMHO
& should always be given ,IMHO 
