New to this style of fridge . This morning I checked the temp of the fridge before changing to 12v for travelling. It was 0 , when we got home was 5 and icecream starting to thaw would this be normal. All we did was turn the switch to battery from electricity. Just wondering if I need to boost temp as I noticed water coming from the fridge when we got home and the little tray was quite full with water
deverall11 said
06:49 PM Mar 30, 2015
Four things:
1) According to most manufacturers, 12v is meant to just keep the temp.
2) If you do not have a wire thick enough (anderson plug), there may not be enough juice going to the fridge
3) Most vans are wired so that the Anderson plug feeds the house battery and the fridge feeds from that. I found that by running he fridge directly from the Anderson plug there was some improvement
4) Our previous van had an analogue Dometic. This worked fine. Our new van has a digital Dometic which is hopeless. Sometimes new is not always bettre then old.
Larry
oldtrack123 said
10:12 PM Mar 30, 2015
Hi
The 3way fridge should have it's OWN 12V supply direct from the tug batterry using heavy cables [with a VSR or igntion controlled relay in the POS line to prevent discharge of the tug battery
With it coming off the same feed as the van batterry the van battery is unlikely to ever be fully charged by the alternator
& the fridge will be very unlikely to recieve the minimum 12V required for proper operation
Of course if it not installed to the fridge makers instructions it will never work as intended
Sadly very few are correctly installed.
Google OR search on most RV forums & you find many many instances & methods of improving
PeterQ
PeterD said
11:53 PM Mar 30, 2015
deverall11 wrote:
3) Most vans are wired so that the Anderson plug feeds the house battery and the fridge feeds from that.
A lot of switched on people who frequent forums may do just that but very few manufacturers do. Jayco certainly dont so that rules out at least half the vans out.
jbrinks I would check the voltage at the input to the 12 V terminals on the back of the fridge with your motor running. I will bet pounds to peanuts that your wiring is deficient. For starters the wiring in your van will not be to Thetford's or Dometic's specification. What did you ask for when you had the trailer socket installed on your tug? Did you specifically ask for a hot wire for the van fridge? Did you specify that 6 mm2 or 8 mm2 cable be used for the hot wire? Most towbar installers don't realise that you need thick cable.
New to this style of fridge . This morning I checked the temp of the fridge before changing to 12v for travelling. It was 0 , when we got home was 5 and icecream starting to thaw would this be normal. All we did was turn the switch to battery from electricity. Just wondering if I need to boost temp as I noticed water coming from the fridge when we got home and the little tray was quite full with water
1) According to most manufacturers, 12v is meant to just keep the temp.
2) If you do not have a wire thick enough (anderson plug), there may not be enough juice going to the fridge
3) Most vans are wired so that the Anderson plug feeds the house battery and the fridge feeds from that. I found that by running he fridge directly from the Anderson plug there was some improvement
4) Our previous van had an analogue Dometic. This worked fine. Our new van has a digital Dometic which is hopeless. Sometimes new is not always bettre then old.
Larry
Hi
The 3way fridge should have it's OWN 12V supply direct from the tug batterry using heavy cables [with a VSR or igntion controlled relay in the POS line to prevent discharge of the tug battery
With it coming off the same feed as the van batterry the van battery is unlikely to ever be fully charged by the alternator
& the fridge will be very unlikely to recieve the minimum 12V required for proper operation
Of course if it not installed to the fridge makers instructions it will never work as intended
Sadly very few are correctly installed.
Google OR search on most RV forums & you find many many instances & methods of improving
PeterQ
A lot of switched on people who frequent forums may do just that but very few manufacturers do. Jayco certainly dont so that rules out at least half the vans out.
jbrinks I would check the voltage at the input to the 12 V terminals on the back of the fridge with your motor running. I will bet pounds to peanuts that your wiring is deficient. For starters the wiring in your van will not be to Thetford's or Dometic's specification. What did you ask for when you had the trailer socket installed on your tug? Did you specifically ask for a hot wire for the van fridge? Did you specify that 6 mm2 or 8 mm2 cable be used for the hot wire? Most towbar installers don't realise that you need thick cable.