Hi All, Just back from a fantastic trip to Coral Bay and Karijini NP. The Gorges and scenery are amazing. Hoping you can help with our query today.
We have an Engel 60Lt Fridge Freezer. Approx 5 years old. It works great when plugged on the mains. However when we are camping without Mains power and running from our Jayco Campervan on batteries, the Engel does not work. The Engel was also fine when travelling and kept the food frozen. But as soon as we have no mains and turn to battery it doesn't work. We have it plugged into the socket on side of Jayco. Everything else worked in jayco so we know its not a problem there. What are we doing wrong? Please can you help? Thank you
Hi Jon & Lin I can't decide from you post so I'll ask the obvious does the socket you are plugging the Engel into actually have power in it if so do you have something else with a similar power load to plug into it to see if enough power is getting to that outlet it may be that that outlet has a bad connection or the wire is not larg enough to supply the power that the Engel needs to work
Just a thought
Woody
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When the power of Love becomes greater than the love of power the World will see peace ! 24ft Trailblazer 5th wheeler n 05 Patrol ute and Black Series Dominator camper trailer ( for the rough stuff)
don't want to state the obvious but are you plugging the Engel into the 240v socket ? reason I ask is that when we had a swan the only power point on the side was a 240v one
Yes that's right we plugged it into the only 240 volt 3 pin socket...we did try the other smaller one beside it with other lead but neither worked. Why did you think of that?
The 240v socket on outside of camper won't work when you are off of power.
We have the 240v and a 12v socket on the outside of the van, and when we use the 12 volt socket, with the cigarette lighter type plug in it, I sometimes have to "jiggle" the plug around to get it to work.
Sorry to ask the obvious, but I take from your comments that you do have a 12v socket on the outside of the camper? If so, I would plug your Engel into it again, and just try moving the plug around to see if you can get the contact to work. It might take a bit of pushing and jiggling, but I would do this prior to going to Jayco.
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Regards Ian
Chaos, mayhem, confusion. Good my job here is done
Crikey Thx Ian, had no idea the 240v plug would not work when not on power and swicted to batteries. We paid an extra amount of $$ for a dual battery so were thinking as van had the 2 batteries we would be able to flick the battery switch in jaco on and use the mains 240 v plug. You have told us something we never knew, thx again. We will now test the 12 v socket and jiggle around to see if we get connection :) cheers
Think dual fuel car (gas & petrol). If one tank is empty you can only use the other one.
If you are not in a van park with a 230V AC connection, then your 230V AC plugs don't work.
You may have had an inverter fitted to your new van which can transform 12V DC to 230V AC but usually these are only connected to one specially marked socket inside your van because they cannot provide much power and so are unsuitable for heavy duty appliances.
Thx we were thinking that when you flick the battery switch in Jayco on, this allows the power you have stored in batteries to be able to use that power on appliances. If this isn't the case and as you say the Engel is too large an appliance, then what would you use the 12 volt outlet for? Cheers
There is some doubt as to whether you are attempting to run the fridge through a 12 V power point or a a 240 V power point. Please confirm.
If you are attempting to run it from a 12 V point and it is not running then there are a few things to look at:
1.. Check to see if there is 12 V power to it.
2.. If there is power there then is the socket an plug spotlessly clean? Cigarette lighters sockets are notoriously poor devices and need to be spotlessly clean.
3.. If the above check out OK then you may have a wiring problem. You may have a bad joint (including fuse contacts) or the wire may be too small causing excessive voltage drop.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
Thx everyone you are all a great help. I also spoke to Jayco today, they replied to my email. The Engel should definitely work on the 12 volt socket, so I need to check if the lead is faulty or fuse is dead. As the fuse in Engel lead isn't obvoius(it's a sealed lead), I am going to plug the lead into the Jayco lights socket inside van...if the Engel works then we know it's not the lead and it's the outside socket that's the problem. If it doesn't work then we know the lead is the issue. Feel like we are getting somewhere at last! I'll post as soon as I know. Thx again you are wonderful peeps.
