Electrical Fridge switch method?

[pauljygrant]

Hi all,
Just wondering what the preferred method is to control the fridge when travelling ie when using the 12v system?
Obviously it's ok when driving since the vehicle will be charging all batteries and running the fridge but when you stop, do you manually disconnect the trailer plug; leave the fridge to run anyway and hope not to flatten the battery too much; or use some method of control?
I have a Redarc controller to charge the auxilary battery when driving so could connect the fridge to that but probably not good for the battery to be drained flat so considering installing a Fridge Switch directly behind the fridge that turns the 12v on and off based on movement. Would cost around $70 for the parts and should be easy to fit.
Interested to hear others ideas and experiences.
Cheers,
Paul

 

[yabbietol]

Like yourself I was not sure what to do in my previous van (Avan). I had the second battery in the tow via Anderson plug running both fridge and charging the van battery. It worked well most of the time, the Piranha dual battery charger/isolator in the tow protected the starting battery in the tow.
The only problem we ever had was forgetting to turn the 3 way fridge to gas or local 240v. Once we left the van battery (95 Ahr) powering the fridge overnight on 12V and in the morning the battery was flat. We got light for breakfast (bush camping in winter) by reconnecting the tow's Anderson plug and had lights, etc in the early morning. Unfortunately, the van battery was never the same again and so I replaced it with a new 110 Ahr for about $200.

We did not get round to buying one of those motion detection fridge 12V switch. I think they are a good idea if you forget to turn from 12V fridge operation. Otherwise they do little when towing. However, they can save you from running your van battery flat when you stop for the night; for $60, if you have a 3 way fridge they are probably good insurance

http://caravansplus.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=6496


Our new van will be set up differently 12V/ 240V compressor fridge with lots of battery and solar, so I do not need the switch.

 

[Soaring]

I believe the standard (if there is such a thing from Jayco) is that the fridge is not connected to the house (van) battery.
It will only run on 12v when connected to the car via either the 12 pin plug or an Anderson if fitted.
I stand to be corrected on this.

In saying the above, twice now I have hooked the van up the night before we are due to leave on a trip and had the fridge connected to 240v, but had the 12 pin connected. in the morning when we are about to leave I had a flat car battery. Something other than the fridge is draining it - I assume the vans house battery. In this case the movement switch would not help if connected only to the fridge, but would work if connected to the main power lead from the 12 pin or Anderson.

 

[boots33]

Another way I have seen mentioned elsewhere on this forum is to use a relay that is switched on with the vans tail lights. I think it was @Drover who said he has his hooked up like that. It certainly would be a simple and cheap way to go. Of course you would then need to drive with your lights on, but that's not such a bad idea anyway.

 

[Drover]

Yep @boots33 twas I.......with the parkers on, the bells go when you stop so you don't forget to switch off, cost $25 for relay. Just got to remember to turn the damn things back on when you head off.....!!!!!!!!!



Yes @Soaring , your van battery would be charging off your tug. Always a good idea when stopped for a long time to disconnect or just flick the battery switch off or wire a relay so power to the van only works when ignition on.

 

[Bushman]

I had a Fridge Switch in my Saw camper worked a treat, so fitted one to the Panda as well, thought when the PJ was wired they fitted a solenoid to ignition so car off fridge off. doubled protection.

The new van fridge is wired to the house battery, which doesn't seem ideal at the moment seems the tug charging is keeping up with the van battery so if we were to drive for several hours then free camp we'd probably loose power for lighting etc. so have to look at having a re wire done and add in a voltage booster to the system

 

[twscoot]

We used a fridge switch on our Eagle and it worked a treat. Simple and effective.

 

[Crusty181]

Our van fridge is powered via an Anderson plug which is connected directly to the car battery via an ignition activated relay. Relay switched by a random wire under the bonnet thats only live when the ignition is on. ie. Ignition off, wire dead; ignition on wire live

Its automatic, set and forget and pretty foolproof, but it can't be overridden should you choose to want the fridge powered up without the car running. In that case, say if we stop for an extended length of time (for a looooong lunch) I just flick the gas on ....but that very rare. Once at temp, you can leave the fridge unpowered for hours without much temp spiking northward

 

[dagree]

We had a 35A relay setup on our previous landcruiser wired through a switch so I had control of turning the supply on/off.

In the current Prado I fitted a large cable (6B&S/13mm2 from memory) from the second battery to the rear for all power requirements. Fitted a 50A Anderson plug to run the fridge and charge the van battery & breakaway brakes. Looked into the fridge motion switch but was put onto a Low Voltage Cutout Device by @Bmhdg76 ... Works a treat and set at 10.5V cutout haven't had the fridge turn off after leaving for 2 hours.

 

[pauljygrant]

Thanks all for some interesting suggestions.
For my last camper (Jayco Swan) I had the same Redarc controlling the charging of the camper battery and a basic Bosch relay controlling the feed to the fridge, via 2 separate 50A Anderson plugs ( one grey and the other red). The only issue was the number of wires under the bonnet made the install look a bit messy!
Was considering fitting a similar relay in the Jayco this time, to control the fridge and had thought about using the spare Hotwire in the 7 pin socket to switch on and off, from an ignition feed. Never thought about using the tail light as a trigger wire - great idea!! I have automatic headlights on my vehicle so they run every time the vehicle is being used so the Jayco lights will be on anyway. That would free up the spare 7th wire for something else.......
On a related topic, has anyone knowledge of the wiring for the brakeaway unit or the newly fitted Electronic Stability Control? Didn't have either on the Swan so although I understand what they do, have never wired to vehicle to accommodate them. (We swap the Swan for the new Basestation in July so trying to get the vehicle ready now to free up time once we take delivery for mods to the Basestation).
I know that Jayco prefer to use the 12 pin plugs but I have 3 other trailers set up for 7pin round and would prefer to keep it that way and use Anderson plugs for high current circuits.
Please keep the ideas coming.
Cheers, Paul

 

[dagree]

On ours @pauljygrant the fridge and breakaway wiring were on the 12 pin plug. Got them to change it to a seven pin plug and wire up an anderson for the fridge and breakaway unit.

When I took it back for the ESC to be fitted the first thing they checked was to see if the pre-wired ESC cable was also wired to the anderson..... Yep it was so all 3 now run of the one anderson plug (Even though I piggy backed a second anderson thinking they had to run a new cable) Oh well the new red anderson plug now gets used for the compressor and other accessories!

 

[chartrock]

I just have a relay across the ignition circuit. When the ignition is on, there is power to the fridge, when it's off the fridge has no power.

 

[Capt. Gadget]

My PX Ranger came with a factory wired 12 pin plug one pin has a constant 12v and another has ignition controlled one so I wired the van plug to the Ignition controlled one !

 

[Pauly]

I'm running the motion sensor fridge switch . Goes on when my girls jump around like wild monkeys in the van:laugh:

 

[achjimmy]

I used the same as @Crusty181 and a few others on our Expanda. Separate feed from the start battery to fridge.

For the relay under the bonnet on the Cruza rather than root around for the ignition wire I just used another VSR instead of a standard relay and with fridges current draw the VSR just switchs off nano seconds after the ignition is cut.

 

[millers]

Ignition controlled relay for me. Car on power through to fridge. Car off no power through to fridge. If it is manual then I am going to either forget to disconnect or re-connect.

 

[mfexpanda]

I installed a fridge switch