17' Series Travelling with fridge on 12v

Drover

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I wouldn't bother stuffing around with the 12 pin just run a 6 or 8 B&S line from draw bar to fridge with anderson on either end and just disconnect the original 12v input at the fridge terminal and connect your new cable to it, save the effort as the loss would more than likely still be there and you may find other things rely on the 12pin 12v supply not just the fridge....

I order my Anderson Plugs on ebay in bags of at least a dozen usually about $15 -$20 a bag...........................buying from a shop will send you broke.
 
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mikerezny

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Sep 11, 2016
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I called Jayco and was told the anderson plug on my draw bar went directly to the battery, unfortunately not to the fridge.

First thing i will do is to remove wires on both sides of the 12 pin to an anderson plug and see if that reduces voltage drop. Hopefully most of the voltage drop is at the 12 pin.

If that doesn't reduce the voltage drop i'll have to run a 6AWG gauge wire direct from fridge to draw bar anderson plug
Hi @MarkAW,
I suggest that you take the covers off the 12-pin plug and socket and measure the voltage across the connection between socket and plug for both the negative and positive feeds to the fridge.
It is unlikely that there will be a voltage drop across the connection. At 15A, a voltage drop at this connection is usually the cause of the plug or socket melting.
In my opinion, the problem of these plugs or sockets melting is more likely bad or loose connections between the wire and the screw terminal in the plug or socket.

If you want to investigate further, with the fridge connected to the battery:
Measure the battery volts
Measure the voltage at the 12-pin socket
Measure the voltage at the 12-ping plug
Measure the voltage at the fridge terminals

That should be enough to determine where the voltage drop is and then you can determine what needs to be done to reduce it.

cheers
Mike
 
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Drover

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Why waste time measuring stuff on an inferior connection and cable run if you want the optimum power to the fridge ? If you want to run 6 or 8 B&S cable the 12 pin is no good.
 
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MarkAW

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Jan 25, 2017
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Spoke to Piranha off-road as I use a Piranha isolator to charge the batteries.
First thing they advised was to earth the auxiliary battery to the engine instead of the chassis. This resulted in more voltage to the auxiliary and a deeper charge. For some reason this provides a better earth?
Next tested the voltage at both sides on the 12 pin
The caravan side of the 12 pin wired by Jayco was messy. I tidied this up and the other connections on the caravan side of the 12 pin. Lazy work Jayco.
Now have 12.4 v at the fridge terminal so only a drop of 0.45 v from the battery terminal.
Hopefully all good now.
 

MarkAW

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" Lazy work Jayco" , if the screws where done up on the pins you have an above standard fit out....lol,lol.[/
It looked like a rush job and when the plastic cover on the wire was removed to expose the actual wire for connection they had cut strands of wire and a few connection screws were loose. Last thing I expected
 

Drover

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Ha, @MarkAW on my old 2009 14.44 the cable from the Setec to the battery switch were just pushed in they didn't even get fastened and some of the connectors were crunched to the point of cutting the wire entirely, I redid heaps of connections ..................when I picked up Big Mal, which is a Coromal they replaced the 12 pin and disconnected the Brake Safe while they were at it and the fridge never ran on 12v as the wiring was wrong, took me ages to discover that problem, so I suppose brand doesn't mean a lot.
 
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