wiring for a 12 pin connection for 150L fridge

[relgate]

Hi Guys
My tug is now wired up. I was keen to use 6b&s but the sparky wasnt because of the crappy 12pin plug.
My set up is now:
One 100amp (basic?) solenoid connected to the batery with 6b&s. It then splits if 2 6mm hotwires with 30 amp breakers. One goes to the big fridge pin (9) and the other to the battery pin (2).
The sparky has left the original earth from the old 7 pin plug (not sure where that goes).
For the fridge earth, he has used a 6mm and bolted it to the chassis at the rear of the vehicle.
My question is: I have noted from boots post above that the fridge -ve might need to go back to the battery. Is this correct? Will I have a prob with it bolted to the chassis?

 

[Big Gee]

Hi Relgate,

The chances of you having a problem are probably non existant. If I was doing it I would have gone to the extra effort but that's just me.

Obviously the sprky is comfortable with doing it that way, & in that case all should be fine!

 

[brookes2622]

I have decided to ditch the 12-pin and opt for the Anderson I have already run with 6B&S from my AUX battery. The van is using 6mm for the fridge pin 9 red and the same for the earth pin 10 white. I will loop pin 2 black 3mm also to the Anderson but the question I have is there appears to be an additional blue on pin 8 of 4mm wire. I assume this is for the breakaway battery but can someone confirm please?

 

[boots33]

Hi Guys
I have noted from boots post above that the fridge -ve might need to go back to the battery. Is this correct? Will I have a prob with it bolted to the chassis?

In the good old days of solid chassis rails and real steel construction it was common to use the chassis for earth points and of course can still be used today provided the connection back to the battery is secure. With all wiring it is desirable to have the least amount of joins as possible this is why i prefer a direct line back to the battery. in modern cars which often don't have a solid chassis and use lots of plastic and composite materials it can sometimes be tricky to guarantee a good connection over time. As your work was done by a sparky he must feel confident that he has a good connection so you should be fine.

 

[relgate]

Thanks Big Gee and Boots, I'll sleep easier tonight!

 

[achjimmy]

Hey relgate
We have a similar setup with our Tug, a twin run of 6mm for fridge and power (plus the earths as well, so four wires all up) and a 6mm for the brakes as well. There can be no doubt that 6b&s and anderson plugs are the ultimate way to go and highly desirable if you are going to do the round oz trip. but for the moment your requirements seem fairly similar to ours, We spend most of our time off grid with the occasional trip to van parks etc. most of our trips are usually within 6-7 hours from home and we always start out with a fully charged battery and use a 120w panel to keep it that way when setup. The panel has never failed to keep up with our power requirements and on a sunny day has the battery charged up well before lunch. If you are going for longer trips you may experience the problems of fridge not keeping cool enough as listed above, although to date we have had no such problems. take a look at the pic below taken from the 150ltr fridge manual

View attachment 8033

You can see they only recommend a maximum run of 8m using 6mm wire and most setups will be very close to the limit. Provided you are not a huge power user i think you will be fine.

Intresting I never noticed that, then again I never read he manual. So given its almost a 8 m run from plug to fridge this means Jayco have under spec'd the wiring on all the vans with 150l fridges behind the axle as its at least another 5m to the tugs battery? Plus in the middle you have the potential of a plug that can offer voltage issues as well. No wonder the heavier viable improves them so.

 

[expanda]

Hi Guys
My tug is now wired up. I was keen to use 6b&s but the sparky wasnt because of the crappy 12pin plug.
My set up is now:
One 100amp (basic?) solenoid connected to the batery with 6b&s. It then splits if 2 6mm hotwires with 30 amp breakers. One goes to the big fridge pin (9) and the other to the battery pin (2).
The sparky has left the original earth from the old 7 pin plug (not sure where that goes).
For the fridge earth, he has used a 6mm and bolted it to the chassis at the rear of the vehicle.
My question is: I have noted from boots post above that the fridge -ve might need to go back to the battery. Is this correct? Will I have a prob with it bolted to the chassis?

Digging up an old thread as I found this interesting and I am re doing my wiring now in the Pathfinder....

Do you know what solenoid was used is it a red arc solenoid or just a non name jaycar one?

When I did my write up I based it on two fused relays which is fine but I do like the idea of 1 solenoid powering the two hot wires as it will mean

1) I have one unit to mount in the engine vs two relays
2) Less wiring only one unit to mount in the engine and wire direct to the battery vs two relays which equals probably about 6 less wires and connections (two triggers vs one, two wires back to battery vs one, two earths vs one)
3) Easier connections as they are ring connections vs push on

Looks like this is what will do the trick as its continuous duty so can be powered from a trigger wire but just not sure about running two hotwires from it....

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DUAL-BAT...ccessories&hash=item43b4473bf7#ht_1514wt_1398

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x104/sidewinderdotcomdotau/SOLENOID1.jpg?t=1255594054

 

[Burnsy]

Hi expanda, when i got my redarc it cost me $85 incl delivery from here.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/REDARC-S...=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item43b08a713f

Cheers.

 

[expanda]

Hi expanda, when i got my redarc it cost me $85 incl delivery from here.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/REDARC-S...=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item43b08a713f

Cheers.

Cheers Burnsy that is a good price for the red arc!

That isolator though is no good for fridge and battery charging as it turns on and off by itself by monitoring the main battery. When the main battery gets to a certain point it turns on and off the isolator.

This one is constant so it doesn't care about the state of the main battery you set it up to run as you turn your car on and off -

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/REDARC-S...=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item43b08a713f

I understand it may be good to protection not to run the fridge whilst the main battery is low but the pathfinder has a pretty high output alternator so I would rather running the fridge / charge system full time and allowing the alternator to pickup the slack.

 

[Glenn]

I also went for the redarc "smart switch" in the disco as the electrics dont like to be piggy back into so all got wired direct from battery through redarc to charge panda battery & anderson plug for fridge. Picked up on wed, all good!

 

[Brad]

I understand it may be good to protection not to run the fridge whilst the main battery is low but the pathfinder has a pretty high output alternator so I would rather running the fridge / charge system full time and allowing the alternator to pickup the slack.

Hey expanda, i may have misunderstood your comment above, but wouldn't the most important thing first and foremost be to return charge back to the main battery? Without doing that, aren't you risking the ability to crank the car over the next time you try and start the car due to a half flat battery?

 

[straydingo]

theoretically a high output alternator will be able to direct enough charge to the battery to keep it topped up and happy, and still provide adequate power to the fridge (and kids electronic games) whilst driving. The fridge won't (shouldn't) draw enough power overnight to reduce the battery too low for safe/reliable operation the next day.