Hi
Does anyone know of a 12v cool box that has voltage sensing built in to it so would turn itself off if forgot to unplug from 12v aux socket in the boot of the car?
Or would it be possible to piggy back off the voltage sensing relay for the towbar electrics fridge supply wires and fit a second aux 12v outlet in the boot??
Also be aware many newer (euro 6 cars) have some smart regenerative braking system so the car runs the battery voltage down only engaging the alternator when slowing to charge the battery so many of the charge detection units do not let the fridge run due to perceived low battery voltage
Of course the OP was asking for a cool box that already has built in battery protection, the only one’s that I am aware of are the Waeco Tropicool models, which I think have now been branded Dometic, to be fair though the Dometic Tropicool TX35 which is basically an over priced thermoelectric cool box, is about the same price as the Mobicool FR40 which is a proper compressor portable fridge, and does of course also have built in battery protection.
Mobicool is also a brand from Dometic.
Probably the best solution if the OP want’s to keep the budget below £100 is to buy a cheapo electric cool box from Aldi or Lidl, and add the Waeco protector or similar as I first mentioned.
Have found out that the 12v aux power outlet in the boot of our X Trail turns off 5 minutes after switching off engine and becomes live when engine starts or door is opened.
It is like this apparently for the exact reason of stopping items draining the battery when left plugged in.
Wow beachhuggy, I would find that feature quite annoying, in fact when I had a VW Golf 17 plate, the 12v to the in car sockets would go off when the engine was of, easily fixed though on that car by simply moving the 20amp fuse one slot along in the fuse box, this then provided the 12v in car sockets to be live permanently, it was very handy to be able to do this simple mod, as not only did it allow me have our Waeco CF25 fridge running in the car over night, I was also able to use my Ring RAC700 compressor with the engine of.
Quote: Originally posted by Francais on 17/4/2020
Wow beachhuggy, I would find that feature quite annoying, in fact when I had a VW Golf 17 plate, the 12v to the in car sockets would go off when the engine was of, easily fixed though on that car by simply moving the 20amp fuse one slot along in the fuse box, this then provided the 12v in car sockets to be live permanently, it was very handy to be able to do this simple mod, as not only did it allow me have our Waeco CF25 fridge running in the car over night, I was also able to use my Ring RAC700 compressor with the engine of.
My old Citroen C5 had the same option to swap fuse to enable permanent 12v supply, sadly my current Citroen C4GP doesn't seem to have that option, and yes it is bloody infuriating when you only get a few minutes of power before system automatically shuts it off!
It's less of an issue with my Campingaz electric coolbox, because the inbuilt battery protection circuit would turn it off anyway within a few minutes of turning the engine off. It requires about 14v from the supply, and that is only available with the engine running. Electric (Thermoelectric Peltier types) draw quite a high current (5A or more) and quickly drag the battery voltage down as it discharges.
beachhuggy, my Campingaz electric coolbox is quite old and has been superseded by newer models branded Coleman, which don't seem to mention the battery protection feature, but there certainly used to be a number of boxes on the market that had inbuilt battery protection. It's a pretty essential feature (made slightly redundant by modern cars cutting off 12v supply when/soon after engine stopped!) as a uncontrolled coolbox will kill your car battery stone dead in a few hours!
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Topic: 12v cool box voltage sensing
via mobile 16/4/2020 at 9:45am
