I have Nissan Qashqai + 2 and Dometic CDF36 12v fridge with automatic cut off (high, medium and low). I have set to medium however the fridge turns on initially and soon after turns off, even when driving. Comes back on intermittently when I assume the voltage to the cigerette lighter increases whilst driving.
Have read on some forums that this is a common issue in car wiring where there is enough voltage at the battery, however the voltage at the cigerette lighter can be lower due to socket being dirty or the cigerette wiring from the battery being insufficient.
I think the options are buying a new battery (although this may not solve the problem), installing new wiring, to getting a leisure battery or a portable battery like the Dometic PLB40 or similar (which all seem to be very expensive, north of £500).
What have been your experiences? did it just work in your car? or what did you do to fix this issue?
Just to add, when at campsite i use electric. I want it to work in the car for for long journeys e.g. lake district or france next year (hopefully), which can be a drive between 6-12 hours.
I have the Waeco CF25, got that back in 2008, and it has been used in the car for our 1,100 mile trip to Frejus most years, the unit has worked fine in the car, even when left plugged in over night, as on the VW Golf I was able to make the 12v cigarette outlet keep permanently on, simple case of moving the fuse to another slot in the fuse box.
Maybe you need to set the fridge battery protection to Low cut out is 10.5 v and comes back on at 11.5 so unless the car battery is very bad you should be OK.
On the Med setting cut out is 11v and comes back at 12v if your DC supply is regulated to 12v that will be what is preventing the fridge from coming back on, as on start up the compressor may cause a slight voltage drop.
I have used the Waeco in the cars listed below, with the protection always set at Low, same as when I have it connected to the Waeco mains adapter, although Waeco do advise to set to High for in car use, but if your in car DC supply goes of when the ignition is of you can ignore this.
VW Golfs, Mk5/6/7 up to 17plate all diesel.
Mazda 3 (16 plate) diesel rubbish car btw
BMW one series 18 plate petrol.
BMW one series shadow 19 plate petrol.
Ford Kuga 19 plate petrol.
Ford Focus 19 plate diesel.
Citroen Cactus C4 19 plate diesel.
Renault Capture 19 plate petrol (current car) for now !
Hi Marg6, yes i am aware it it should not run continuously, the issue i am speaking of is not that the fridge doesnt switch off when it reaches tempreture, its that the fridge switches off before it reaches tempreture due to voltage drops at the cigerette lighter.
Francis, thanks, i was under the impression that the low setting should not be used unless on mains or a leisure battery. My cigerette lighter does switch off when ignition is off. Thanks for sharing your experience, good to know others are setting to low, i had already moved from high to medium, I will try low now. Maybe that 0.5v cutt off will make the difference! Was a bit baffled at the point of a 12v fridge with a cigerette lighter, if it didnt work in a car!
Interested in what others have done as well, please share your work arounds!
Yep, well as your Nissan, cut’s of the DC when the ignition is of, that will be fine and should sort the issue for you with the fridge set to Low instead of Med.
To be fair Waeco stating that the fridge should be set to low for use with a leisure battery is a little misleading as running a leisure battery down to 10.5v is a good way to ruin it, 12.06v is really the lowest that you should let a leisure battery go to, so Waeco should be advising the Hi setting unless you are using a LiFeP04 leisure battery, in that scenario Low would be safe.
Also it will save you switching the fridge from Med to Low when you have it on the mains supply adapter, so a win win all round.
Edit = re portable battery, a 15Ah LiFeP04 12v Battery would keep your Waeco going for about 30 hours, battery cost would be around £200 something that I have been looking into and the battery would only weigh around 3kg.
Just a case of fast charging it each day, which take less than an hour, and away you go again, and probably still get around 4000 cycles.
Something like the “Motocaddy LitePower Lithium Universal Battery” £189 including charger, with free delivery.
Wow, you got there in the end, I guess the Nissan must be putting out exactly 12v on the DC, have you checked it with a meter, I use one of those gadgets that plugs directly into the cigarette socket to occasionally check what the voltage is at, your Waeco only draws around 4amp maybe 7/8 on startup of the compressor, I guess the DC outlet is rated to 120watt (10amp) maybe more with a 20amp fused circuit,
What happens if you cool the fridge down at home before the journey, then put it on 12 volt?
We have a Mobicool FR40. We cool to 4 degrees and stock before setting off and it keeps to a steady 4 degrees when on 12 volt, no matter how long the journey.
It could be a smart alternator problem. I monitored the 12V socket in my 2017 Seat Ateca and it was often below 12V for some time. Then eventually whizzes up to nearly 17V to catch up.
Fortunately, with a factory fitted tow bar, the smart alternator technology is abandoned when the car senses a trailer/caravan is connected. The 12V socket then gives out a steady 13.7v.
Well birder99 and Crypto, if there was ever a reason for having a factory fit OEM tow bar or VSK retro fit type, others will learn from your comments, gone are the day’s of grabbing a fistful of scotchlocks and a lash up relay and doing it DiY style, although many still do and wonder why they have electrical problems.
I dont think my 2013/14 Qashqai has a smart alternator(?) I've read online that most care wiring is insufficient, so even if you get the full voltage at the battery, you wont get the same voltage on the cigerate lighter due to resistance / wiring not being thick enough. Seems like a common issue in cars. This can contribute to a 1-2 volt drop at the cigerette lighter which is enough to trigger the low voltage protection on most 12v fridge freezers which have this feature.
I tested my voltage today at the cigerette socket and it was ranging between 13 something and 10.5 at the lowest (most of the time around 11 something). Which makes sense now as low cut off is 10.1v and medium cut of is 11.4v on this model. The voltage never stayed long at 10.5v and quickly came back up.
Also just to clarify, I had it empty just for testing but obviously would pre cool on a real journey with food loaded.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: 12v fridge keeps turning off in car
via mobile 01/8/2020 at 7:34pm
