My car only has one socket on the tow bar, so running the fridge on 12volt from the car whilst travelling is not an option.
(question) If camping on grass with no electric or gas,will the fridge run 12 volts off the leisure battery whilst on site if i use my solar panel to keep the battery topped up???
No.the fridge will only run on 12 volt when connected to car with engine running.When engine is running the alternator is giving out 14.2 volts and enables the fridge to operate.It will not operate at 12 volt.When off mains electric the leisure battery will be enough to operate the control side of the fridge but you will need to have it set on gas to operate.
You could change the wiring by fitting a 12s socket to the caravan fed from the leisure battery then it would run from the leisure battery in theory.
However the fridge will probably take 7 or 8 amps or even more and very quickly flatten the battery. Even a fully charged 110Ahr battery would only last around 5 or 6 hours.
You would need a very large solar panel to keep that running and of course there would be no output at night.
About the only viable way to run a 12 volt fridge off a leisure battery is to change the fridge for a compressor type, and wire it direct to the battery through a fuse or circuit breaker. These fridges draw much less current but they are expensive and don't offer the option to run them on gas. Not all of them can be run off mains electric either, without a separate power supply. I had one on my boat, where gas fridges are not recommended, but I had 2 x 110ah batteries. That would run for a week without the engines being run, but a normal caravan fridge wouldn't have run for more than a day.
As navver says, a normal caravan 3 way fridge would flatten a battery in just a few hours.
It doesn't take a lot of gas to power a fridge, once it's cold, you can turn it down to a low setting and it will not use a lot of gas.
I don't have a 12v supply for the 12v side either whilst traveling. What I do is put everything from the house fridge straight into the caravan fridge just before I set off, together with a couple of frozen items from the freezer (like sausages for the next day, and a frozen carton of juice, for eg.) and a couple of frozen ice packs. So I turn it into a cool box for the journey and things are still nice and cool when I get where I'm going... then switch on either the gas or the EHU.
Hi, I hope it's ok to tag on to this thread, I'm new caravanning, having emerged from under canvas, so just to clarify, when towing I need the fridge on 12volt and the switch on car not van, and by having switch on car when towing, the leisure battery will charge?
If the fridge left on the EHU setting and or the switch is left on van and not changed to car whilst towing, is it right that the fridge then run at all? i.e does the fridge only power from gas or EHU (when parked) or when running on car and never straight from leisure battery?
Also, just to confirm that the leisure battery charge does charge from the EHU whilst plugged in?
I've only had the van a few months and I'm still trying to get my head around it all despite reading the manual and complicated wiring guides.
Any help greatly appreciated, thank you!
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When hitched to car and the engine is running - all 12 volt electrics in the van are isolated automatically. All that should work on that caravan is the road lights and indicators etc.
The fridge should work and the battery should charge.
For the fridge to work you need to set the fridge switch to 12 volt or it maybe a symbol that looks like a battery.
When hitched to car and the engine is not running and no EHU connected-
The 12 volt electrics in the van should work from the car battery and not the caravan battery.
The fridge will work on gas if it's switch is set to gas.
If on EHU -
The fridge will not work on 12volt but should work on
240volt mains EHU or gas if the switch on the fridge is set on the correct position.
The caravan battery should charge from the mains 240volt. On modern caravans this is automatic but older ones may need a switch setting.
There maybe a master switch in the van which isolates all the 12 volt circuits.
Thank you so much for your reply. It's good to just have a basic explanation like that, trying to assimilate the info from all the manuals is not easy.
I've struggled understanding the heating and space heater too to be honest!
------------- Dance like nobody's watching;
love like you've never been hurt.
Sing like nobody's listening;
live like it's heaven on earth
Sorry, but I do not agree with Navver about 12v running off car battery with the engine not running. My understanding is that when the engine is NOT running a relay cuts off 12v power from the car to prevent the car battery being drained and that 12v power can only be used from the car battery whilst the engine is running, ie whilst travelling.
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Topic: 12 volt fridge question
