Hi All Just about to leave to head towards silverstone for the british grand prix towing from goring, worthing.
Been caravaning for a while now but am confused about something so need some quick answers as leaving in about 1/2hr.
I have a Elddis Typhoon GT 2001 caravan it has an Electrolux fridge with a dial that shows a 0 a Battery sign a Electric plug sign and Battery.
Heres the problem i want to run the fridge whilst towing i have connected to the car the grey 12v socket and black which setting on the dial do i need to have it switched to to work i have started the car engine and the battery gauge needle drops to zero is this right as when the car i switched of the battery is full
Hi Thanks for your message i dont have a seperate switch that says car there is a switch i turn on when i connect to electric hook up is this the one you mean
And is it normal for the battery indicator needel to drop down to the red area of the gauge
depends on the van for the switch setting, on mine the switch only controls where the 12V systems get their power from, the van, or the car, this has no bearing on the fridge power at all, which comes directly from the car 12S, as does the battery charging.
I leave mine in the "off" position I then know that its safely isolated.
The car will only supply power to the fridge when the engine is running, as it has a relay to prevent the fridge draining the car bettery when the engine is off.
------------- DS-There's more to life than football!!!
The simple answer is. A lot of vans do not have a switch for off/car/caravan. My one doesn't, but overnight I plug in the electric turn the power on for caravan and turn the fridge on maximum to make cold set to mains. When I am ready to pull away I turn all power off in the van switch the fridge to battery still on maximum, then when I turn my engine on and pull away the fridge remains cold and the stuff in the freezer remains frozen till I get to my destination. I then turn the fridge back to mains and plug into mains at site.
Hi to everyone who has messaged me in relation to running my fridge whilst towing, unfortunately I had to leave before I could read all the posts.
Anyway I am back now. I find it hard to believe that in this day and age and considering the high spec of modern vans that the manufacturers Elddis being this one dont think to make this system more straightforward for their customers.
There is nothing within the caravan that indicates any guide in relation to switches to turn on or off for a connection to cool the fridge whilst driving the car nor in any manual.
Ben & Jerrys x 2 tubs where like soft milkshake when we arrived however at least we didnt ruin our diets so maybe theres a favour in its own right.
I think the main point is that you must get the fridge cold before you set off - ie switch it on at least the night before if possible using mains or gas. When it's cold load it up - we put ice cubes in at least the night before. Then as said above, turn it to battery before you set off and the car will then keep everything cold on the journey. Our ice cubes are always there ready for our G&T's when we arrive !
Quote: Originally posted by simon3675 on 21/7/2010
Hi to everyone who has messaged me in relation to running my fridge whilst towing, unfortunately I had to leave before I could read all the posts.
Anyway I am back now. I find it hard to believe that in this day and age and considering the high spec of modern vans that the manufacturers Elddis being this one dont think to make this system more straightforward for their customers.
There is nothing within the caravan that indicates any guide in relation to switches to turn on or off for a connection to cool the fridge whilst driving the car nor in any manual.
Ben & Jerrys x 2 tubs where like soft milkshake when we arrived however at least we didnt ruin our diets so maybe theres a favour in its own right.
Anyway thanks again
Simon
On my Bailey we need to turn the left switch to Battery & set the themostate to maximum ,you need to cool the fridge on mains or gas for several hrs prior to switching over though.BUT if your car grey socket is not wired correctly with the correct graded cable (& many are not) fridge will not work
I guess the way to test it is to open the fridge door when you are hooked up and the engine is on. If the light comes on then there is power to the fridge ! Or is this too simple ?
I guess the way to test it is to open the fridge door when you are hooked up and the engine is on. If the light comes on then there is power to the fridge ! Or is this too simple ?
I don't know about others but our tin tent fridge doesn't have a light in! Never have had one with a light coz they're not like domestic posh jobbies
As for cooling our fridge down, we used to be able to hook it up to the mains for 24 hours before we were leaving when we were able to store our tin tent at home but since getting the larger one it has to go into a storage site.
So, now all we can do is hook up to the mains for about 8 hours before we're setting off when we bring it home to load up and then switch to battery for the journey. We turn the dial up to maximum to encourage speedy chilling and do put a couple of bottles of frozen milk and packs of bacon in to help it along a bit but we would never risk trying to keep frozen stuff frozen en route anymore because the fridge doesn't have time to reach full temperature. Oh how I miss no longer having the luxury of hooking up to the mains in advance and being able to take my time over a day or two to load up.
Only three weeks and 2 days till Cornwall.......wooo hoooo cannot wait.
Quote: Originally posted by hippy chick on 21/7/2010
Quote: Originally posted by shirl250 on 21/7/2010
I guess the way to test it is to open the fridge door when you are hooked up and the engine is on. If the light comes on then there is power to the fridge ! Or is this too simple ?
I don't know about others but our tin tent fridge doesn't have a light in! Never have had one with a light coz they're not like domestic posh jobbies
As for cooling our fridge down, we used to be able to hook it up to the mains for 24 hours before we were leaving when we were able to store our tin tent at home but since getting the larger one it has to go into a storage site.
So, now all we can do is hook up to the mains for about 8 hours before we're setting off when we bring it home to load up and then switch to battery for the journey. We turn the dial up to maximum to encourage speedy chilling and do put a couple of bottles of frozen milk and packs of bacon in to help it along a bit but we would never risk trying to keep frozen stuff frozen en route anymore because the fridge doesn't have time to reach full temperature. Oh how I miss no longer having the luxury of hooking up to the mains in advance and being able to take my time over a day or two to load up.
Only three weeks and 2 days till Cornwall.......wooo hoooo cannot wait.
Sorry, ours has a light in it so I assumed they all did ! Silly me !
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Topic: Re towing whilst running fridge
