I know this probably sounds like an absolutely stupid question peeps but having never put our legs down to have a little kip in the caravan whilst still hitched to the car, I want to know if the caravan fridge will still be powered by the car's battery or the caravan's own leisure battery? I just worry about it draining my car battery because I honestly don't fancy spending my 3 weeks at the services😂 I do know that we'll need to pay for stay longer than two hours at the services but it'll be worth it for me as I really suffer after at least 7hours in the car and now we can actually lay down on the fixed bed, it'll do us both good so we can arrive slightly more refreshed to set up on site.
The fridge runs off a 12v supply from the car only when the engine is running. It does not run off the caravan battery as it would go flat. The van battery may supply the fridge light and ignition when on gas.
It's recommended you cool the fridge overnight before setting off, ideally on mains electric or gas.
You could freeze some icepacks if you have them and put them in the fridge which will help when you stop.
Alternatively put the fridge on gas while stopped not forgetting to switch back to 12v afterwards.
Fridges are quite well insulated.
------------- DS-There's more to life than football!!!
Thanks for that Dave, it was most helpful👍 We always used to bring our other caravans home from their storage site to give the fridge a good charge up on mains before leaving and I would always stick some ice packs and things like Bolognese or bags of soup I'd made and frozen to get it going but unfortunately we're no longer able to do that and have to load the van up at the storage site and set off from there.😥Our new van is three feet longer which would mean it would have to block our shared drive,(which our lovely neighbours wouldn't mind but we wouldn't want to take liberties), and our road is quite narrow with no houses opposite and as it was, with our other vans, large trucks etc used to have to go extremely carefully to get past but with our new van being another two inches wider there's no way we'd risk bringing it home.
I shall still bung some ice packs in it with a little bottle of frozen milk but shan't be putting any actual fresh food in the fridge for the journey as we can get any essentials from the camp shop when we arrive and do an ASDA shop when needed👍 At least I now won't be worrying about the car getting a flat battery👍 Although I'm still trying to get familiar with all the workings of my petrol hybrid Tucson and I've had it for 18 months🤷 Thanks again for your help Dave. Toodles✋
Whenever we parked up, we always disconnected the 1e3 plug from the car even when on the ferry to France or Spain even though the caravan will not draw any current from the car battery.
But on my Dometic fridge, when the power from the car stops (engine off) the fridge beeps an alarm signal and flashes the control panel lights, which may be too annoying if you are trying to rest in the van, so you may need to turn it off completely to get peace and quiet! Don't forget to turn it back on when resuming travel - in situations like that, I'll often hang a duster or the like over the car steering wheel to jog my memory before just jumping in and driving off in absent minded bliss.
My fridge also tries to automatically switch over to Gas as the power source when the 12v car supply is cut, now I never travel with the gas cylinder valve open, so it will obviously fail, which means the alarm beeps just carry on as they are a 'cooling failure' warning! If stopping in motorway services, you are not supposed to be running gas appliances (Parking T&Cs of all services AFAIK!), but then they have to catch you doing so!
Worth reading the user manual for your particular fridge to see what features and functions it has.
A few Service Stations have a 3 hour free parking window rather than 2 hours before you need pay, maybe worth checking out in advance and seeing which one suits your rest stops best. As you may already have discovered, in the vast majority of services, caravans get punted into HGV parking areas, and with the constant noisy comings and goings of trucks there really is not a lot of peace to get a nap IMHO. I'll stop for a wee and a bite to eat, staying with the car/caravan as not trusting it's safe from any 'near do wells' in such dubious surroundings, but even that doesn't feel terribly restful with the noise, fumes and activity all around! Paid for stops at services are rather expensive for the little you get! TBH not found much better option though, 'A road' laybys are just as unpleasant in their own way IF you can actually get a car-caravan combo into any remaining space. And no other provision on UK roads that I've yet to find, most car parks are very caravan unfriendly usually starting with a height restriction!
And no question is a daft question if YOU don't have the answer!
Glad to be off help Hippy Chick
The Dometic fridge in our van also beeps when mains is disconnected and its set to 12v prior to connecting to the car! It has an automatic setting but cannot switch to gas as its off for travel!
We also have a self charging hybrid Tucson, I agree there are all sorts of settings in the menu! Nice cars though with plenty of power for towing.
------------- DS-There's more to life than football!!!
A
Crumbs Monty! That must've taken you ages to type that lot of really useful information for me! It's much appreciated. We've always had a stop for a couple of hours at the same services on our way down to Cornwall where my hubby has always got a decent bit of shut eye just reclining the drivers seat while I've always just read my kindle. He's very hard of hearing and his 'bedside ornaments ' aka, hearing aids, are just that🙄He has also always been able to sleep anywhere at any time no matter how noisy! When he was on nights, I could literally Hoover around the bed while he slept and he wouldn't even be slightly disturbed which was handy when the kids were young and never had to be told to keep the noise down because Daddy was in bed😂
As for leaving our outfit unattended at any services, we don't do that because one of us stays there with the pooch. I did research into the cost for what 's classed as an overnight stay, albeit we're only aiming for about 4 hours, and it was under £30 for a car and caravan, the same as for HGV's, which might be worth it for hubby's bit of rest while I will be reading my Kindle as usual😊 The jury's still out as to whether or not we'll definitely be putting our legs down but it's still a possibility. We don't go down on A roads, using mainly motorways until we're only a fairly short distance away from our destination so there aren't any suitable laybys until we're almost there🙄
I'd like to thank you all for your help, tips and advice, it's appreciated peeps👍
Quote: Originally posted by iank01 on 30/5/2025
Whenever we parked up, we always disconnected the 1e3 plug from the car even when on the ferry to France or Spain even though the caravan will not draw any current from the car battery.
We do the same, only exception is if on the Dover to Calais ferry as I'm not sure the minimal drain would matter over the course of 2 hours, any longer though and we always disconnect the electrics
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Topic: Which battery does caravan run on when..
via mobile 29/5/2025 at 7:55pm
Nice cars though with plenty of power for towing.
