hi, quit new to this so please accept my appoligies for the lack of knowlage.
we have a compass advantage 400 /2, along with a mondeo to pull it. my quastions are,
in the summer we plan to go to the south of france and i know that while i am towing the car the switch in the van has to be on car, so that it will not drain the leaisure battery, now when we get on the ferry do i have to switch the switch in the van to the leisure battery so that i dont flatten the car battery as it will be turned off for the crossing.
if so once we have started out again (and switched back to car) will the car charge up the leisue battery again.
It is safest to switch to leisure battery whilst on the ferry. I assume you are running the fridge only. The consumption is quite low and will soon be recharged if you switch back to car when you return to the vehicle on docking.
Usually there is a diode in the connection to the car that cuts the flow from car to caravan when the engine is switched off but I would'nt risk a flat battery.
This is also good for the battery as they benefit from discharging and charging rather than being permanently full.
The fridge CAN ONLY be used on 12V when the car ignition is on as it uses about 12 amps which would soon flatten the CAR battery.
It is not possible to use the fridge off the leisure battery if the wiring is to the proper standard
I don'r know the age of your van but post 1996ish there is a habitation relay that is energised from the fridge 12V circuit.The purpose of this relay is to switch off all internal 12V so it makes no difference what you set the switch to really.
The CAR setting is really only of use on site when the leisure battery has gone flat.
Hope that helps
Most people fill the fridge so that there are no spaces and if the door is kept closed it will be fine for most channel crossings.We sometimes put freezer blocks in as well.
Hello Steve. If your car is wired correctly, the fridge will be disconnected electrically when you switch off the engine automatically. This is because the fridge is powered via a relay energised by the ignition/alternator of the engine, through the 12s tow socket and powered by the car. Therefore, just park up on the ferry and leave all switches "as is".The fridge is NOT powered by the leisure battery,ever.
We leave all our switches as they are on the ferry. The fridge will not defrost if you don't open the door and if you are on a reasonably short crossing - say 4-5 hours but I would suggest that when you load the fridge make sure that you have switched it on the day before with the gas and that you only put cold food from the kitchen fridge in it. Never had a problem on our frequent trips to Ireland.
As Mrs Ulti-Mate has just pointed out, there are many brilliant supermarkets in France, so our advice would be to travel "light" with an empty fridge as far as possible.
We especially like the SuperU chains, you can buy anything from an outboard motor to a live octopus (and harpoons) and we really do find a trip there very interesting.
Good luck with the towing, I have driven in France "solo" many times and plucking up courage to go down to Carnac next year. We have already booked the Isle of Wight this year as a familarisation to ferry crossings and foreign types.
Don't leave your fridge switched on during the ferry crossing, gas or otherwise.(the regulator should be disconnected) the smoke detectors on the car decks are remarkably sensitive and you will not be popular with the crew who will have to locate the source of the alarm. If you are that worried get some ice blocks or better still freeze some bottles of water which will keep the temperature down for a long time as long as you don't open the door as well as giving you some ice cold water to drink.
p.s. don't do as some idiots have done in the past by trying to sleep in your caravan during the crossing - highly illegal!
mr Ulti-mate, i have driven a lot in france and many other countrys in that area as i drive up to a place near Celle in germany, as with yourself, solo, we are going to montpiller which is about 700 miles fron callis, im looking forward to the drive to be honest.i think the worst part is the crossing, if i could i would rather drive the 25 miles across the channel then the ferry as its this 2 hours that makes me feel tired, i have been to germany 4 times in the last 4 months and find that norfolkline does seem better, although p and o i have only been on once. we went to the isle of white a couple of years ago (with tent, no caravan at that time) and found it to nice there,
the staff on the ferries do walk around and check if your fridge is on.they feel the air coming out of the fridge vents on the side of the van.if its on (hot)you get called to sort it out- and they are not amused.
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Topic: what power on ferry
