caravan fridge

[Ellis_5063253]

fridge not working on 12 volt whilst towing, light and switch is on fridge works o k on gas and mains caravan is luner clubman 460 1994 any help would be great

Ellis

 

[AlfromYC]

are you pre cooling on gas or leccy before switching over 2 12volts? If not then fridge will take AGES to get cold as its only ment to keep it cold not get it cold.

If you are pre cooling, then sounds like the 12 volt element has gone and time for a new 1.

 

[RogerL]

12v has the same power as 230v so there shouldn't be a difference.

A caravan fridge does need about 24 hours to get down to "normal" temperature from ambient so just "switching on" at the beginning of a tow won't do a lot.

 

[AnthonyVJ]

A couple of cool packs from the freezer would help get the temp down quickly,but Its bound to take longer for the freezer compartment.

Helen

 

[Icemaker]

Ellis, since changing my car i have found that my fridge also does not work on 12 volt although the light comes on as you state. as an ex refrigeration engineer i tested the fridge to find it was all fine, i then found that the tow bar fitter had wired the charge and fridge circuit up to my rear auxillary power socket on the car, unfortunately this is only fused at 10 amp but more importantly has on 1mm gauge cable. what this meens is the when the fridge draws power the cable is not large enough to provide the power needed so the voltage drops to a level lower than what is required for the habitation relay to switch over so the fridge will not work. some can hear this relay clicking in and out, i can't, like me you may need to get the charge and fridge circuit taken directly from the battery as it should be and ask for suitable diameter cable to be used. obviousley you may have a faulty fridge but it sounds to me like you have the problem as me.

 

[coljac]

Its hard to know if the fridge is working of the 12v system.

The general opinion is that you use the 240v mains or gas to get the fridge down to working temp then switch over to 12v for the journey.

We pick our van up from storage so we dont use gas or electric ,.we take a cool box and 3 freezer blocks one goes in the fridge ice box this keeps the fridge cool on the journey along with 12v . On arrival switch over to 240 or gas, empty cool box contents into fridge ,and then use cool box as bread bin .

We only take enough food to see us over until we visit the local shop.

The down side is that there is no ice for the G&Ts on the first night .. Coljac