Electrics and caravan on the ferry

[Andrew301265]

Travelling to France on the Portsmouth - St. Malo route, and have a couple of queries.

Is it necessary to disconnect the caravan's electrics from the car.

Will the fridge run on the leisure battery if the electrics to the car are disconnected.( and the panel is switched to van )

Thanks in advance for any help

 

[Happy-Lappy]

Andrew,

There is no need to disconnect the electrics whilst on the Ferry.

The Fridge only works on 12v if the car engine is running, as it takes its feed from the alternator via a relay,

best regards, Martin

 

[AndyR]

I'm anticipating your next question! The best way to keep the fridge cold is to freeze some milk, juice etc and maybe even a frozen meal, plus some freezer packs, and load them in your fridge. This will keep it cold throughout the overnight crossing. Make sure you've had the fridge on its coldest setting for a day before too..

 

[Guest]

Relay should cut off the fridge when you stop, if the relay fails on the ferry and the fridge was on when travelling you will have a flat battery after a long ferry crossing.

Relay failure is not common but it does happen, if the fridge has been on we disconnect from the car. We always check the cables before leaving the ferry so we don't have to enter the caravan and know that the fridge is still switched to run from the car.

 

[Happy-Lappy]

Euro,

A valid point there about relay failure, but I would have thought if the relay did fail, then this would stop the feed to the fridge, rather than cause a constant drain from the battery.

I have only taken the Dover/Calais route when going to France, but will remember to disconnect the Grey cable if ever taking a longer crossing,

best regards, Martin

 

[Happy-Lappy]

Euro,

A valid point there about relay failure, but I would have thought if the relay did fail, then this would stop the feed to the fridge, rather than cause a constant drain from the battery.

I have only taken the Dover/Calais route when going to France, but will remember to disconnect the Grey cable if ever taking a longer crossing,

best regards, Martin

euro, I should have added that this is the reason we have a relay fitted, rather than the constant feed used before with the old wiring system, best regards, Martin

 

[WatsonJohnG]

Relays were always fitted to the fridge circuit (should have been)

In May a friend of ours had a flat battery when it was time to leave the ferry after he left his cool box plugged in in the car boot

 

[WatsonJohnG]

We know that the relay will disconnect but when on the the ferry car park at Roscoff overnight prior to a morning crossing I always unplug the grey 12S--just in case

 

[Guest]

Happy Lappy,

when driving the relay is open and should close when the ignition goes off. The relay can fail and not close when you switch off and then the fridge continues to drain the car battery. I've only known the relays to jam in the on mode, I think they get hot and then don't close down to off mode.

Another point, we helped a Scots couple who overnighted on autoroute services near us. Fridge flattened the car battery and they needed a simple jump start. Their car alarm imbolbilised the car as soon as we started to jump start it and it took a mobile call to their UK dealer for advice on how to restart the car.

It's well worth familarising yourself with your cars alarm system before travelling abroad. If you get a flat battery you may also find its not a straight forward job getting the car re-started and you may also need a radio code to reset the sound system.

 

[Happy-Lappy]

euro and JohnG,

Thank you for correcting me, I shall now ensure I disconnect the 12s socket when on a long ferry crossing,

best regards to you both, Martin

 

[Gafferbill]

Upgrading the fridge relay to a standard 30amp automotive relay can solve this problem.

Your towcar will already have several such relays fitted in its electrical system and they very rarely fail.