Fridge issue

[royhedger]

Hello,
Am new to caravanning and have bought a Sterling Europa 520 as a starter van.
It has a Thetford fridge, and my question is can I have the fridge turned on and cooling when I am towing the van.
We aim to do a long journey in the summer and need to run the fridge whilst travelling.

I have the 13 pin socket on the car and 2 x 7 pin plugs on the van. I use a 13 pin to 2x7pin conversion cable to connect up.

On the van control panel, there is a 3 position switch marked car / blank / van. When I switch it to "car" the interior lights seem to work, but fridge light goes out, so I assume it's off.? Is this the case?
If I switch to van it all goes off unless I unplug it from the car, at which point everything seems to work OK on 12v.

Surely I can have the fridge running when towing?

Any assistance greatly appreciated.

Roy

 

[otherclive]

Doesn’t the fridge have a battery sign, along with mains and gas. If you select battery position it will work when the car is connected and running. . But because of circuit losses on battery position it probably will not work as well as gas or electric when on site. So I used to precool the fridge prior to leaving home, and load it with cool food and drink from the home fridge or freezer. It then kept the foodstuffs cool enough to drive to southern France in summer.

 

[royhedger]

Yes it does have a battery symbol.
It was switched to battery, but the fridge interior light didn't come on. It did if I switched the main panel to "van" and unplugged the car.

 

[Mel]

I can’t help with your technical question, but if you do get the fridge working while towing, bear in mind that it won’t cool the fridge from ambient, just keep it cool. Generally you need to have pre cooled the fridge either before hitching or by loading in a couple of ice blocks.
good luck
mel

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Roy,
Some standard vehicle towbar looms do not automatically provide caravan fridge and battery charging circuits, If you did not specify the supplementary circuits yours car may not be able to power the fridge when towing.

Let us presume you do have them, in which case when connected to the caravan, and the cars alternator is producing excess power, it should feed it wired separately to the fridge and the battery circuits in the caravan.

Inside the caravan you should have what is called a Habitation relay. This relay activates when it detects alternator power from the car, and it isolates most of the 12V systems in the caravan except the fridges 12V cooling system and battery.

However an increasing number of modern cars use smart alternators, which turn off when the cars battery or systems don't need power so it also turns off the power to the caravan's fridge and battery. This will compromise the the fridges cooling on 12V.

As Othercive has also stated the gauge of the cars and caravans wiring can also reduce the effectiveness of the 12V cooling.

Whilst the wiring and alternator might compromise the 12V cooling, it doesn't stop it having a useful effect, so Mel is actually wrong to tate the fridge wont cool down on 12V it is just less effective and might take longer and might not get as cold whilst travelling.

There are systems being sold which include a DC to DC voltage booster that helps to overcome the wiring losses, but simpler and cheaper option is to precool the fridge before you travel, and then fill it well with chilled stuff and ice blocks it will normally do well enough for a days travel.

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Roy.
So you are using a conversion 13 to 12N and 12 S on the caravan. Fine. Just ensure the connections on all the 12S and. 12N plugs sockets are secure , clean and tight. Slightly open the pins where you can and spray with electrical contact spray.

Set. the caravan panel to car.
Set the fridge to 12v. The interior light is on a different circuit, don’t worry about this.
Ensure door is properly closed.
24 hours or even 48 hours before you start your journey chill the fridge down on 230 v EHU or by gas.
The 12 v will keep the fridge cool but not as good as gas or 230 v but enough to keep stuff cold or semi frozen if not frozen.
Do NOT expect to hitch up and think 12 v will chill the fridge down as you drive. It won’t.
I assume at this point that the tow car electrics are all correct and the power feeds to the caravan battery and fridge are in good working order

 

[royhedger]

Thanks all for the replies. Very useful and good to know that I need to pre cool, and fill with frozen stuff 👍

Also good to know that I need to switch to "car", and that the fridge light is on a different circuit.

 

[Hutch]

Thanks all for the replies. Very useful and good to know that I need to pre cool, and fill with frozen stuff 👍

Also good to know that I need to switch to "car", and that the fridge light is on a different circuit.

Hi Roy, another thing is , don't over fill the freezer area about 3/4 seems to be best, from my experience and talking to others.
I like to pre cool my fridge on gas for 1/2 an hour and then on mains on my driveway before we set off, for us normally the next day.
Good luck.

 

[otherclive]

The reason for using gas to help pre cool is to help keep the burner jet clean. Because if using EHU fridges can be subject to low usage and if using to help precooling it serves a useful purpose.

 

[Buckman]

Thanks all for the replies. Very useful and good to know that I need to pre cool, and fill with frozen stuff 👍

Also good to know that I need to switch to "car", and that the fridge light is on a different circuit.

Don't forget that even with switching to a car, the fridge will not always work if the car has a Smart alternator. On out 2018 vehicle I never bothered with the 12v for the fridge as have found a couple of ice blocks work just as well if not better. While travelling and the caravan fridge switched to car 12v it only maintains the ambient temperature so if on a long hot journey it probably will not keep stuff frozen.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Thanks all for the replies. Very useful and good to know that I need to pre cool, and fill with frozen stuff 👍

Also good to know that I need to switch to "car", and that the fridge light is on a different circuit.

Please be aware the frozen items are likely to defrost during the journey. So only choose items that you want to use on the day of travel, or use ice blocks.

I have on occasions filled used rinsed 4 pint plastic milk bottles with water , and frozen them, and used those in fridges and cool boxes, and after they've defrosted its made nice chilled water for cold drinks.

 

[Hutch]

Please be aware the frozen items are likely to defrost during the journey. So only choose items that you want to use on the day of travel, or use ice blocks.

I have on occasions filled used rinsed 4 pint plastic milk bottles with water , and frozen them, and used those in fridges and cool boxes, and after they've defrosted its made nice chilled water for cold drinks.

I like the Profs idea of frozen water bottles. Personally In our Coachman we have never had the problem of frozen food thawing out, with probably the longest trip from leaving home to the next hook up being maybe 10 hours, with 3 hours on a ferry, included

 

[otherclive]

We did not bother with frozen food when on a journey as the fridge would have sufficient chilled food to see us okay. Plus there was non fridge foodstuff too. Of course if going to Europe the new rules on foodstuffs entering into the EU severely restrict what can and cannot be taken into the EU. I don’t know how our reciprocal rules will affect bringing EU foodstuffs into UK. They are being introduced from October 2023. Shock horror no more Mont D’Or or saucisson sec.

 

[Buckman]

I like the Profs idea of frozen water bottles. Personally In our Coachman we have never had the problem of frozen food thawing out, with probably the longest trip from leaving home to the next hook up being maybe 10 hours, with 3 hours on a ferry, included

Using ice blocks we never had a problem with defrosting travelling by ferry from Plymouth to Santander and then onto Zaragoza in mid Spain. A total of over 24 hours. Admitedly there was no that much in the freezer and fridge. Mainly bacon, sausage and of course milk. The rest we bought on site.