Thetford fridge light upgrade

[redjeff1980]

Hi Guys,

Ive been searching for longer than I wish to of and found absolutely squat information on what im looking for.
So I have a Thetford fridge freezer, not sure on the model but it's in our bailey 2004 caravan, and it has no light to tell you if it's working. Does anyone know of a way to do it? Is there a specially designed kit or can I get some parts together and do it myself? I assume it can only be a matter of a light and a couple of wires to tap into the dc circuit?

 

[redjeff1980]

Huh I think I missed out a line in my question!
Just before I asked how to do it I was supposed to say: Is there a way of installing a light and has anyone done it or know how to?

 

[Sproket]

Are you on about a internal light or a light to tell you that the fridge is switched on ?

 

[redjeff1980]

Yes the light to tell you if it's turned on, the internal light is fine. It's just very annoying not knowing if it's turned on while towing

 

[jignc]

I had the same problem.
I removed the front panel and behind was a terminal block this had the mains and 12 volt supplies on it . Had to ease the fridge out a few inches. I obtained a 12 volt LED and a 230 volt panel lamp and wired these to the terminals.

So now I know we have mains when on site and 12 volts when on the road.

I have also fitted an electronic thermometer with digital readout measuring the heat at the flue. If it's at ambient temperature I know the gas has run out if it reads between 80 and 90 then the fridge has gas and is OK.

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[Sproket]

Hi Jeff

It might be easier to fit something like this as it is powered by the 12v system to sense the temperature and just by looking at it you can tell if the fridge is getting cold and more importantly that the fridge is actually working, I fitted one into mine when the element / thermostat started playing up...

You can see how i fitted it here .....

Or you can just connect into the fridge 12v and fit an led but all that will do is show that the 12v system is working up to that point, it won't tell you if the element is working...

And yesterday when i came over to the van, when i switched the 12v system on the inside of the fridge was showing a ambient temperature of 26.4C hmy: and within a few hours it was showing 5C so i then transferred the food from the coolbox into the fridge

 

[Gafferbill]

.........on my 20 year old caravan refrigerator the red off/on switch glows when 12 volts is available......a separate green switch glows when mains voltage is available and a third separate red switch continuously flashes if the refrigerator gas flame shuts off for any reason including running out of gas.

This was standard 20 years ago...seems caravan refrigerator design has gone backwards hmy:

 

[redjeff1980]

Ah fantastic ideas, thanks guys. I will look into which idea is most suitable and go for that, but at least now I know there's options!

Gafferbill: Yes it's crazy isn't it, but I think there was a short time where they decided no lights was a great idea. I believe they changed their mind after getting a certain amount of stick from the caravan community....not that that helps me now!

 

[DeliDave_]

Dont know which Bailey you have but you can access the terminals on our Indiana by removing the sink.

 

[redjeff1980]

Sprocket:

I decided to go for your idea in the end. Could I just ask how you threaded the thermostat cable into the inside of the fridge. I don't think drilling a hole in a fridge is the best idea so I assume you found a route through?

DeliDave: Thanks yes ours is the same, I've actually taken the sink out already due to renewing the sink tap.....what a great idea huh!

 

[Sproket]

Jeff

If you remove the rear aluminium baffle on the rear of the fridge as you remove it you have to gently slide the thermostat probes out of the grooves, you will then see where they come into the fridge, you have to pull them out of the hole as the new probe wire needs cutting ( there are three wires inside ) this needs fitting into the baffle and the wire needs pushing back up through the hole where the other stats came out of, then the other stats are slid back into the hole at the side of the flexible wire it's a bit fiddly but do-able, the flexible wire runs on the bottom of the baffle with a few blobs of adhesive ( check your clearance before you do the final fix with the adhesive ) also if i remember there are different length probe cables ..... get the longest as you can loose the excess when you reconnect the cable together....
I used these to re make the three wire connection so that if ever the fridge has to come out it makes is easy to do...