Fridge switch

Submitted: Sunday, Oct 23, 2016 at 19:17
ThreadID: 133651 Views:4506 Replies:10 FollowUps:13
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Hi
Has anybody used the fridge switch that are out now that turn your fridge off when you stop moving on your caravan and turn on when moving again seems a good idea stops flattening your battery or are they are problem. Do they work?
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Reply By: Member - Geoff M (VIC) - Sunday, Oct 23, 2016 at 19:50

Sunday, Oct 23, 2016 at 19:50
Hi Rob
I had one previously in our camper when I had a three way fridge and it worked really well. It saved my battery numerous times (flattened it a couple of times before putting the switch in!).
I have now ditched the three way in favour of a compressor fridge so don't need the fridge switch anymore. If you are running a 3-way via 12v I reckon it is an essential modification.
Cheers Geoff
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Follow Up By: swampy - Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 10:15

Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 10:15
Hi
Rob ,
Are u interested in selling your old fridge switch??

tomo
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Reply By: Member - Rod N (QLD) - Sunday, Oct 23, 2016 at 20:05

Sunday, Oct 23, 2016 at 20:05
Has, and still does, worked well for me for more than 5 years.
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Reply By: The Bantam - Sunday, Oct 23, 2016 at 23:52

Sunday, Oct 23, 2016 at 23:52
Not something new .... its just a relay run off your ignition circuit.

Very common in the past and has to work.

cheers
AnswerID: 605357

Reply By: Rangiephil - Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 07:53

Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 07:53
From my reading of their site , it is not a relay controlled by ignition but is a movement detector.
As long as there is movement it connects, and when movement stops for a period of time it disconnects. There is a time delay to allow for stopping at lights.
I was looking at one to fit to my daughter's camper trailer which gas a Ctek 12v/12v charger in it ,as it is not connected to the ignition, so would fatten the car battery as they just keep on charging.

Regards Philip A
AnswerID: 605361

Follow Up By: The Bantam - Tuesday, Oct 25, 2016 at 00:05

Tuesday, Oct 25, 2016 at 00:05
Why anybody would bother over complicating something so simple that works so very well .... I have no idea.
A relay, some wire and connectors is all that is required ...... when the engine runs the fridge runs .. easy.

Before voltage sensing relays came along that is how people charged their second battery .... and it worked reasonably well.

As for the dc to dc chargers ..... they have a voltage sensing function so when the battery voltage drops ..... thus indicating there is no source of charge .... the disconnect.

Cheers

cheers
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Reply By: Member - Andrew - Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 07:59

Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 07:59
Mine works despite dust and corrugations it has endured. Without it the battery was running down very quickly.
Cheaper than replacing the fridge.

Regards

A
AnswerID: 605362

Reply By: Rob M5 - Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 11:40

Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 11:40
Thanks guys for the positive feed back it looks like I will be buying one sick of stopping and having to disconnect the anderson plug and then forgetting sometimes and battery flat.

Cheers
Rob
AnswerID: 605367

Follow Up By: Nomadic Navara - Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 13:28

Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 13:28
Rob, there is nothing new about it. It has been around for 10 years or more. A far cheaper way is wire your fridge line up as Dometic recommend.
PeterD
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Follow Up By: Kazza055 - Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 16:26

Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 16:26
Agree with Peter D, relay connected via the ignition is so simple with virtually nothing to go wrong.

Ignition is on, fridge is on, ignition is off, fridge is off.

Fridge switch might sound simple enough but it does not cut the 12V at the source.
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Follow Up By: Member - Rod N (QLD) - Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 16:36

Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 16:36
Why would you need to cut the 12v off at the source? Do you have multiple relays to cut the 12v off at the source when you switch lights off.
A motion activated Fridge Switch is even simpler. You could even run it from a VSR.

BTW PeterD, my vehicle does not have breaker points or ignition coil and in fact do modern petrol engines?
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Follow Up By: Kazza055 - Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 18:02

Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 18:02
Yes, you are right Rod but the ignition relay is the most simple and cheapest.

And I think we all know that the drawing posted by peter is meant to be symbolic.
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Follow Up By: Nomadic Navara - Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 23:31

Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 23:31
"BTW PeterD, my vehicle does not have breaker points or ignition coil and in fact do modern petrol engines?"

That diagram is not a detailed instruction of how to wire any vehicle. Yes diesel engines do not have electric ignition but we still call the key switch that we use to start the motor the ignition switch. If you can't see the message behind the diagram then I suggest you stay away from vehicle electrics.
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Follow Up By: The Bantam - Tuesday, Oct 25, 2016 at 00:11

Tuesday, Oct 25, 2016 at 00:11
Pretty much all vehicles have some sort of circuit that is live only when the ignition is turned on.

There are other things apart from the breaker points that have to run only when the engine runs.

cheers
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Reply By: tazbaz - Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 15:39

Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 15:39
An ignition relay would be cheaper, and installed by an auto electrician. The 12 volt feed to your fridge is turned off when you turn off your tow vehicles ignition,
AnswerID: 605374

Reply By: Rangiephil - Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 20:06

Monday, Oct 24, 2016 at 20:06
My interest is that you don't have to run another wire from the car through yet another plug to the trailer/caravan.
You can just activate the fridge switch via a relay in the van itself from the power lead.
In the case of turning off a 12v/12v charger it can turn off the charger to preserve the car battery without yet another wire and possibly plug. IMHO an elegant solution.
Regards Philip A
AnswerID: 605381

Follow Up By: The Bantam - Tuesday, Oct 25, 2016 at 00:15

Tuesday, Oct 25, 2016 at 00:15
Phill mate you just don't understand ....... DC to DC chargers are voltage sensing.

If you have a second battery in the van AND a three way fridge ........ ya not going to get much charging happeing unless you have very heavy wires front to back.

AND .... there is no need for extra wires or extra plugs.

cheers
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Follow Up By: Allan B (Member, SunCoast) - Tuesday, Oct 25, 2016 at 10:41

Tuesday, Oct 25, 2016 at 10:41
-
I guess that it all depends on the battery arrangement. Whether there is a battery in the van or not.
A three-way fridge would impose an unacceptable load on any battery for more than a very short time. They really can only be supported by an alternator. Furthermore, as Bantam says, there can be charging issues with both a 3-way fridge and a battery in a van. It would require very heavy cables or a
dc-dc charger. And the fridge would need to be turned off when the motor is not running.

I have just installed the system below in a friend's rig. It supplies 12v to the fridge only when the engine is running and charges the caravan battery via a multi-mode dc-dc charger. Grossly oversized cables are not required as the charger operates down to 9 volts supply (Under load) and the cranking battery is fully protected. Note that it is a Redarc BCDC-1220-IGN charger. The "IGN" model requires activation via the Blue "Ignition" wire although in this case that wire is connected to the incoming 12v cable which is only live when the vehicles ignition is 'on' due to the solenoid isolator.

This particular installation has extra Anderson plugs which can be used with an auxiliary battery and fridge in the tub with or without the caravan. This load is isolated from the cranking battery by the solenoid isolator. The Setec power supply was existing and serves to supply the caravan lights and charge the battery when on 230vac in a caravan park.
Cheers
Allan

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Follow Up By: Kazza055 - Tuesday, Oct 25, 2016 at 11:06

Tuesday, Oct 25, 2016 at 11:06
Gee Allan, that must be from a real modern car as it does not seem to have any ignition points ;=))
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Follow Up By: Allan B (Member, SunCoast) - Tuesday, Oct 25, 2016 at 11:09

Tuesday, Oct 25, 2016 at 11:09
Not going there Kazza! lol
Cheers
Allan

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Follow Up By: Kazza055 - Tuesday, Oct 25, 2016 at 11:14

Tuesday, Oct 25, 2016 at 11:14
Whats that saying - KISS. Keep it simple stupid. hahaha
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Reply By: Erad - Wednesday, Oct 26, 2016 at 10:49

Wednesday, Oct 26, 2016 at 10:49
There are 2 types of isolation available for a fridge. The first is the relay, second is the "Fridge Switch". I have the latter and it has worked so far quite well.
Our caravan is a 2000 model Jayco, but it does not have a battery. The fridge and the interior lights run from the 12V hot pin on the 7 pin connector to the car. If we had the relay system, we would have no lights in the van when the ignition was turned off. The fridge switch allows us to still have lights and also the little 12V computer fan which we use to boost the cooling around the rear of the fridge. From memory it cost us about $60 and I installed it myself (not easy because of wiring size and position of the wires and the fridge). Obviously if we stop overnight without 240V power, we have to switch to gas for the fridge, but this is no big drama.
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Reply By: Lindsaydi - Thursday, Nov 03, 2016 at 12:26

Thursday, Nov 03, 2016 at 12:26
Mate , to me it all sounds to hard just put a battery in camper hook up so battery feed fridge with no feed back to main battery. K. I. S. S
AnswerID: 605643

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