Comment: Caravan & Camper Battery Charging

Thanks for the article, it was clearly presented. One of my first jobs will to be do an audit of the energy demand and supply capacity of my setup. I'm new to caravan electrics, dual batteries, charging and isolators. I've had an isolator fitted to the (single) cranking battery which supplies an Anderson plug to be used as the 12V supply to the van while on the move. However I've been interested to read that vans are wired such that the fridge 12V power is supplied through the trailer plug? It seems to me this would require a 12 pin plug to implement? Wouldn't it work to charge the van (house) battery through the Anderson plug, connect the fridge 12V supply to the van battery and if include a motion relay to stop the house battery being run down or am I missing something here e.g. a voltage drop with this arrangement that means the house battery wouldn't effectively charge? The vehicle is a 93 Ford Maverick (GQ Patrol) and the alternator is outputting 14V+ by the dash voltmeter?
NT Pajero
2007 Goldstream Crown

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Reply By: HKB Electronics - Monday, Jun 15, 2015 at 22:06

Monday, Jun 15, 2015 at 22:06
Hi,

It is common to use one of the unused pins to in the plug to power a trailer or run a fridge. It is better if the fridge draws a lot of power ie a three way type to run the fridge off its own circuit rather than off the battery charging one. Course if your using very heavy cable then it won't have as much off a detrimental affect.

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AnswerID: 556015

Reply By: 322 - Tuesday, Jun 16, 2015 at 08:26

Tuesday, Jun 16, 2015 at 08:26
Have a read of this article as well. I would read it in conjunction with other articles. This made more sense to me than anything else I had read. It's well written and simple.

http://m.exploroz.com/Vehicle/Electrics/Solar.aspx

AnswerID: 556025

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