Power cord for fridge

Hi Peter,

I would not be concerned about the fridge power cord, I would be worried about burning out the cigarette lighterplug and original wiring in the dash.

thanks

tonyg

Peter, firstly you need to be sure your cig lighter is wired with heavy gauge wire.......something which most cars are not. The plugs that the waeco fridge come with can cause a problem. The fuse in the socket has a habit of blowing.(well mine always did) Do yourself a favour and change to a waeco plug and install the female version in your car. I know some people will say that the waeco socket is a hella plug with the red bit removed but it still can cause probs.

Peter

The standard cig lighter will really not do the job.

The waeco web site has a 12 volt plug setup/wiring/cig lighter upgrade kit from battery to vehicle interior designed for fridge use with a cutout so the single car battery does not get flattened.

IMO well worth the purchase and installation price.

Regards

Paul

Mate

I have now hard wired my Waeco CF80 to the 50amp run from the battery. I got sick of stopping and reaching in for a cold one and finding out that the cig socket had worked itself loose over the bumpy road leaving my cold ones, not so cold.

You may not have such a prob in the front as you can keep it an eye on it. I would be checking the wiring to the cig lighter socket. As stated before, it's most likely too light to handle to current draw of the fridge, particularly at starting(initially turning it on). I watched a mate pull apart the dash on his Prado and point at the tiny shoestring connecting the socket to the battery. No wonder the frindge wouldn't work.

Mate

I have now hard wired my Waeco CF80 to the 50amp run from the battery. I got sick of stopping and reaching in for a cold one and finding out that the cig socket had worked itself loose over the bumpy road leaving my cold ones, not so cold.

You may not have such a prob in the front as you can keep it an eye on it. I would be checking the wiring to the cig lighter socket. As stated before, it's most likely too light to handle to current draw of the fridge, particularly at starting(initially turning it on). I watched a mate pull apart the dash on his Prado and point at the tiny shoestring connecting the socket to the battery. No wonder the fridge wouldn't work.

I have my battery mounted in the back and when I went to pull the plug out from the socket the waeco plug disintegrated.
Fortunately it is still under warranty and Waeco replaced it.
In the meantime I needed to buy a replacement and it cost $28.

Will now have a spare and I suggest you do the same.

Support all the others re NOT using the cigarette lighter to plug into.

Pedro

We were in Strahan, Tasmania when our plug snapped off, and the female version in the back is "Hella size only".

I had bought a spare hella plug just in case but it was not fused.

It was a real pain in the arse to say the least. $25 for a spare is good peace of mind.

Cheers

goodday peter
you didnt say what sort of car but in my nissan everytime i turn the ignition off the ciggy lighrter goes off if your vehicle does something similar it means no power o/nite etc better to wire in a h/d plug
with my waeco i have the 240v adaptor wired in so when we pull up near power just run out the lead it changes over head off and it changes back

steve

Hi Peter,,
With most portable fridges including Waeco you need 6 ml sq (minimum) wiring to your socket. The reason is you may experience voltage drop over the lengh of your vehicle or possibly over heating during fridge cycle in the plug. As some of the travellers above have mentioned they have hard wired their fridge for best performance the hard wire kit Waeco sells and recommends is the RAP12RU selling price $99. (best way to explain voltage drop - imagine trying to turn on a garden sprinkler with a very small hose the sprinkler starvs of water) I hope this info helps and enjoy your trip. trev