fridge wiring

Hi there!

The wire needs to be thicker than the rest, because the frig can draw 10 amps when operating.

However you can really only run the fridge, when you are running the engine, or it will quickly flatten the battery.

When we bought our Roadstar, they wanted $1500, to put a battery in the van, that would be recharged as we went along.

Cheapest way to do it would be to put a second battery in the tow vechicle, but as we did not have the room to do so, put the battery into the van.

That cost us in total about $380, including a smart charger, which floats the battery whenever we have 240 volts.

Now do yourself a big favour, remove the vents from the outside of the van, and ensure that the DC wire going to the fridge, is that same heavy wire all the way to the fridge connection. If it does not, please replace it, most caravans I have looked at, have the last meter of wire in light cable only.

Regards

Col

slush, does Derek know the diameter of the actual cable in question ? ?

Question: what electronic item in the van draws the most current when running?

Answer: Fridge
that's the reason it has to have a thicker independent cable running direct from the power source with a decent in-line fuse.
IMO the 7 pin plug connection is too small for the power requirements of a fridge cable, considering the cable distance, which should be run independently and using an anderson plug connection/disconnection system at the rear bumper bar.

My Goldsteam camper came with the fridge wired to the 7 pin plug with 14 gauge wire, I've since rewired it to the on board battery & connected the battery to the car through a 50 amp Anderson plug using 8 gauge wire.

I hope this is the correct way of doing it?? 8 )>

Hi Slush

I have found most caravan wiring to be too light. I am not sure of the size and wiring on your van but although some manufacturers fit a 6mm2 positive they use a lower grade negative or the negative is used for lighting as well as the fridge.

This causes lighting and voltage problems. It would be best to inspect all the wiring from the car battery all the way right back to the fridge as has been suggested by others.

If you run the fridge for a few hours and then run your hand over the wires, fuses and plugs check for anything that is warm. This would indicate a problem.

I always fit Anderson Plugs and isolators in this situation.

Regards

Derek.

Hi Slush - have a look at this page, http://www.caravanandmotorhomebooks.com/articles/wiring_woes.htm, and then other articles by Collyn, on that site. He explains in detail how to select the correct cable size.
Remember the current also has to return to the battery, so the earth wire must be at least a thick as the power cable. This applies to electric brakes also.
..............Regards.................Keith