Engel 40 litre..annoying problem .. help plz

If you are running it via a cigarette lighter plug, you may have a bad connection that is causing a voltage drop=current rise, which is blowing the fuse.
Regards Philip A

Stockade (or what ever your name is)

Normal running current is quoted at 8 amps. A 10 amp fuse does hot leave much leeway for any "start up" surge. I would suggest that you check all connections back to the battery and then try a 15 amp or, if the wire is big enough, a 20 amp fuse. Our "no switched" fridge circuit is fused at 30 amps. We have two fridges a 21L as a freezer only and a 40L as a fridge. The same circuit is used for camp, rooftop/annex and outside lighting. No troubles at all.

Phil

hi stockade 1
you are blaming the engel but i would just about put money on the fact that it's your power source that is faulty do you have a heavy duty fridge dedicated power supply for the fridge or are you trying to run it off a cig lighter socket and with other items drawing off the same cable

this will cause fuses to blow i had the same trouble years ago until i set up a seperate h/duty cable for the fridges only

is it the fuse in the engel plug that is blowing or the fuse in the vehicles power/supply cig lighter system that is blowing
if the latter the wiring as mentioned is far too thin to run an engel continuosly off and will blow fuses as fast as you can put them back in

most people immediately blame the appliance when in most cases with 12v stuff its the power supply wiring being to lite duty and cant handle the surge when the fridge cut in
cheers
barry

Stockade, (I have no problems with what you call yourself)

a 10a fuse seems a tad small for your fridge, as said if the wiring can take it and it is rated higher use that size fuse instead, 15 amp would be much better. If it is an inline fuse they have a bad habit of losing spring tension on the glass fuse and they then get hot, even the spade fuse can do the same and blow.

Have a good one,
RA.

Some of the replies are misleading and quite incorrect.

Fuses are there to protect the cable from overload, to ensure that it does not overheat and start a fire. Inserting a larger capacity fuse could put you in such a situation, depending on the current capacity of the wiring.

You should run wiring from your battery to the fridge with a fuse located as close to the battery as possible. The current carrying capacity of the wiring should be sufficient to cope with the fridge plus any other devices that you wish to connect to the circuit. I operate electric air-bed pumps and fluorescent lights on the same circuit on my truck.

It could be that your fridge is drawing too much current during its start up transient and blowing the fuse, or it could be that you have an intermittent short circuit somewhere. Another possibility is that you have a bad connection which is causing the fuse to overheat and melt the solder in the end of the fuse (if it is a glass tube fuse).

Thanks for al the suggestions . Yes I have been using the cigarette lighter . The fuse that keeps blowing is the 10 amp blade fuse in the fridge just above the 12 volt socket . Sounds like I need to run heavier , dedicated fridge wire from battery ?
Thanks folks
Steve

I presume he meant the engel thermal fuse which comes standard within the cigarette type male connection.This is not the best connection especially on rough roads that is why I advised him to change to the far superior connection supplied by Engel.

A dedicqted circuit from the battery is the best solution.
Standard cigarette lighter sockets are rated at 10 amps, but the wiring to them is light duty and the contact area of the plug/socket relatively small.

Any circuit should be protected at the battery end by a fuse and a common 12 volt 15 amp plug/socket for the fridge end is the Merit or Hella type.
These are available from most automotive supply retailers or online from Derek at Sidewinder.com.au.
Plugs and Sockets