Domestic Fridge on 12volt

Clickem

Clickem

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Our old 3 way fridge had an alarm that sounded when it lost power. When switched to 12v the alarm sounded until the engine started and then was silent until the engine was stopped again - a handly reminder.

Our new, very similar model fridge, does not appear to have an alarm and the handbook says “..only use on 12v while engine is running, or on-board-battery will be discharged within a few hours”

If this is the case, I can foresee a problem when we stop for a while and forget to switch it to gas. I always thought that they would not work on 12v without the engine running

Anyone shed any light on this?
 
Does it have an automatic feature? If so it will change automatically to the most appropriate energy source ie gas electric or 12v. It waits 15mins before changing to gas when you turn off the engine in case you're in a fuel station.
 
Is your new fridge an AES, if yes it will just go to gas when you stop.

Martin
 
If the 12v requirement is wired to a relay from the engine battery it will only run with the engine running..... Just like the old days before the over complicated electronics took over a very basic and simple job.
 
It is not the Automatic version, there is one in the range, but not ours. Not an AES it is a Dometic series 8

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pappajohn said:
If the 12v requirement is wired to a relay from the engine battery it will only run with the engine running..... Just like the old days before the over complicated electronics took over a very basic and simple job.
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your not wrong i just took a look at the manual and theres a version with a remote controll how faR AWAY CAN THE FRIDGE BE IN A MOTORHOME
 
Clickem said:
Our old 3 way fridge had an alarm that sounded when it lost power. When switched to 12v the alarm sounded until the engine started and then was silent until the engine was stopped again - a handly reminder.

Our new, very similar model fridge, does not appear to have an alarm and the handbook says “..only use on 12v while engine is running, or on-board-battery will be discharged within a few hours”

If this is the case, I can foresee a problem when we stop for a while and forget to switch it to gas. I always thought that they would not work on 12v without the engine running

Anyone shed any light on this?
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What handbook are you quoting from ?
If it is the frdge one then that is a generic jobby
If from the motorhome one then the converters have been bloody lazy or tight.. not fitting a relay in the V+ feed to the fridge which is activated by the alternator
It would be an easy and worth while mod to do, and you could fit a little pizo buzzer while doing it :-)
 
Quoted from the Dometic Handbook. I’m sure that at some point I will leave it standing on battery power and will then see if it pulls the Leisure battery down
 
Depends how it's wired & set up. Our fridge switches to the leisure battery for about 20min when the engine is turned off, if gas or mains present it will switch to one of them after 15min. Switched manually to 12v it will run off the leisure battery permanently.

On a previous van when the engine was turned of it would just run off the leisure battery permanently if no gas off mains.

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I have a manual Dometic fridge. So I choose if 12v, 240v, or gas. But if I leave it in 12v it will only run (take power) whilst the engine is running.

Check when, and if yours is running with 12v. Mine shows a flashing red led if a power source is selected that isn’t working. So 12v selected, engine off, red led flashes. Engine running no flashing red led.
 
I 'think' you could remove one of the leisure battery leads (nothing switched on) and put a meter set to 20v between the disconnected battery lead and the now empty battery terminal post. With the fridge off there will not be a reading on the meter. With 12v selected on the fridge you'll get a reading of around 12 to 13 volts if the fridge is taking power from the leisure battery.
 
Clickem said:
Quoted from the Dometic Handbook. I’m sure that at some point I will leave it standing on battery power and will then see if it pulls the Leisure battery down
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Yep.. it is just a generic thing then.
What MH is it fitted in ?
I suspect it will only use the 12v when the engine is running
This has nothing to do with the fridge as such, and it does not matter if it is an automatic one or not
 
Jaws said:
Yep.. it is just a generic thing then.
What MH is it fitted in ?
I suspect it will only use the 12v when the engine is running
This has nothing to do with the fridge as such, and it does not matter if it is an automatic one or not
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Every van we have had you could run the fridge on 12vfrom the hab batteries.
 
Lenny HB said:
Every van we have had you could run the fridge on 12vfrom the hab batteries.
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Not one we have had could run the fridge off the hab battery(s)

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tonyidle said:
Me likewise - 4 very different mhs.
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I thought your last one was a Hymer, we have had 3 Hymer's all could run of hab batteries, although it will only do it if it is an AES fridge and the AES fuse is fitted in the EBL. I pulled the fuse on our first van to stop it doing it as it didn't have the 20 min cut off timer.
 
Lenny HB said:
I thought your last one was a Hymer, we have had 3 Hymer's all could run of hab batteries, although it will only do it if it is an AES fridge and the AES fuse is fitted in the EBL. I pulled the fuse on our first van to stop it doing it as it didn't have the 20 min cut off timer.
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It was a Hymer (2008 B584 Classic). It didn't have an AES fridge - in fact it was a Thetford - but it only used 12v with the engine running. I agree it could have been made to do so but it wasn't set up that way when I bought it.
 
Lenny HB said:
I thought your last one was a Hymer, we have had 3 Hymer's all could run of hab batteries, although it will only do it if it is an AES fridge and the AES fuse is fitted in the EBL. I pulled the fuse on our first van to stop it doing it as it didn't have the 20 min cut off timer.
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Doesn't need to be an AES fridge. So long as the fuse is fitted in the EBL it will let a manual selection fridge run off 12v.

When I first got our current van and was still getting used to switching between 12v when driving and gas when parked up (previous van had a compressor) I often forgot to switch over and kept coming back to a van with a flat hab battery. Took me a while to figure out why it would keep running on 12v when everything I read said that it should only do this when the engine was running.

Eventually I found a fuse in the slot in the EBL that was clearly marked with a warning triangle 'for use with AES fridge only'. Unfortunately by the time I had found this I had killed off the hab battery by flattening it so often.

Anyway, fuse removed, battery changed, and my 'park up' check list followed results in charged battery and cold beer.
 
tonyidle said:
It was a Hymer (2008 B584 Classic). It didn't have an AES fridge - in fact it was a Thetford - but it only used 12v with the engine running. I agree it could have been made to do so but it wasn't set up that way when I bought it.
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Don't know why but Hymer only appear to do it on Dometic fridges our first Hymer was a 2008 with a Dometic AES TecTower.
 
Lenny HB said:
Tends to be a German thing.:D
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Neither our Hobby or our first van ( it MAY have been a Hymer but we never will know for sure ) ran off hab batteries...
 
Lenny HB said:
Don't know why but Hymer only appear to do it on Dometic fridges our first Hymer was a 2008 with a Dometic AES TecTower.
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They'd do better to concentrate on an automatic travel latch and stainless pipework :D .

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tonyidle said:
They'd do better to concentrate on an automatic travel latch and stainless pipework :D .
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Agree about the pipe had a gas leak on a caravan when the pipe to the burner rusted through. Catches have been OK on the last 2 vans, 8505 TecTower. 1st van with a 7000 series TecTower had the door fly open on a roundabout.
 
Lenny HB said:
Agree about the pipe had a gas leak on a caravan when the pipe to the burner rusted through. Catches have been OK on the last 2 vans, 8505 TecTower. 1st van with a 7000 series TecTower had the door fly open on a roundabout.
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Wouldn't it be so much better though if they used the engine run signal (already available on the fridge) to travel latch the door? That would be real progress.
 
tonyidle said:
Wouldn't it be so much better though if they used the engine run signal (already available on the fridge) to travel latch the door? That would be real progress.
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Don't tempt fate Dometic would be bound to cock it up.
Current ones self latch so not really a problem.
 
Lenny HB said:
Don't tempt fate Dometic would be bound to cock it up.
Current ones self latch so not really a problem.
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A friend collected his new wobble-box last week. It has the latest Tech Tower so I know what you mean. Mine isn't bad but needs the plastic blockers released so it'll self-latch for travel.

And how long has it taken Dometic to get this far? :LOL:
 
tonyidle said:
A friend collected his new wobble-box last week. It has the latest Tech Tower so I know what you mean. Mine isn't bad but needs the plastic blockers released so it'll self-latch for travel.

And how long has it taken Dometic to get this far? :LOL:
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60 years.:eek:

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