Fridge drains battery (1 Viewer)

[Russjsmith]

On my Benimar Tesoro 481,When I go on a longish journey of about 4 hours or so with the fridge on battery the leisure batteries ( I’ve had an extra one fitted recently) drain completely. The batteries definitely charge when the engine is on. Is this normal .
Also the battery charge indicator on the control panel for the engine never shows anything more than 1 bar unless the mains is plugged in and then all bars are lit.

 

[Guigsy]

Fridges on 12v are really inefficient and require lots of amps.

If the fridge is at ambient temperature and you're cooling it at the start of the trip, it'll go through a load of energy.

Modern vans have smart alternators that often don't produce that much charging current.

Combine all three and you'll often find the fridge drains the battery. Options are:

Get a better B2B charger that can force the alternator to provide more power

Pre-cool the fridge before you leave.

Get more battery.

 

[Russjsmith]

This morning the fridge was down to temperature when we set off , but by lunchtime the batteries were drained.
I think I may need to just run the fridge for a couple of hours and then turn it off to allow a recharge while travelling on.

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[Pablo19]

A bit late to comment now but the fridge shouldn't draw anything from the leisure batteries. They work on gas, ehu and the 12v vehicle battery when the engine is running. I would say your leisure battery issue is something else draining. I have the Mileo 202 which I believe is the same as yours but the Fiat version.