Power option for caravan fridge

[mazzamoore]

Hi,
Anyone one know about the white plug up near the trailer module? see picture. I would like to use this as the igniton on power from my caravan dometic fridge as it requires a 12 volt power trigger to stay on when driving. Mine does not seem to have power on it, yet I was sure it did when I tried it many months ago when fitting the factory tow module. How can I power it up?

[ian]

You could try tapping into the cigarette lighter,
Have you checked if that plug is running 12 volts when its on accessories ?

[Guest001]

Unless you are using that to change a relay over the wiring is far too small to run any sort of fridge , even a 50 L Waeco or similar. To run a caravan fridge you need at least 8G ( 8 B&S) from your car battery to the fridge in the van via an isolator.

The reason it wont work is perhaps if you have had the fridge on it its blown the fuse or melted a wire because of excessive current draw I had 6g to run the 184L fridge in my van and another 6G to charge the batteries in the van as well

[mazzamoore]

Thanks for that, I have run a wire from the battery via a fuse to an anderson plug at the rear. If I can seperate the fridge wire it triggers the van to shut off everything else and allows the 12 volt element in the three way dometic fridge to opperate, whilst taking power from the on board caravan battery as well. I was sure that the white plug had power and was heavy enough wiring and designed to do what I intend. Once I plugged in the trailer module I did not check it again until I had reassembled the trim. Now the wires I have run to the bumper have no power. Do I need to change something in the soft ware? The big advantage to me is that I have fitted two anderson plugs to the van, one for power in put from the car alternator which can also accept my portable Solar Panels. The other for the fridge. That way when I plug in the solar panel it does not 'shut down everything else in the van' which the fridge plug needs to do.

[Guest001]

Thanks for that, I have run a wire from the battery via a fuse to an anderson plug at the rear. If I can seperate the fridge wire it triggers the van to shut off everything else and allows the 12 volt element in the three way dometic fridge to opperate, whilst taking power from the on board caravan battery as well. I was sure that the white plug had power and was heavy enough wiring and designed to do what I intend. Once I plugged in the trailer module I did not check it again until I had reassembled the trim. Now the wires I have run to the bumper have no power. Do I need to change something in the soft ware? The big advantage to me is that I have fitted two anderson plugs to the van, one for power in put from the car alternator which can also accept my portable Solar Panels. The other for the fridge. That way when I plug in the solar panel it does not 'shut down everything else in the van' which the fridge plug needs to do.

I suggest you take it to a sparky who is familiar with your type of setup.

Sounds strange to me as our one wasnt wired like that We had it on 12v for travelling and gas and/or 240v when stopped, Rest of the van wasnt affected Wont be software I wouldnt think Is a fuse probably but would need a circuit diagram as getting a headache trying to figure out what you are trying to do

[mazzamoore]

Your right, I have 12 volt when driving on the fridge, 240 volt or gas when parked. The 12 volt anderson plug on the back of my car feeds a Y piece anderson plug from one into two. The caravan has two anderson plugs. One charges the battery in the van, the other runs the fridge. Once the caravan sees power on the fridge it runs the fridge from the caravan battery. The caravan battery is kept charged from the car alternator. So all works fine. I was trying to separate the two two power runs from my car battery/alternator, one hard wired by me to an anderson plug. The other circuit controlled by the ignition and built into the factory trailer wiring, terminating at the 'white plug' above. The advantage would be that when I stop for 'lunch etc' the fridge is not able to discharge the car battery and when driving the load is shared by two positive wires minimising the voltage drop to improve efficiency. Not a big deal but I thought a bit of 'fine tuning' of the system. Once on site we plug a sola panel into the 'charge battery' anderson plug. If the 'fridge side' anderson plug has power put on it it automatically disconnects all 12 volt items in the van (to make it safer when travelling). Thats why we had to separate the two power in circuits, hence the two anderson plugs on the caravan. So all I needed to know was how to turn the 12 volts onto the three terminal 'white plug' attached to the factory trailer wiring harness. I suspect one wire is for positive, one for earth and one to tell the computer the trailer is attached. My computer already knows when the trailer is attached, turns off the reverse beeps, shows logo of car and trailer on reverse screen etc.

[Guest001]

Why dont you just charge the van batteries and let the fridge run off that. Sounds like you are making a simple thing a large problem. If you use a 6 B&S cable you wont have to worry about voltage drop as the pissy little wires in the tug arent worth a nob of goats**** for running a fridge. I suggest you join the Caravanners forum and get on the Electrical forum and you can have endless dicussions/fights about how to do almost anything LOL Another easier way is to install a Fridge switch which disconnects the fridge automatically when stopped