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Hello,

I wondered if anyone could help me please, My fridge in my Swift Challenger for some reason mworks on gas and mains hook up, but wont work on the car hook up - I think this is the 12v (but im not sure- sorry)

We have checked all connections and everything is wired up ok ie car hook up - transformer, we checked all fuses and everything, its totally baffling, we go to Cornwall on Saturday so dont really have time to start pulling it all out for fear of making it worse - as it works on mains and gas, the best thing i can think to do is to hook it up to mains day before get it cold then hope it does the job until we get down there, but if anyone knows what is or could be wrong then any help would be greatly appreciated as always!!!!

Apparently (according to the dealer we bought our van from) the supply from the car won't cool the fridge, it needs to be cooled on mains (or gas presumably?) before you leave then when you're towing the car will maintain the temperature. So perhaps that's why your fridge doesn't appear to be working? I don't know much about this but I'm sure someone else will have more ideas!

Hi Ruth

Your dealer is talking utter ballhooks, the 12v will not only cool, it will freeze everything solid if the wiring is good (generally the wiring is Sheet so doesnt effect many) This is because the12v side does not have a thermostat (later ones may, but I have never seen one yet)

Nicki

The fridge will not start cooloing until the engine is running, merely switching the ignition on will not do it.

Start the engine and see (if it doesnt have the warning lights you may have to wait half hour to see)

Also, it will only work if the engine is on and over a certain amount of revs, so if you are just plugging it into the car then you won't get anything.

Here's what to check , look in the cuboards under the fridge / cooker and see if you can locate the 12volt cable supplying the fridge , if you find it , connect the 12s plug and start the engine , now with a multi-meter check to see if you have 12volts going through the cable , if you have all should be working ok , if not trace the cable back to the fuse box and see if you have a blown fuse , note there should be a fuse in the car somewhere as well , either in the boot area ( just follow the socket wiring to find it ) or up by the battery .

Another check you can do is , check the 12s wires where the come into the caravan by the fuse box , on cars up to 1998 you need to check the white wire ( earth ) and the red wire ( live for fridge ) and on cars 1999 on , check the black wire ( earth for fridge ) and the red wire ( live for fridge ) . You should be getting 12volts when the car is connected up and the engine is running . Have a look here http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/towbar_electrics.shtml

You should precool the fridge before traveling , and if you can't find the problem before you go away , then get some of those blue freezer blocks , freeze them and stick them in the fridge before you go , also freeze any other foods that you can .

Hope this helps

atb

Wizard

Hi Nicki , it could be that the 12volt element has failed , though i would have thought it would blow the fuse if it's failed . The only way i can think of , of checking the element is to remove the bottom outside vent and then remove ( push out of the way ) the insulation shield/cover on the heating tube/exhaust just enough to get a finger on it , then connect the car up and start the engine , then feel the tube/exhaust , if it gets hot then the element is working , if it's cold then it's either failed or you have a 12volt suppy problem . The only other thing i can think of is the switch for the 12volt setting on the front of the fridge is faulty / cable has become disconnected .

atb

Wizard

Hi Nicki , It may be a fridge out job to get at the switch    have a look at the post   Fridge kaput   on page 3 , i did a post saying how to go about getting the fridge out , but you may only need to move it out 4 or 5 inches rather than take it right out .

atb

Wizard

>>yeah i read that about the crystal thing

you lost me there

atb

Wizard

Quote: Originally posted by nicholajayne1 on 18/07/2005

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Thanks very much for all your help, the squash idea is a good one, the reason I know the fridge wont work from the car is because we went away last weekend and had a 2 hour drive and when we got to the other end everything including the fridge was still warm - so we have had the engine running, we will try to fix it when we get back - and use the squash idea I think!!

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Do you mean you are putting warm things in a cold fridge, or warm things in a warm fridge? We put our food in the fridge the night before and leave it on 240v overnight. The 12v hookup will only keep things warm -it won't cool them down.

thats a good point never thought of that one, our things were cold when we put them in, we will try the 240v hook up tomorrow for a while to get it going, as we go saturday and leave it to cool before putting our things in from our VERY cold fridge before we set off in the morning at 4am , I cant wait !!!!!!!

Thanks very much for your advice, you have all been really helpful - and you have given me some good ideas and pointers.....

Thanks