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Topic: Fridge, no hook up

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billie

via mobile 10/8/2022 at 10:33am
Location: Saltaire
Outfit: Abbey Vogue GTE

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Quote: Originally posted by billy on 10/8/2022
Probably your battery has had it. It may well hold its charge when unused but is failing under load. When your battery is dead check the voltage. If it is really low ie around 6volts then it is dead & needs replacing. Search online Tayna batteries. They do reasonably priced leisure batteries delivered to your door.

As pointed out & assuming a previous owner has not bodged your caravan wiring 3 way fridge cannot be used from leisure battery. It only works on 12volt when caravan being towed & towbar socket has fully wired caravan electrics. Having fridge on battery setting will not drain leisure battery. That is the setting for towing.

The battery is only 6 months old. Whenever we’ve had no hook up previously we use the fridge on gas with no problems and no dead battery.
This trip was sleeping only in the van, we had nothing in the fridge and had no need to use it, hence not turning to gas.
I’m aware we can’t use the fridge on 12v unless towing, the problem was that I couldn’t find an ‘off’ switch and so put it to 12v thinking that as we weren’t towing it would turn itself off. It didn’t as the blue light was flashing, and then the battery died.
It has to be something to do with the fridge as the caravan is in storage and holds its charge fine in between trips, on other trips where we have used the fridge on gas the battery has been fine. On this trip other than the fridge the only thing we used was 2 bedside lights for maximum of 4 hours. They’re not LED lights but surely 2 lights wouldn’t drain the battery after 4 hours?
I am going to go back to the van at the weekend and find the ‘off’ switch or see if I can find the manual - probably what I should’ve done in the first place 🤷🏼‍♀️

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birdman101

10/8/2022 at 12:38pm
Location: Milton Keynes
Outfit: 2023Archway Woodford

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If the fridge is not completely turned off the control panel will still have power on it. I changed all internal lights to LED. Even so it sounds as though your battery is shot. I have run off a battery and used TV about 2 hours a day for a week and battery has not discharged. I have a 110 amp Numax battery bought from Tanya batteries 8 years ago.

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billy

via mobile 10/8/2022 at 3:31pm
Location: North Essex
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So you got battery at start of year. What did you do then ? Did you use caravan regularly from then or if caravan was not used in winter was battery charged at least once a month or was battery installed in caravan & then caravan parked for rest of winter unused & not plugged into mains at all ?

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morepints

10/8/2022 at 4:07pm
Location: Dartford Kent
Outfit: VW T6 conversion

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Do you know which fridge model you have? With Dometic models there’s a plate inside, I think on the side panel.
It does sound like it’s been drawing current, with the battery flat in that time, which shouldn’t happen, as others have said. Get you service engineer to check it out at next service.
If it has some sort of digital control, often you have to hold a button down for a few seconds to switch off ie blue light goes out.
Hope your battery is recoverable - connect it to a decent charger ASAP. If you don’t have one, a garage will be able to do it.

Monty15

10/8/2022 at 5:41pm
Location: London
Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524

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Unless someone has bodged the wiring to your fridge, neither Wendyhouse or macquatic can be correct, the 12v cooling circuit for the fridge is NOT connected to the leisure battery, it ONLY operates off the tow vehicle supply!

The fridge IS connected to the leisure battery for the control panel and interior light, but even with the door left open so light does not extinguish, and with the control panel on, it should only draw a few watts and a healthy battery last a week or so.

Firstly, think you need the state of health of your battery (NOT just the state of charge voltage!) checked out. If that checks OK, then you need to see what current is being drawn from it, and discover the source of the current drain. There really aren't many things on a caravan operating correctly that could drain a healthy battery in a few hours!

It's a systematic fault finding process of elimination, starting with confirming the battery is sound (regardless of how new it is or how it recently performed OK! - No assumptions in fault finding, everything gets checked and ticked off!).

Failing any other info to the contrary, my money would be on a dead/dying battery. If it is, you may be able to get it replaced under warranty as a recent purchase.

billie

via mobile 10/8/2022 at 5:57pm
Location: Saltaire
Outfit: Abbey Vogue GTE

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Thanks everyone. Battery was new 6 months ago. We use the caravan for weekends every other weekend, we’ve had 2 separate weeks and a fortnight in June all on hook up. A couple of weekends with no hook up using fridge on gas where all has been well.
We’ve got the battery on charge at home now, but given the comments on the probability the battery is faulty I will return it under warranty. They can check and replace.
The caravan is booked in for service in 3 weeks so will mention then too.
My assumption that it had something to do with the fridge was based on the fact that we’ve never used the caravan without hook up and not used the fridge before…so never had need to turn it off, and so because I didn’t know how turn it off the option I chose was 12v as I didn’t think that used the battery, and the battery ended up flat. It could well have been coincidence and one of various suggestions here. Will check all options. Thanks.

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Colin21

10/8/2022 at 8:18pm
Location: East Herts
Outfit: 1992 Elddis Wisp 450CT + X Trail

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It is likely that there is no "off switch" as such, only an options switch. Just in case the wiring has been bodged at some time to allow the battery to run off the leisure battery, I would switch the "options" switch to 240 volts if you are not on hook-up and don't want to use the fridge.

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billie

via mobile 10/8/2022 at 9:36pm
Location: Saltaire
Outfit: Abbey Vogue GTE

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Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 10/8/2022
It is likely that there is no "off switch" as such, only an options switch. Just in case the wiring has been bodged at some time to allow the battery to run off the leisure battery, I would switch the "options" switch to 240 volts if you are not on hook-up and don't want to use the fridge.

Thank you. If we festival with the van again that’s what I’ll do - if I can’t find an off switch.
I didn’t know which option and assumed the 12v would switch itself off as it wouldn’t work while not attached to the car, live and learn 😊

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Colin21

10/8/2022 at 10:01pm
Location: East Herts
Outfit: 1992 Elddis Wisp 450CT + X Trail

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Quote: Originally posted by billie on 10/8/2022

Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 10/8/2022
It is likely that there is no "off switch" as such, only an options switch. Just in case the wiring has been bodged at some time to allow the battery to run off the leisure battery, I would switch the "options" switch to 240 volts if you are not on hook-up and don't want to use the fridge.

Thank you. If we festival with the van again that’s what I’ll do - if I can’t find an off switch.
I didn’t know which option and assumed the 12v would switch itself off as it wouldn’t work while not attached to the car, live and learn 😊

of course I meant the fridge run off the leisure battery.

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Best Regards,
Colin

decor55

14/8/2022 at 11:15am
Location: wales
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it would help if you mention model of fridge and also read manuals first with my thetford the switch is on the led panel you will have a threeway switch on the fridge and should be able to turn it off if you haven't got a manual do a google search for one they are on line.

Paul_B

18/8/2022 at 11:38am
Location: Yorkshire
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I'm probably a little late, however I'd check other 12v items rather than the fridge, things like the 12v blower on the fire and the aerial booster, if they're switched off then I'd get the battery tested, as I've said I'm a bit late with the help and you will have done most of this by now.

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