ok, probably a silly question but im going to ask it anyway!
Next week im gonna charge the caravan battery and get the fridge cold off the mains at home. When we get the stabiliser on, we cant use the grey socket on the car because the stabiliser is in the way. If we leave it unplugged and switch the fridge to battery, will it still run off the caravan battery (or at least trickle so it stays cool) or does it need to be plugged into the car? Im wanting to fill the fridge before we set off so when we stop ive got everything to hand. saves messing around with a cool bag and ice blocks etc.
no the fridge never runs from the battery its self it needs the grey socket plugged in to run, you could modify plus to make it work but you could damage something doing it,
could you not either move you grey socket on the car, or make a short extension so you can make the grey lead fit around the stabiliser,
cooling your fridge down at home on the electric is the best thing to do as it gets the fridge down to a lower temp and alot faster than 12v does.
you could always get it down to temp then put some ice blocks into the fridge with the food to keep the temp down when towing.
mike
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Personally I'd leave the stabiliser off and run the fridge via the grey plug from the car. I've owned 2 x Sprites of similar age, they are lightweight and very well balanced vans - if loaded correctly and driven sensibly, you don't need a stabiliser. But that's just me, I don't like stabilisers.
On the other hand, if you feel happier using the stabiliser, cooling the fridge down on EHU or gas before you travel (don't forget to turn off the gas when you hitch up) and filling it with cold food and maybe a frozen bottle of milk or juice, everything will still be nice and cold when you arrive on site - unless you're travelling a very very long way.
My old Shogun didn't have a grey socket and we never had a problem with the fridge getting warm in between sites - once we left North Wales at 10 am and arrived on site in Norn Iron a good 12 or 13 hours later and everything in the fridge was fine.
------------- Caz
If you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, just keep going till you go round the bend.
If the stabiliser is on one side, swop the socket mounting plate for a twin one which sits on the other side, its easy to do and the plugs should reach.
------------- DS-There's more to life than football!!!
We're not wired with the grey electrics ... turn the fridge on the day before we leave and it gets to where we want to go cold enough. Even going foreign it's no hassle ... either you plug in somewhere every night on the journey down or, if you only stop in services on a long journey, either stick some pre-frozen blocks in there or use stuff that doesn't go off then buy the right stuff when you get there. Don't keep the door open for longer than necessary. Can't be that important in the UK ... how far do you go? My caravan engineer fellow has been caravanning since they were invented and he's never bothered with grey electrics! Only other useful thing they do (I think) is run the fog lights.