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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / RVs / August 2006

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12V DC Fridge Wiring and Measurements

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Rob J - 19 Aug 2006 18:53 GMT
Hi,

You may remember my 87 Starcraft pop-up I've been tweaking on over the
last couple weekends getting ready for our Tahoe trip this upcoming
weekend.  Got the brakes working, etc, etc.

Today, I finally had the opportunity to see how things worked out with
the fridge.  What I found was kinda interesting.

There were a pair of wires that were unaccounted for at the tongue, a
white one connected to ground right there on the tongue, and another one
that is white with a green stripe.  Wasn't sure where this pair goes.
The green stripe wire has a male quick-connect pop-in connector that
obviously was meant to go into the female connector which was wired into
the junction that heads to the tow vehicle.  This has a 12V connection
from the tow vehicle.

When I looked closer at the wiring in the fridge compartment on the
outside, I noticed that familiar pair of wires.  So I connected that
quick-connect at the tongue, and suddenly had power to the fridge.

So to sum up, the fridge is wired directly to the tow vehicle on it's
own line, and doesn't use the 12V line that goes to the trailer battery.
 In fact, the fridge isn't wired into the trailer's converter, battery
or any of the trailer wiring.  It's got its own relationship with the
tow vehicle.

Measurements:  With the engine running, the truck battery shows 13.84V
without the fridge, 13.75 with the fridge running.

With the fridge and tow vehicle engine running, I get 12.95V at the
tongue, and 11.90 at the fridge, just before the fridge switch.  That
means a 1.05V drop in the line from the tongue to the fridge, in the
trailer wiring.  Is this still acceptable?

Any other measurements I should check?

BTW, the voltage to the trailer battery is good when connected to the
tow vehicle and the engine running.  I think I'm good there.

Thanks,
-Rob
Rich256 - 19 Aug 2006 21:44 GMT
> Hi,
>
[quoted text clipped - 38 lines]
> Thanks,
> -Rob

A volt drop in the trailer is high and so is almost a volt drop in the
truck.  I don’t see any problem of using it that way but when you get a
chance check out the connections etc.  That includes both power and
return.  Measuring as you did shows the total of voltage drop in both wires.

Don’t you also have 110 connections?  Use it ahead of time to get it
cooled down.

The refrigerator will draw about 12 amperes.  That means you have almost
an ohm of resistance in the trailer wire.  Remember that includes the
ground wire.  10 Gauge wire has resistance of about an ohm per 1000 feet
therefore under ideal conditions I would expect less than a tenth of a
volt difference.  But in the best of installations it will not be ideal.
  Connectors can have quite a bit of voltage drop.  The wire all the
way to the battery should not be less than 10 gauge.  10 gauge is rated
at 11.8 amperes current carrying capacity.

Or you can do what many do.  Get it cooled down and then travel without
power.  If you stop for any period of time fire up the propane.  I
travel with propane all the time.  I don’t have a 12 volt option but I
do have auto ignite so if the flame goes out it will automatically light
again.

In any case it sounds like you are about ready to travel.
 
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