electric system for fridge

still

Hi All

I'm looking to install the frideg in my conversion and need a few pointers from ye all if possible.

I need to know what to buy to set up a system that will allow me to connect my fridge to a lesiure battery and charge this leisure battery from the engine, while not allowing the fridge to draw on the engine battery power.

I'm thinking Fridge connected to battery (with switch)

Then battery connected to engine battery and maybe only connect it when stopped. very crude though. how do the factory built and knowledgable converters do it?

Thanks

At this stage I should nearly employ ye all as consultants on this project.

Thanks, its much appreciated

peasant

My old camper, when I bought it, did not have a second battery, no proper interior lights either.

So, I just put one in, wired it to the alternator (not to the engine battery) and took the lights off it ...easy. (separate plus and minus wires for every appliance)

You could just simply connect your fridge to the second battery as well ...just remember to switch it off in time before it drains the battery too much.

Worst case scenario ...you sit in the dark and your beer gets warm, but you can still drive off in the morning

I also had the good fortune to have a battery charger from a previous van. I installed that as well (complete with 240V hookup) and a charging facility for either the main or extra battery.

So engine battery and second battery were totally separate from each other ...worked for me.

Professional setups involve all sorts of relais and clever switches ...I could never get my head around that and decided to go for the "idiots version" instead and left the original vehicle electris well alone except for the 240 v charging facility (one wire from the charger to the engine batt and a ground)

Grayarea

still wrote:

Hi All

I'm looking to install the frideg in my conversion and need a few pointers from ye all if possible.

I need to know what to buy to set up a system that will allow me to connect my fridge to a lesiure battery and charge this leisure battery from the engine, while not allowing the fridge to draw on the engine battery power.

I'm thinking Fridge connected to battery (with switch)

Then battery connected to engine battery and maybe only connect it when stopped. very crude though. how do the factory built and knowledgable converters do it?

Thanks

At this stage I should nearly employ ye all as consultants on this project.

Thanks, its much appreciated

It depends on how much you want to spend

The initially cheapest solution is to use an engine start battery as your second and charge it from the alternator as you thought. The problem with this solution is that engine start batteries are not very tolerant of being left partly charged, which for a battery powering fridge etc, will be a fact of life.

If you accept that buying a new engine start battery every year is going to get old fast then the second option is a leisure battery, these are designed to tolerate being left partly charged much better (different internal design) but are more expensive than engine start batteries and you cannot charge them from the alternator and expect them to survive (read alternator charging a leisure battery WILL kill it). So you need a dedicated charger. Leisure batteries can be expected to last at least 3 years if charged correctly.

Do You need 240V in the van? If so then you can get a inverter with a leisure battery charger integrated, be warned though you are getting into significant investment territory here The up side of these devices is they usually also integrate a external 240V power feed for use on cap sites and more commonly now a solar power feed, which can help keep you leisure battery charged when your van is not in use.

Later,

Grayarea

still wrote:

Hi All

I'm looking to install the frideg in my conversion and need a few pointers from ye all if possible.

I need to know what to buy to set up a system that will allow me to connect my fridge to a lesiure battery and charge this leisure battery from the engine, while not allowing the fridge to draw on the engine battery power.

I'm thinking Fridge connected to battery (with switch)

Then battery connected to engine battery and maybe only connect it when stopped. very crude though. how do the factory built and knowledgable converters do it?

Thanks

At this stage I should nearly employ ye all as consultants on this project.

Thanks, its much appreciated

On the fridge front, if you are using gas in the van then a three way fridge would be good, when 240v is available it uses that, then when 12v is available it uses that, and when no electricity is available (at night etc) it uses gas.

Later,

peteretep

so, if you have your leisure battery connected to the alternator as in peasants old van (which is now mine), this will wreck the leisure battery after a while?
interesting.... i fear i will have to redo the electrics so at some stage.

peasant

peteretep wrote:

i fear i will have to redo the electrics so at some stage.

Good luck

The guy I bought it from (and who did the conversion) was an electronics engineer ...if you want something effed up well and good, ask an engineer to do it :rolleyes:

That van has more wires than a piano ...most of them going nowhere, doing nothing.

But then again ...it may have been sorted inbetween you and me owning it?

peteretep

nope dont think its been rewired, its still messy as hell. of course i have a tendancy to break things when fixing them so i might leave it for a while (another engineer here )

peasant

hehe ...I'm a semi-engineer myself (or a flunked engineer if you want to be unkind:D ) ...enough theoretical knowledge to ruin almost everything

I left it well alone and only ever needed one new set of batteries over 9 years ...must be working, so :cool: