Fridge not working....advice please?

[Darcy]

Spent the BH weekend camping in North Norfolk. Day one, fridge worked fine, coudn't get it to work after that. Tried all the different settings on the fridge, still no joy. Had EHU whilst on site. It's a Vitrifrigo compressor fridge, model C42L.
I don't know if I'm being thick, but how is the fridge actually powered? Info in the ZIG CF9 caravan battery booklet seems to conflict with info I got from the dealer.
Can someone explain where I'm going wrong?
Thank you

[dave_aber]

Can't comment on how your conversion is wired, but the C42L itself is pretty simple.

Do you have an external compressor, or a built-in one? If you have a box shaped bit inside your fridge which pinches some of the interior space, then you have a built-in compressor, if the inside of the fridge is one big box shape, then you have an external compressor.

12v DC goes via whatever you have in the conversion wiring (at the least, a fuse and a switch) to the compressor (built in or external). The thermostat in the fridge is also connected to the compressor. When the fridge temp is above the setting on the thermostat, the compressor runs.

IIRC, these fridges will cut-off automatically if the input voltage drops below a certain level.

Are you sure that the EHU was powering your 12v stuff, and keeping the battery topped uo whilst on site?

[Darcy]

Not sure if the compressor is built in or external, not at home right now so can't check.

As for the EHU, we were using lights, electric kettle & a toaster. So yes, pretty sure EHU was working fine.

[hembramacho]

What size leisure battery have you got and was it definitely being charged whilst you were camped up? Was it fully charged to begin with? If it wasn't being charged for some reason, with what you say you were using, that could have taken a lot of juice from your battery and perhaps why the fridge stopped working? Also how much power the fridge takes depends in what temp you have it set at, I think(!)

Andrew

[MountainGoat]

I always hookup my fully converted Bongo to the mains at home the night before a camping trip. there is always a slight loss from your batteries, naturally and due to other things connected to them such as radios, clocks and lights. A short trip to a campsite is not enough to fully recharge a Leisure battery that has not been used for some time. With no hookup the leisure battery should last at least 2 or 3 days providing that you do not have the fridge oon full and the lights on all the time. With a hookup using camping site mains electricity there should be no problems unless a fuse has blown.

I read somewhere that Madmile I think said that Fridges are often wired directly to the leisure battery and not through the PMS. This can run down your leisure battery if you leave the fridge on and have no hookup.

Tony

[hembramacho]

I always hookup my fully converted Bongo to the mains at home the night before a camping trip. there is always a slight loss from your batteries, naturally and due to other things connected to them such as radios, clocks and lights. A short trip to a campsite is not enough to fully recharge a Leisure battery that has not been used for some time.

Tony

I do the same, so I always know that I'm starting with a full LB. I'm sure I've read somewhere that a Willinton (or whatever other) split charger only charges up to around 80% charge anyway. Could be wrong on that though!

Andrew

[Darcy]

I'm new to camping & this is the first time I've had any dealings with a leisure battery, so whatever info I can get off you guys would be very helpful.
So, don't know the size of battery, but could check that later. Didn't charge the battery the night before, but will do in the future. Drive from home to site was 2hrs, I take it that this wouldn't be enough to fully charge the battery & the gradual use from different appliances/lights would've drained the battery enough for the fridge not to work? In that case I don't really understand how the EHU works then. Would it not provide enough power to work the fridge?

[dave_aber]

As for the EHU, we were using lights, electric kettle & a toaster. So yes, pretty sure EHU was working fine.

Your lights could have been powered directly from the EHU or from the battery - depends on what lights you are talking about. If you mean the standard lights built in (which come on when you open a door etc) then they are 12v and in most conversions will have been rewired to use the leisure battery (no garuantees though, you'd have to double check this).

However, your kette and toaster were definitely not running from the battery. These will have been using the mains.

The question is, was the ZIG CF9 charging the battery (and powering the 12v kit) whilst you were on EHU?

According to the ZIG manual, you need Mains 'ON', Charger 'ON' and Car/caravan set to Caravan.

[Darcy]

Lights were additional installed on the conversion, not the on/off when door opens ones. Didn't use them very much though.

As for the Zig, all switches were flicked down whilst on site & connected to EHU. Orange mains charger light was on. The battery light was on green.

[Darcy]

Just been home, answer to earlier questions:

Battery Type:Numax Leisure LV22MF 75Ah c20 (green light showing)

Looks like the fridge has an external compressor (no space loss inside)
Incidently, the bongo is sitting on the drive in full sun & was boiling when I opened up, but the fridge was quite cool (not cold), despite being switched off?

[Scott]

I have a vitrifrigo C42L with external compressor, when the fridge is running you can definitely hear the compressor running, so crank up the stat and have a listen

If you want to make sure the fridge is working take a wire from the battery (via a fuse) and connect the fridge straight up, within a couple of mins the compressor should fire up.

[dave_aber]

I have a 42L as well. It was surprisingly cold inside when I was building the conversion around it (no compressor or battery even fitted!).

[Scott]

I have a 42L as well. It was surprisingly cold inside when I was building the conversion around it (no compressor or battery even fitted!).

Therefore it should work great in reverse too. with fridge switched off, should keep a pasty warm for ages

[Jaws]

Lights were additional installed on the conversion, not the on/off when door opens ones. Didn't use them very much though.

As for the Zig, all switches were flicked down whilst on site & connected to EHU. Orange mains charger light was on. The battery light was on green.

Sounds like you had everything set correctly but that for some reason power was not reaching the 'fridge. The Zig CF9 is designed to supply the fridge via a 240v outlet on the rear of the unit when on site according to the manual. Unfortunately the vitrifrigo C42L only runs on 12v and so needs to be connected to your leisure battery to get a supply. The CF9 incorporates a 12v 15amp fuse on the front panel to protect the low voltage fridge circuit and so there should be a link from the LB e.g. connection at terminal 4 of CF9, to the fuse circuit (terminal 11 [in], terminal 12 [out] to fridge). Check to see if the fuse immediately to the right of the orange mains switch has blown. The CF9 supplies 12v to the fridge via the transformer/charging system when on site and attached to EHU but, again, via this fuse as far as I can tell.

Of course it is possible that your fridge has been wired to the main starter battery supply and so might not run when the Zig is switched to caravan battery. In fact the CF9 could be wired quite differently anything described here!

So check the fuse first and if it's OK get a good look at the rear of the CF9 to see how it's been wired. Unfortunately the installation manual is all about using the CF9 in a free standing caravan and seems to assume you will run your fridge diectly from a separate ignition switched 12v supply on the car hook up and then on 240v from an EHU at a nice camp site, not from the leisure battery! Wiring for campervans is mentioned once and simply says connect the main battery to terminal 2! Not the whole story I'm afraid...

[dreamwarrioruk]

i rewired the electrics on my diy conversion so that the charger can supply a 12v feed to the fridge as well as the lb and using a dual split relay passes through to the sb when on hook up, when travelling the sb charges the lb and runs the fridge, we normally get around 3 days out of the lb when running the fridge. check that the fuse feeding the fridge hasnt blown. if its a low rating and with the warm weather lately the compressor will have been working hard to keep temps down and might have blown the fuse.