power supplies in the van and mini fridge

[rachel1]

Hi Everyone!

I was just writing for peace of mind really. My boyfriend and I have recently bought a lovely bongo and both batteries etc internal lights etc are working fine. however we have only done very small trips and not really used the leisure battery. We are heading off on a trip through europe for 6-8 weeks and I just wanted to make sure we don't kill our leisure battery. not even sure you can do that but maybe you can!

(clearly this is my first campervan)

So we will be camping with mains hook up almost every night. We most likely will use the 3 pointer in the evenings (mind you not every evening) for a laptop, possibly charge our phones etc and also we are going to purchase a portable 3 way mini fridge that can either work off the gas (but i'd like to save primarily for cooking) 3 pointer or 12v.

So when we are hooked up at the mains, am i right in thinking we switch van to On Site? and does that mean nothing is running off the leisure battery at all?

Has anyone any advice on a good portable mini fridge they know is good and convenient? I was looking at 3 way portable ones but they all seem expensive and large!

Thanks in advance for answering my probably silly questions

Rachel

[westonwarrior]

No question is silly

The best fridge to get is a compressor fridge rather than a cool box the difference being a compressor will work to a set temp say +2 and turns on and off as needed where as a cool box works continually and they state some thing like 20 below ambient so on a warm day can still be warm and a cold day freezes everything.

but you pay for the better fridge, quite a lot in fact


depending on the setup of your conversion when you plug into the hook-up it may charge the batteries and should charge when you are driving so as long as you don't stay put for 2 or so days just on the leisure battery you should be ok.

you could get a volt meter and wire it to the leisure battery and keep an eye on it and if it looks low change the fridge to gas until you have had chance to charge it

[rachel1]

thanks for the tips! appreciate it.