Wild camping

[lennyhb]

Brian, which model Elektroblock does your van have?

[Derek Uzzell]

lennyhb - 2013-12-18 9:52 AM

 

...I also wonder if an AES fridge is fitted they expect a Truma Duo CS to be fitted and the gas permanently on.

 

Gas 'security' products, like Truma and Favex systems, permit a gas-fuelled HEATER to be operated legally in EU countries (eg. France) that have a blanket-ban prohibiting gas-fuelled appliances being operated in a moving vehicle. Such systems do not, however, allow legal operation in a moving vehicle of gas-fuelled appliances like fridges, ovens or hobs.

 

Plainly, to maximise the benefits of a 'smart' fridge, gas normally needs to be continuously available to the fridge, but the fridge's automatic mode should allow gas operation to occur only when the motorhome's engine is not running. If the fridge has a manual overide the user could, of course, select gas operation during travel.

[lennyhb]

No way was I implying a fridge should be used when driving, just that the AES fridge expects gas to be available when it sees fit to select that energy source.

[Derek Uzzell]

lennyhb - 2013-12-19 11:12 AM

 

No way was I implying a fridge should be used when driving, just that the AES fridge expects gas to be available when it sees fit to select that energy source.

 

One could visualise the way 'smart' fridges function as gas-operation being the default, with 12V or 230V being exceptions.

 

So, in 'normal' use, when a motorhome is not being driven (hence no 12V power from the alternator) or not on EHU (hence no 230V) one would anticipate that the logic controlling fridge-operation will cause an attempt to switch to gas to be made. What happens at this point if there's no gas or gas-ignition fails? I'd expect the fridge to become quiescent and warn that there's a problem: I wouldn't expect the leisure-battery to be used as a fall-back cooling power-source. Dometic/Schaudt/Hymer may use a different rationale.

[lennyhb]

Derek Uzzell - 2013-12-19 1:46 PM

 

I wouldn't expect the leisure-battery to be used as a fall-back cooling power-source. Dometic/Schaudt/Hymer may use a different rationale.

 

Another bit of Dometic wisdom, if the fridge is wire so it is aware of a solar panel, in auto mode 1st choice of energy is 12V , given the average size of solar panel & battery fitted to a Motorhome I would think it would drain the battery quite quickly.

Any normal user would prefer the batteries to be charged and the fridge mind it's own business on gas.

 

Dometic appear to have lost the plot, another case of being designed by engineers who have no hands on experience of the product.

[Brian Kirby]

lennyhb - 2013-12-18 11:33 AM

 

Brian, which model Elektroblock does your van have?

EBL 29 Lenny (Hymer manual says EBL99, but what do they know?) :-)

[lennyhb]

Daft as it may seem I think the EBL29 is an updated version of the EBL99.

On the 99 there are two 20amp fuses to the left of the battery cut off switch the right hand one is the AES fridge feed that connects the habitation battery to the fridge. I could only find a small image of the 29 looks like it has four fuses to the left of the cut off switch of which the right hand two are 20amp so R/H one of these probably performs the same function.

If the fuse is fitted as you have a Thetford fridge perhaps Thetford engineers understand the requirements of a fridge in a Motorhome unlike Dometic engineers. :D

[Derek Uzzell]

lennyhb - 2013-12-19 8:24 PM

 

...If the fuse is fitted as you have a Thetford fridge perhaps Thetford engineers understand the requirements of a fridge in a Motorhome unlike Dometic engineers. :D

 

I think you may be overly criticising Dometic.

 

Running a motorhome fridge on solar power is mentioned on the MotorHomeFacts forum, with someone saying that he was able to operate a large AES model (in sunny climes) using a Schaudt Solar and Schaudt Electroblock. (No other details are provided.) There's also a reference to an owner of a boat with multiple solar panels and batteries being able to do this.

 

The wiring instructions in the Dometic Manual for a manual-operation RM-76x1L appliance differ from the instructions for an AES RM-76x5L model. The AES wiring instructions refer to a connection for an alternator signal and another connection for a solar control input. The latter connection is described as

 

"Connection only when using a solar system with a solar charging controller with AES output. The respective solar charging controllers are available from a specialized dealer. The "Solar" (S+) control connection must be connected to the respective terminal of the solar charging controller (AES output)."

 

So it's plainly not just a matter of connecting a Dometic AES fridge to a weedy little solar panel on a motorhome's roof - you need specialized kit.

 

I've looked at the Instruction Manual for a Schaudt Electrobloc EBL99 and this contains eight references/warnings relating to AES fridges including

 

"The AES refrigerator fuse may only be used if a AES refrigerator is connected. Otherwise, the living area battery may get totally discharged. Battery damage is possible".

 

If a non-Schaudt system (a less complex CBE-made one, say) were fitted by a motothome manufacturer, it's very likely that an AES fridge would behave differently.

 

If Hymer installs a Dometic fridge in a motorhome as Dometic anticipates that it will be installed (ie. carefully following Dometic's instructions) and the fridge's behaviour is irrational, that's Dometic's fault. If Hymer chooses to fit Schaudt equipment, and wires that equipment to a Dometic fridge in a way Dometic has not envisaged and the fridge acts unusually as a consequence, I suggest that's Hymer/Schaudt's responsibilty.