Jonboymentalhealth Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Hi all, I'm currently using the three way fridge in my escape on battery for travelling and her on site, I have a 100w solar panel aswell. When I just go out for the day without ehu, can I leave it on battery to have cold drinks when I return to the van or would I have to use gas? Also is there a difference in temp achieved between electric and gas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Jonboymentalhealth - 2015-07-05 7:02 PM.............................. 1 When I just go out for the day without ehu, can I leave it on battery to have cold drinks when I return to the van or would I have to use gas? 2 Also is there a difference in temp achieved between electric and gas? 1 Probably not, as the power take is quite high. Best to switch to gas. In any case, generally, fridges cannot be run off 12V unless the engine is running, as a relay cuts the 12V supply when the alternator stops generating. 2 Depends on the fridge. On mains or gas, generally, the same thermostat controls the temperature. Many don't have thermostatic control on 12V, and the element runs permanently at full power. You'll need to look at the fridge manual to be sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe90 Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Designed to work most efficiently on gas, you shouldn't be able to run on 12 volt unless on the most e, a flat battery would soon be the result if you could, and 12 volt operation is only designed to hold the fridge temperature on the move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gocro Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Don't bother, even if possible with mods, the cooling of the fridge uses only a tiny gas flame to produce the energy needed to keep beer chilly enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 This may not apply to your Motorhome, but for those with a post 2005'ish German built Motorhome with an AES Compressor Fridge like Dethleffs, N & B, Hymer and some Burstners you can run the Fridge off the 12v Habitation Battery without the engine running for short periods of time. If your Solar 100w setup is a good one it should be enough to power the Fridge through the day in mid summer and strong light without much loss of Battery capacity. The Power distribution/Charger units in these MH's has a function that allows the running of the Fridge from the 12v Habitation battery with the engine off for a few hours at a time(for example when you stop at Services that doesn't allow naked flames). The compressor Fridges in these vehicles usually have a current draw (once at cooled temperature following a long run) of only a few amps, 5amp being typical. This would give around 8 hours running in the average vehicle, but a good 100w Solar Panel should put back at least half that in mid summer. To activate this function, populate the 20a fuse slot for "AES/Kompressor Fridge ONLY", usually second from left on the Charger/Power/Fuse unit, then manually turn the fridge to 12v. The motorhome display panel should register the power being drawn by the Fridge to confirm it is a low current appliance and not the 12 - 16 Amps typically drawn by an absorption Fridge. If the engine is subsequently started the Alternator will recharge the Habitation battery and 'power the Fridge' in the normal way. As noted above the amount of gas used by the Fridge is very low, however, on a hot day deactivating any unwelcome source of heat, no matter how small, is usually welcome. Remember to remove the fuse when you don't want the fridge to run directly off the Habitation battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe90 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 The poster above doesn't seem to understand that absorption fridges will only operate through the application of heat, deactivate the source of heat, and you'll get no refrigeration, you'll get heat from the 12 volt element in exactly the same way as running it on gas, but running on gas is the most efficient way of running the fridge, and only uses a tiny amount of gas, the use of the 12 volt heat source ( that will be running flat out trying to keep the temperature down) is only designed at best to maintain the temperature whilst on the move, or for short periods only where gas use may be prohibited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Either that, or he hasn't picked up on the fact that the OP was not referring to compressor fridges, but to absorption fridges (Dometic or Thetford), equipped to run on gas, mains and 12V electricity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe90 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Brian Kirby - 2015-07-20 11:28 AM Either that, or he hasn't picked up on the fact that the OP was not referring to compressor fridges, but to absorption fridges (Dometic or Thetford), equipped to run on gas, mains and 12V electricity. Well in his reply he quite clearly refers to " AES Compressor Fridge" No such thing exists. 8-) But he seems compressor fridges run both on gas and 12 volt, a new one on me. 8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rupert123 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Joe90 - 2015-07-20 8:18 AM The poster above doesn't seem to understand that absorption fridges will only operate through the application of heat, deactivate the source of heat, and you'll get no refrigeration, you'll get heat from the 12 volt element in exactly the same way as running it on gas, but running on gas is the most efficient way of running the fridge, and only uses a tiny amount of gas, the use of the 12 volt heat source ( that will be running flat out trying to keep the temperature down) is only designed at best to maintain the temperature whilst on the move, or for short periods only where gas use may be prohibited. I would suggest they know a hell of a lot more than you do, look up their website. However they do seem to have missed the point that this van does not have this type of fridge, as Brian points out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe90 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 rupert123 - 2015-07-20 12:16 PM Joe90 - 2015-07-20 8:18 AM The poster above doesn't seem to understand that absorption fridges will only operate through the application of heat, deactivate the source of heat, and you'll get no refrigeration, you'll get heat from the 12 volt element in exactly the same way as running it on gas, but running on gas is the most efficient way of running the fridge, and only uses a tiny amount of gas, the use of the 12 volt heat source ( that will be running flat out trying to keep the temperature down) is only designed at best to maintain the temperature whilst on the move, or for short periods only where gas use may be prohibited. I would suggest they know a hell of a lot more than you do, look up their website. However they do seem to have missed the point that this van does not have this type of fridge, as Brian points out. I'd suggest you read the post again, he quite clearly keeps referring to "compressor" fridge, and advises turning off the gas to prevent unwanted heat, and using the 12 volt supply instead, even if he was referring to absorption fridges the advise to not use gas to minimize "unwanted" heat is completely wrong, ask Dometic. As for looking on their website, what exactly does that prove, the post is quite clearly full of misinformation, perhaps as you've chosen to make a personal attack on me questioning how much I know, perhaps in this instance I do know a little bit more than them, even though I don't at present have a website, thanks. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rupert123 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Joe90 - 2015-07-20 12:25 PM rupert123 - 2015-07-20 12:16 PM Joe90 - 2015-07-20 8:18 AM The poster above doesn't seem to understand that absorption fridges will only operate through the application of heat, deactivate the source of heat, and you'll get no refrigeration, you'll get heat from the 12 volt element in exactly the same way as running it on gas, but running on gas is the most efficient way of running the fridge, and only uses a tiny amount of gas, the use of the 12 volt heat source ( that will be running flat out trying to keep the temperature down) is only designed at best to maintain the temperature whilst on the move, or for short periods only where gas use may be prohibited. I would suggest they know a hell of a lot more than you do, look up their website. However they do seem to have missed the point that this van does not have this type of fridge, as Brian points out. I'd suggest you read the post again, he quite clearly keeps referring to "compressor" fridge, and advises turning off the gas to prevent unwanted heat, and using the 12 volt supply instead, even if he was referring to absorption fridges the advise to not use gas to minimize "unwanted" heat is completely wrong, ask Dometic. As for looking on their website, what exactly does that prove, the post is quite clearly full of misinformation, perhaps as you've chosen to make a personal attack on me questioning how much I know, perhaps in this instance I do know a little bit more than them, even though I don't at present have a website, thanks. ;-) Personal attack on you, that is ridicules, I have no idea how much you know just suggesting your knowledge is not as good as a company who specialise in this stuff. They are only about twenty minutes away from me and have used them on several occasions so my knowledge of them is a little more than just a website. However have no wish to start an argument on this so will leave it there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe90 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 If they specialise in "this stuff" then perhaps they should know ALL absorption fridges need heat to work, the advice not to use gas to save "unwanted heat" being generated is quite clearly wrong, not an argument with you, merely a statement of fact.........end of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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