CBE DS300 distribution box.

[Derek Uzzell]

It seems likely that the ‘link’ is the removable ‘bridge’ that Robinhood mentions in his posting of 27 October 2019 11:11 AM above and is shown as Number 11 on the DS300 diagram he provided.

 

The DS300 Instructions Manual describes item 11 as

 

11) AES fridge connection; It is a bridge, which excludes the 3 way function fridge and is used to connect the AES fridge directly to the B2.

 

A compressor fridge (like an AES fridge) will require a continuous 12V feed from the leisure battery (and inserting the bridge will allow this to happen) but that arrangement won’t be appropriate for a manual 3-way fridge.

 

 

[Robbo]

Glad to hear you've got the fridge problem sorted Brian.

 

The bridge is not only used with vans supplied with compressor fridges.

 

I've heard of some MH enthusiasts with large solar arrays (say 400 watts) running the fridge off 12v during the summer months to save on gas consumption.

 

I believe Lenny HB (who used to post on here) has reconfigured his fridge power system for 12v solar. Albeit, his Hymer runs the Schaudt system so not directly comparable with the CBE.

 

[Brian Kirby]

Yes, I'm sure that is what the bridge/link Southdowns removed was. However, since the van didn't have an AES fridge (and Knaus offered no option for one) I didn't pursue the existence of the bridge as the source of the continuous 12V supply, plus it hadn't occurred to me that, when fitting a three way fridge (standard cost option), they might have inserted the AES bridge that, in their case, would have been used for the standard compressor fridge. In addition, CBE's handbook doesn't refer to use of the bridge for compressor fridges, only for use with AES fridges.

 

Apologies to both Alan and Bob, who had correctly identified that possibility as, had I recognised that wire loop for what it was, I could have pulled off it to see what happened. But, even then, in the absence of any indication on the fridge as to which electrical circuit was live to the fridge under any circumstances, I should have been hopping in and out with a multi-meter to verify the result, so I'm not sorry to have left the job to Southdowns. :-)

 

The van in any case had to go to Southdowns for its annual warranty damp check (on a positively foul day!), and they recognised that inserting the bridge was a Knaus assembly error so was Knaus's liability.

 

Thanks again for the help.