Fridge - How Long Does it Last Without Hookup?

[The Mighty Pauls]

Hi all - this may well be a 'how long is a piece of string' question, but we are heading out for a weekend of camping next week and there is no hook up on site.

Was never an issue with my old '3-Way', but does anyone have a rough idea about how long the cool box will keep cool while working of the leisure battery alone? I'm imagining that ambient temperature will be a factor too. Should I keep it on a lower powered setting? What happens if it flattens the leisure battery?

Questions, questions!!!

All the best

TTP
Bristol

 

[WelshGas]

Hi all - this may well be a 'how long is a piece of string' question, but we are heading out for a weekend of camping next week and there is no hook up on site.

Was never an issue with my old '3-Way', but does anyone have a rough idea about how long the cool box will keep cool while working of the leisure battery alone? I'm imagining that ambient temperature will be a factor too. Should I keep it on a lower powered setting? What happens if it flattens the leisure battery?

Questions, questions!!!

All the best

TTP
Bristol

1. Pre-cool the Fridge by using freezer blocks or plug into the Mains for at least 24 hrs beforehand or longer.
2. In warm weather level 4 or 5 is more than adequate, maybe 3 if the nights are cooler. Turn it up by 1 Level when travelling.
3. The cooling element is at the back of the Fridge so keep salad stuff, cans or milk away from contact or it may freeze. A simple plastic grill will do the job.
4 you should get about 4 days or more on the Battery with no driving.
5. The Fridge switches OFF if Leisure Battery drops to 11.5 v.

Happy travelling.

 

[GrannyJen]

As @WelshGas says, chill the fridge right down first, put the food in as cold as possible, whilst driving crank the cooling up, level it back to 4 or 5 when standing still, if the batteries are in good condition and you are frugal with lights etc you can probably be happy for 5 days.

It will not flatten the leisure battery as it cuts off when voltage drops below a certain level, and even though it is never a good idea to flatten a battery it is not the end of the world if it does.

 

[The Mighty Pauls]

Thanks so much guys - that’s great news!

One more dumb question - on the fridge in my old van, the higher the setting, the COLDER it got (more power I guess).

But from what you guys are saying - lower means cooler. Is that right?

Much appreciated.

 

[Mr T]

Thanks so much guys - that’s great news!

One more dumb question - on the fridge in my old van, the higher the setting, the COLDER it got (more power I guess).

But from what you guys are saying - lower means cooler. Is that right?

Much appreciated.

Bigger number = Colder

 

[johnyboy]

We've only had to start the engine once to recharge the leisure batteries in 5 years of long weekend (4-5 day) festivals without hookup

 

[WelshGas]

Thanks so much guys - that’s great news!

One more dumb question - on the fridge in my old van, the higher the setting, the COLDER it got (more power I guess).

But from what you guys are saying - lower means cooler. Is that right?

Much appreciated.

Level 6 will freeze and cause cans to explode - don't ask.

 

[Velma's Dad]

We've only had to start the engine once to recharge the leisure batteries in 5 years of long weekend (4-5 day) festivals without hookup

Never needed to do that but out of interest, how long did it take to recharge the batts, on idle speed?

 

[johnyboy]

I think we did a 35 minute top up in the middle of the day when most folks were on the site rather than the campervan field but its certainly not unusual to hear people firing up in the day; this is the main reason I don't see the need for solar for us - this has happened once

 

[BikerGran]

In addition to putting the fridge on at a cold setting while the van is on hook up at home for 24 hours, and of course depending how much food I want to take (it's usually only me), if the weather is warm I pre-preeze a 2 litre bottle of water and keep that in the fridge - it's surprising what a difference it makes.

 

[ejmoore]

I never realised the higher number meant colder - assumed it was degrees C!
The outside temperature makes a big difference - in Norfolk it lasted me a week without hookup, but in Spain at 30+ deg we needed a hookup to keep it on for more than a day.

 

[RichardH]

Last week in Croatia, with temperatures above 29C even at night, our fridge was still nice and cold on battery power after 50 hours (setting 3). By then the battery display had dropped to 10.9v so I plugged it into the mains. That’s only the second time we’ve used external power since we started this current trip in mid-April (France, Italy, Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Croatia etc.). In more normal ambient temperatures the batteries alone in our SE last for at least three days, usually more, except for the unexplained, infrequent times when the charging process didn’t take place during a long drive (3 times now in 57,000 miles since new). NB an earlier post in this thread suggests that the fridge and heater cut out when voltage drops to 11.5v. I think that figure is mistaken. Other posts on the forum have said 10.5v.

 

[DominicR]

I never realised the higher number meant colder - assumed it was degrees C!
The outside temperature makes a big difference - in Norfolk it lasted me a week without hookup, but in Spain at 30+ deg we needed a hookup to keep it on for more than a day.

If your Cali is a 2008 SE, and the control panel is the original one, it will read in deg C, I think - mine did (in my 2008 SE) until I swapped the panel for a more recent one.

It seems that when changing the display (from dark numbers on a light background, to light numbers on a dark background), VW also changed the way in which the fridge temperature is displayed, from deg C, to a higher number = cooler fridge convention.

 

[ssaini]

Hi. Does the fridge work on 12 v only? What about when it’s hooked up?

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

Hi @ssaini
Yes, the fridge is 12v and always runs off the Leisure Batteries. When hooked up and driving you will be charging the batteries. Solar panels worth having if camping off grid for several days.

 

[ssaini]

Thanks - I actually retrofitted vw kitchen unit. And need to connect the fridge to leisure and solar to leisure

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

Best get advice on wiring from the more knowledgable members on this forum. I think I’ve seen a wiring diagram posted.

 

[RichardH]

Our 2013 built SE will still easily do a long weekend without hookup. In Croatia in the mid 30s it did almost 4 days on batteries, on setting 3. What a fantastic vehicle!

 

[WelshGas]

Thanks - I actually retrofitted vw kitchen unit. And need to connect the fridge to leisure and solar to leisure

This might help.