How is the Refrigerator?

Jimmy@alenius.nu · Sep 3, 2012

Hi! I'm thinking of buying a California 2012 and woundering what's the Refrigerator is like. I'm used to camping Refrigerators using gas, but as I understand the Refrigerator in the California just use 12V. How does that work when the car is not charging the battery? Is there a separate battery? How long can the Refrigerator be used without charging the battery? Is it possible to replay the standard battery for an gas version?

Regards / Jimmy

sebking · Sep 3, 2012

Cold enough to freeze the milk!

swigle · Sep 3, 2012

I reckon fully charged leisure batteries will run fridge for 4 days if nothing else is drawing power (5 days at a festival - cold beer for the first 4 days before fridge automatically powered down)

KernowLad · Sep 3, 2012

IMO it's brilliant - stays really cold yet seems to draw very little power. Should you run a bit low, drive somewhere nearby and hey presto, the batteries are back to full power again!

BerndRos · Sep 3, 2012

The control panel indication re % charge is not accurate, as after driving a little way it indicates a far higher % than can be possible if batteries were low to start with. Think alternator pumps in about 22ah during daylight driving.

JockMacMad · Sep 4, 2012

And the obvious one if your on a campsite with electrical hookup just plug in.

Calimark · Sep 4, 2012

We managed 9 days without hookup with the fridge set at level 4 or 5 by using freezer blocks to reduce the amount of time the fridge actually had to cool. Most campsites provide freezer access so you can keep your blocks frozen. We drove around town occasionally which topped up the charge and by the end of the 9 days we were still at 80 to 90% charge. We were careful with the interior lights and tended to use the upstairs light to light up the downstairs. We even turned on the aux heater a few times.

Very impressed and will now not bother with hookup even for weeks away if we can re freeze the blocks on site.

Linda · Sep 4, 2012

Calimark said:
We managed 9 days without hookup with the fridge set at level 4 or 5 by using freezer blocks to reduce the amount of time the fridge actually had to cool. Most campsites provide freezer access so you can keep your blocks frozen. We drove around town occasionally which topped up the charge and by the end of the 9 days we were still at 80 to 90% charge. We were careful with the interior lights and tended to use the upstairs light to light up the downstairs. We even turned on the aux heater a few times.

Very impressed and will now not bother with hookup even for weeks away if we can re freeze the blocks on site.

Genius idea! Will definitely be trying this

( just got back from End of the Road Festival and fridge gave up half way through day 4)

ExploreCampers · Sep 4, 2012

Calimark said:
We managed 9 days without hookup with the fridge set at level 4 or 5 by using freezer blocks to reduce the amount of time the fridge actually had to cool. Most campsites provide freezer access so you can keep your blocks frozen. We drove around town occasionally which topped up the charge and by the end of the 9 days we were still at 80 to 90% charge. We were careful with the interior lights and tended to use the upstairs light to light up the downstairs. We even turned on the aux heater a few times.

Very impressed and will now not bother with hookup even for weeks away if we can re freeze the blocks on site.

I've not tried the freezer blocks, but haven't had any trouble with the battery going flat even after 5 days. I find level 4 the best, things don't get frozen and not leaving the lid open for long when ferreting about, which is obviously common sense.

I also turn off the cab courtesy lights, they are unecessary while parked up and the doors are open.

Freeley · Sep 4, 2012

On our pre facelift the fridge temp settings work in a different way in as much as its in degrees celsius not a 1 - 10 type scale. We generally set at 1 or 2 degrees but things will start to freeze at this temp if you're not careful but we like our booze nicely chilled!
It can be set down to -18c but don't know if it would actually go that low as I've never tried.

lewisnoble · Sep 13, 2012

Replacing with a gas version would not really be practical - would involve a fair bit of gas work, and cutting vents in the side of the van. Generally speaking, pretty well all campervan conversions (i.e. T5 size) use battery operated 'compressor' fridges, which work fine - the '3 way' fridges fitted in larger motorhomes consume quite a lot of gas and would use up a cylinder pretty quickly.

We are happy with our 12v version - the only time we have had a problem has been parked in very hot weather, with the sun beating on that side of the van, when it has been working all the time to keep cool. But in general, no problems.