Leisure battery about to die? Fridge about to die?!

[ger]

Hi,
Camping at the weekend in our 2016 Beach, and the VW fridge "climabox" would only work when we were on the hookup. I've a feeling this is a continuation of a few weeks ago where the fridge would kick in at random intervals only to give up 30 seconds later.

The lights worked throughout, so does the vw fridge have some detection which switches off if it doesn't get enough power?
How would I confirm whether it's the leisure battery that's knackered? Am assuming it's the original one that came with the van...

Thanks!

 

[WelshGas]

Hi,
Camping at the weekend in our 2016 Beach, and the VW fridge "climabox" would only work when we were on the hookup. I've a feeling this is a continuation of a few weeks ago where the fridge would kick in at random intervals only to give up 30 seconds later.

The lights worked throughout, so does the vw fridge have some detection which switches off if it doesn't get enough power?
How would I confirm whether it's the leisure battery that's knackered? Am assuming it's the original one that came with the van...

Thanks!

On the SE/Ocean, Yes, the fridge will not work if the Leisure Battery is below 11.5 volts. The Beach doesn't have the same Control Panel but I believe many stand alone Fridge/Cool boxes do have such protection built in.
So you need to get a Voltmeter, one that plugs into the 12v sockets in the rear and check the voltage of the Leisure Battery , it should be 12.7 + volts, if fully charged with engine off and not plugged into EHU, and should maintain that voltage , or close to it for at least a week.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01F4RNAK0/?tag=eliteelect-21

There are many others.

 

[ger]

After checking, I'm slightly disappointed that it is at ~12.7V!
At least if it was the battery going, it would be simple!

Fridge works absolutely fine on EHU, but is unpredictable on battery power whether the engine is running or not. Sometimes it runs ok, sometimes not at all, and sometimes comes on in 30 second bursts with long rests inbetween. If it misbehaved on EHU too, then it would almost certainly be a fridge issue. But because it works fine on EHU, I'm not so sure...

Anyone any thoughts?!

 

[yossarian]

Where are you measuring the voltage? What is the voltage with the compressor running?

 

[WelshGas]

After checking, I'm slightly disappointed that it is at ~12.7V!
At least if it was the battery going, it would be simple!

Fridge works absolutely fine on EHU, but is unpredictable on battery power whether the engine is running or not. Sometimes it runs ok, sometimes not at all, and sometimes comes on in 30 second bursts with long rests inbetween. If it misbehaved on EHU too, then it would almost certainly be a fridge issue. But because it works fine on EHU, I'm not so sure...

Anyone any thoughts?!

On EHU the voltage will be greater. I presume the cool ox is plugged into a 12v socket? This might be high resistance and not giving sufficient power on just battery.
If you can check the voltage T the cool box that would be good or wire the fridge directly to the Leisure battery with an in line fuse and Anderson Connectors.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

Sounds like an issue with the Fridge.

Try to borrow different 12v fridge from friends /family and see if you have the same issue when running off 12v.

Or buy an adaptor plug for your home socket, and plug your climabox into this so its running off 12v, and see if it still cuts out.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09698CKL4/?tag=eliteelect-21

 

[ger]

Thanks all!

Yes, coolbox is connected to any of the 12v sockets, and I measured the voltage at all three sockets (not the coolbox), and all at ~12.7V.
Will dig around for my old 12V fridge and see how that behaves.

@WelshGas - re this bit: "This might be high resistance and not giving sufficient power on just battery.". How would I check for that? With what possible causes?
Sorry if my basic electronics are failing me!

 

[Tarquers]

Do you have a low voltage disconnect on the fridge? Had a similar issue at the weekend with my Waeco and had to set the low voltage detection to low to allow the compressor to kick in on battery (2021 beach with fully charged battery). Adjusted the setting to low and everything worked fine.

 

[yossarian]

How would I check for that? With what possible causes?
Sorry if my basic electronics are failing me!

If you put your meter and your fridge on sockets drawing from your leasure battery and you observe a large voltage drop when the fridge comes on, or attempts to, that indicates a large resistance.

If your battery is worn out it will have reduced active material on the internal plates and high internal resistance. High resistance at the terminals would look the same but generate some localized heating at the point of resistance.

 

[ger]

Do you have a low voltage disconnect on the fridge? Had a similar issue at the weekend with my Waeco and had to set the low voltage detection to low to allow the compressor to kick in on battery (2021 beach with fully charged battery). Adjusted the setting to low and everything worked fine.

I'm pretty sure the VW Climabox is a Waeco inside, but only 3 buttons/controls are on it - hot, cold, off. Am assuming there's some kind of disconnect, but probably inside, and not sure if possible to change it.
I have never ever seen any instruction manual for these anywhere - not even sure they exist!

 

[WelshGas]

Thanks all!

Yes, coolbox is connected to any of the 12v sockets, and I measured the voltage at all three sockets (not the coolbox), and all at ~12.7V.
Will dig around for my old 12V fridge and see how that behaves.

@WelshGas - re this bit: "This might be high resistance and not giving sufficient power on just battery.". How would I check for that? With what possible causes?
Sorry if my basic electronics are failing me!

You would have to measure the voltage at the end of the cool box lead where it connects into the cool box.

 

[podge]

We had similar issues with our fridge cutting out randomly when connected into the 12v sockets, but fine on hookup.

We fixed by writing it directly into the leisure battery with some Anderson connectors and that fixed it.

We’ve seen it running off a range of 12.7v to 12v now and thought it was low voltage at fault before, but now think it was the cabling or archaic 12v sockets creating resistance that was the issue

Fridge is an isotherm and sits behind passenger seat permanently


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[keith morris]

Hi,
Camping at the weekend in our 2016 Beach, and the VW fridge "climabox" would only work when we were on the hookup. I've a feeling this is a continuation of a few weeks ago where the fridge would kick in at random intervals only to give up 30 seconds later.

The lights worked throughout, so does the vw fridge have some detection which switches off if it doesn't get enough power?
How would I confirm whether it's the leisure battery that's knackered? Am assuming it's the original one that came with the van...

Thanks!

Local independent battery shops will do a check on the battery health.

im no expert but have a client who’s a battery retailer and they regularly do health checks for their leisure battery customers

 

[James B 2016]

We had similar issues with our fridge cutting out randomly when connected into the 12v sockets, but fine on hookup.

We fixed by writing it directly into the leisure battery with some Anderson connectors and that fixed it.

We’ve seen it running off a range of 12.7v to 12v now and thought it was low voltage at fault before, but now think it was the cabling or archaic 12v sockets creating resistance that was the issue

Fridge is an isotherm and sits behind passenger seat permanently


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We have a 2016 beach/ compressor fridge and used to experience the same. We now have ctek connectors which go straight to the leisure battery with an inline fuse (that’s important). The ctek has a 12v cigarette socket on one end which the fridge plugs into.