Waeco fridge turning off/ battery protection issue update

[MattBW]

Did some investigating with a volt meter today.

As a few people have experienced the waeco can cut out (battery protection) even on a full battery a little too early, many suggested it was voltage drop off across the cable. I was always reluctant to set it to low as that could in theory could damage the battery.

Using a volt meter I discovered that even on medium battery protection the fridge was cutting out around 12.3/12.4v. on medium t should cut out much lower.

With it set to low my fridge is working fine and the battery is still sat at 12.4v, 12.3 when the compressor is running.

Looks like a direct battery connection is a must as many have recommended but it does make me wonder if it could be the individual connection itself. I also wonder if the waeco manual is incorrect or the protection circuit faulty .

For now I'll run on low battery protection with a voltage alarm plugged into the leisure battery elsewhere.




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[Stuart]

Hmm. I've only ever ran mine on low.

And it still struggles to start using the socket behind the passenger seat.

 

[Max-Felix]

You know the solution chaps - just hardwire 'em and then post back!

3 way coolbox query / Hard wiring fridge to leisure battery

 

[Stuart]

Or choose the lazy option of using the other sockets

 

[Rich20]

I changed mine to a Hella socket wired straight to the leisure battery. Good connection now between the plug and socket.

 

[MattBW]

You know the solution chaps - just hardwire 'em and then post back!

3 way coolbox query / Hard wiring fridge to leisure battery

Once I get back from hols I definitely will thanks .

Sorry for duplicate post I couldn't find the other one weirdly via tapatalk


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[Max-Felix]

Shame we're not closer Matt - be happy to get together and help.

I'm working on some new Beach mods (still have to find another Beach!) - new kitchen unit, more Multiflex refinements and a possible overhead locker in Dibond but will post more soon.

 

[Sp0_0k]

I run 2 50L fridges now connected to sockets.
I had loooots of trouble with voltage drops.
My goal was to power both fridges from the socket behind left seat as it is highest rated.
So I made an extension with 8mm2 sick cable! 1 fridge was running fine. The 2nd one was shutting down.
So it was a game of fridges shutting down in turns
So fridge's own cable is not very sick and will already lose the voltage. It was showing around 11,5 on the extensions end under 1 fridge load.
So I couldn't power 2 fridges from 1 socket and simply ran the 2nd cable from the boot to rear fridge.

That socket is a bit tricky to access with a multiflex board leg in the way.
So I made a small plug that was fitting perfectly there. But it was too weak and melted under the load killing the fuse.

I've made a more sturdy one with a shortening mode and was able to fit it by moving slightly sligtly and back after plugging in.
Both fridges worked like a charm for 3 weeks in Norway. They were even both in freezer mode overnight without a hookup.
I think it is our insulation mod for fridges that helped them drain less power and I set them both to ECO mode draining just 3 amps each

 

[MattBW]

Shame we're not closer Matt - be happy to get together and help.

I'm working on some new Beach mods (still have to find another Beach!) - new kitchen unit, more Multiflex refinements and a possible overhead locker in Dibond but will post more soon.

I look forward to the updates. I need to find a way to re-top my table with a good finish too but we are still working out how to organise our trips away.

I think a locker would better suit the 2 seat beach, 3 may be too high potentially?


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[MattBW]

I run 2 50L fridges now connected to sockets.
I had loooots of trouble with voltage drops.
My goal was to power both fridges from the socket behind left seat as it is highest rated.
So I made an extension with 8mm2 sick cable! 1 fridge was running fine. The 2nd one was shutting down.
So it was a game of fridges shutting down in turns
So fridge's own cable is not very sick and will already lose the voltage. It was showing around 11,5 on the extensions end under 1 fridge load.
So I couldn't power 2 fridges from 1 socket and simply ran the 2nd cable from the boot to rear fridge.

That socket is a bit tricky to access with a multiflex board leg in the way.
So I made a small plug that was fitting perfectly there. But it was too weak and melted under the load killing the fuse.

I've made a more sturdy one with a shortening mode and was able to fit it by moving slightly sligtly and back after plugging in.
Both fridges worked like a charm for 3 weeks in Norway. They were even both in freezer mode overnight without a hookup.
I think it is our insulation mod for fridges that helped them drain less power and I set them both to ECO mode draining just 3 amps each

The pics aren't working for me today.

I've bought a spare plastic seat cover to drill some extra sockets into, one for fridge and one for our suitcase solar panel which I can't connect at present.

I think a battery gauge is a must in there too. The slidepod enabled me to plug in a volt meter which meant I could see the battery was fine, in fact it lasted Friday 5pm through Monday 3pm and was still 12.2v with fridge on the whole time (bottle of frozen water helped though).

I was using the fridge cut out as a measure of battery status which I now realise was silly. ;-)


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[Stoneybroke]

We are not having any problems running a cfx35 on the low setting, the previous high mode was problematic though.
I made an extension that runs from the boot 12v socket (90deg switched plug - right, but fits) to a socket under the storage box.
The first extension was 16amp cable, but after reading a little more about voltage drop, realised that the rating was not as important as the cross section of the wire, so it is now 2mm which should lose very little over the distance.
No problems camping over last weekend, Friday-Sunday, no EHU, no solar, Cali parked for 48-hours.

 

[Sam Spencer]

Dose any know if the Dometic CRX50 has a switch to move from 12v to 24v? I have a 12v supply from a solar panel and I want to see if the reason the compressor cuts out could be that it's on a 24v setting.

 

[jts46]

Dose any know if the Dometic CRX50 has a switch to move from 12v to 24v? I have a 12v supply from a solar panel and I want to see if the reason the compressor cuts out could be that it's on a 24v setting.

According to instruction manual the answer is no

 

[jts46]

Dose any know if the Dometic CRX50 has a switch to move from 12v to 24v? I have a 12v supply from a solar panel and I want to see if the reason the compressor cuts out could be that it's on a 24v setting.

 

[Sp0_0k]

Do you know the voltage at the fridge connection? Could be like 10v when leisure bat reads 12. Cables lose it pretty fast at such low voltages. I would use a minimum 4mm2 not just for extention but replacing the original cable.
Compressors can have a spike draw when starting resulting in a big voltage drop.

 

[MattBW]

I found my fridge cable that came with my CF40 is fine its the California socket wiring that aren't up to scratch. Once I installed a dedicated 12v socket direct to the battery, all has been well.

 

[Amarillo]

Using a volt meter I discovered that even on medium battery protection the fridge was cutting out around 12.3/12.4v. on medium t should cut out much lower.

According to the manual, at medium setting the fridge should cut out at 11.4 volts and restart at 12.2 volts.

Battery monitor mode	LOW	MED	HIGH
Switch-off voltage at 12 V	10.1 V	11.4 V	11.8 V
Restart-voltage at 12 V	11.1 V	12.2 V	12.6 V