Thread: Power to the rear D4

Originally Posted by wcody01

my limited knowledge and skills would see me going to opposite lock to have it done. my analytical mind however tells me that if the circuit has a 30amp fuse it should be able to handle a draw of 23 amps.......

LR obviously are OK with drawing up to 30A in that wire because that's the fuse rating they fitted. The voltage drop would be at the fridge, not the powered end.

Hi again wcody, and again as Greame posted but make sure you also have a decent earth return at the plug as well.

The amount of voltage drop you are going to get means you will be lucky to be pulling 20 amp, so the cable and fuse are fine.

Originally Posted by wcody01

sorry for the confusion.

we have a 24 foot jayco sterling which has the 3 way full size fridge freezer in it.
when stopped at a camp site it runs on either gas (free or bush camp) or 240volt (caravan park)
while travelling it should run on 12 volt power drawing 23 amps. This is provided by a dedicate anderson plug on the van not hooked in to the trailers wiring loom.
the cautious auto electrician who my local LR dealer has had the electric brakes fitted with rejected the idea of being able to power the fridge of the car whilst driving saying it woul be too much to draw continuously (once again while driving) on the system and would possibly cause the vehicle to shut down.

From what i read here it would be possible to use the already existing power/cabling at the back of the car (white plug) to connect an anderson plug (realyed/triggered to the ignition) for the fridge to plug in to??

my limited knowledge and skills would see me going to opposite lock to have it done. my analytical mind however tells me that if the circuit has a 30amp fuse it should be able to handle a draw of 23 amps.......

PS the D4 3.0L is awesome for towing a nearly 3 tonne van

Must be a big fridge! My 170ltr 3-way requires a 170W battery connection, which at 12V implies it would draw around 15amps maximum. I easily power that via an Anderson plug through the powered pin of the white socket on the back of the car (that way I can't accidentally drain the battery). Never had issues with lack of cooling in the fridge or overheating of wiring.

Cheers,

Gordon

Hi Gordon

yes it is a big fridge, 180L AES with a seperate freezer. spec sheet says 23 AMP on 12 volt so that is what i am going off. natuarlly i dont expect it to cool on 12 volt just maintain would do

good to here you've had no problems with the wiring through the white plug. what did you use as the earth wire?

I've seen the white plug, there was also one on my FL2, have no idea what it was for. Aside for constant +v what do the other pins do? I'll take a stab in the dark & guess its for powered trailer brakes? What else could it be?

Only reversing lights, 2 HD earths and ignition power.

Oh good, perfect for hooking up my flux capacitor then..

Just curios,

Has anyone actually done a voltage drop calc?
What kind of distance of cable are we actually dealing with?

Also has anyone looked up the specs on the cable that is being used to see what current carrying capacity they are capable of?

I'm a industrial sparky and I'm quoting from memory but I believe 4mm cable is rated at about 32 to 40 amps, closer to 32 due to being enclosed. I think 6 mm is rated to 50-60A. Just curious on the specs. It's one thing to say voltage drop this and that but a simple calc will sort it out.

IMO is all


Cheers


Oh ya this is my first post......lol