Thread: Waeco fridge running on main battery

The centre console fridge will also run on a little then shut off after turning car off.

Hi Lukeis, just take a multi meter with you and make sure the cranking battery voltage does not get below 11.8v and you will be fine.

If your cranking battery is in good nick, you can start your motor with a cranking battery voltage of 11.6v.

So if the voltage gets down to anywhere between say 11.8v and 11.6v, start and idle your motor for a while, or go for a drive.

Originally Posted by Tombie

Remember the car wakes up when open and stays like that for a while.

Thanks. I realize that might be true for sophisticated Discos, but is that also true on my simple Defender?


Re. the fridge, I suppose the OP could just get it nice and cold and then turn it right down or off while asleep to reduce the current draw.
Personally, I'd take a battery pack rather than risk being stranded with a flat battery.

Empty wine cask bladder helps too. Fills up space with cold air which doesn't escape every time you open up fo a cold one.

The idea of trapping cold air so that it isn't replaced with ambient temperature air is good, although I'm not sure how much dense, cold air escapes from the top of a chest fridge, but there is an even better idea.

Completely fill all the empty space in the fridge after you have packed the food and the beer. Fill it with pre-frozen water containers. That way, you have not only dealt with the air, but you have added thermal mass.

The more thermal mass, the better.

I get over 2 days on my standard N70 in the D2 running my Ironman 50l on 4 degrees in the shade. Just get a little lithium jump pack for emergency starting and all good. Cheers

Hi Gents

I've just checked the rear socket and it definitely turns off when the car is locked, but it did seem to stay on while the boot is open even over an hour or so without opening/closing doors.

I'm handy enough that I can make this connector full time live but I don't have time before the weekend so without a constant power it kind of makes my question redundant. I think (as most have suggested) I should just bite the bullet and buy a lead battery sooner rather than later and be done with it.. It's inevitable anyway!

Thanks for the tips, the multi Meter wasn't actually a bad idea!

Originally Posted by Lukeis

Hi Gents

I've just checked the rear socket and it definitely turns off when the car is locked, but it did seem to stay on while the boot is open even over an hour or so without opening/closing doors.

I'm handy enough that I can make this connector full time live but I don't have time before the weekend so without a constant power it kind of makes my question redundant. I think (as most have suggested) I should just bite the bullet and buy a lead battery sooner rather than later and be done with it.. It's inevitable anyway!

Thanks for the tips, the multi Meter wasn't actually a bad idea!

Must be different to my Defender because I checked and the light plugged into the rear plug stays on even after the door is shut and the internal lights go off. Mind you, our fridge isn't plugged into it but into a plug wired to the second battery.

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