Thread: camper trailer questions...

maybe this would suit, just ask for an anderson plug fitting

DISCO3 Shop

But dont the latest on board chargers negate the need for big heavy cabling? and isnt the battery feed fused at 30A? Its the ignition wire thats fused at 15A and this isued only to send a signal to the onboard charger to apply charging current to the trailer battery. The actual charging current should be connected to the pin for battery feed whicj on my disco4 is rated at 30A more than sufficient for battery charging. Am I mistaking something here because everyone is ripping out this socket in favour of a much less capable Anderson plug and perhaos they don't need to?

Originally Posted by Muddy Diver

But dont the latest on board chargers negate the need for big heavy cabling? and isnt the battery feed fused at 30A? Its the ignition wire thats fused at 15A and this isued only to send a signal to the onboard charger to apply charging current to the trailer battery. The actual charging current should be connected to the pin for battery feed whicj on my disco4 is rated at 30A more than sufficient for battery charging. Am I mistaking something here because everyone is ripping out this socket in favour of a much less capable Anderson plug and perhaos they don't need to?

Anyone got a pin out diagram for the white plug? I guess it won't be too hard to work it out with a multimeter...

My experience (not on my car thankfully) was that the white plug could not provide enough current to run a three way fridge in a camper and as a result the food got warm. When I looked at the white plug there was evidence that the power pin was overheating.
The solution was battery controller, larger diameter wiring and an Anderson plug.

Heres a good link that might explain and provides diagrams. It would appear that more than sufficient capability exists to provide a charge to a trailers battery and that this comes via either a 20Amp or a 30Amp controller. (if you need more than this you are in trouble).The practise of upgrading wiring and plugs to cope with what might be a faulty fridge drawing too much current could be disastrous and no electrician worth his salt would (should) recommend that. It's a bit like sticking a 6 inch nail in in place of a fuse when it blows rather than looking for the fault.

Lets not forget that there are probably more discos in the UK towing than there are total in Australia and all using this equipment so it simply cannot be a case of inadequacy. British standards are just as tight as Australian Standards and I have powered my fridge and battery adequately from such a set up any years ago

Tow Bar Electrics

Know what? I'm begining to think that there is a fundamental difference in the uses for these sockets in Europe compared to here or in the design of the 12V fridges there. These forums are full of similar complaints about the 12S plugs being inadequate to run fridges etc yet I did this with an almost full sixed fridge in the UK with a 12 S socket on my caravan for years with no issues whatsoever. Perhaps my van battery was always just floating on the alternator output with the fridge running of it rather than the fridge being connected to the cars battery direct. I always mades ure the van battery received a giod charge the week before departure and always had the 3 way fridge cold from the house 240V before switching to 12V and leaving. Maybe its to do with expecting too much from the cars battery with a warm fridge to start with?? So, what do I do here. is my 30A supply on my 12S socket going to bake too? I'm only going to use the alternator OP to charge a 100A/hr battery on board the camper trailer (No fridge)

Statements made in the following text are up for critique guys, I am no expert in this and am looking for someone to convince me that my thinking is incorrect. PLease do help as I am unsure which way to proceed. I have also contacted Land Rover and will gladly feed back the response when I have it.

I spent some time trying to identify the fuses (from my manual) which are in line with the various pins of the white 12S socket on the rear of my 2013 LR4. I am desperately trying to use this socket as the thought of ripping out this socket and lifting carpets to run larger cables is worrying me on a 5 day old car

My attached drawing is produced as you would view the socket with the socket orientated the correct way as to my car. (location tab at 3 o'clock position. I established the battery 12V (full time live) position and followed the conventional 12s Wiring plug drawings to identify others from this benchmark. But I cant agree with the drawings that I have seen in that the blue pin at the 10 ish position is unidentified. If anyone can help please do.

I have no indication whether my drawing is attached so forgive me if i need to repost. (first time with an attachment). There is a problem wiring heavy electrical items directly to the ignition pin in that it is only fused at 15A and at 12V this will power a very small battery charger or a small recreational fridge but possibly not both. Better by far from what I see is to have suitable isolation and wire heavy items from the battery positive pin but beware that this is live at all times irrespective of the ignition status of the car and could run down the cranking battery. Is a possible solution then to swap this 30A feed over to your aux battery if running a dual system? After all this is what people do with 12v sockets which feed on board fridges etc and 30A should power just about any mobile fridge I know of.

I plan to use the ignition feed (12v+ with ignition) as the connection to a Redarc 12v 25A dc dc charger as the indication that the ignition is on (alternator running) but the charging current will be delivered via this battery feed pin (30A) Has anyone else fitted anything like this system and got away without stripping out the 12S socket.


All help or comments more than welcome.