Fridge Power supply

[TexasTJ]

I am trying to build a wiring harness for the Fridge in my 1999 Land Rover Discovery 1. I built one with an inline fuse from the battery (Optama Red Top) to the back of the rover. Now my ARB Fridge will start to cool and then quickly get an error light. Like in 20 minuets. When I plug it in to the wall it works fine. What might I have done wrong? Could the Wire gauge be to small to mover the Power needed? I just ran a wire from the Battery to the positive feed on my Hella socket with a fuse in-between and the Earth wire from a body point to the Negative feed. Any Ideas?

Nate

 

[spressomon]

Well...what size wire did you use?

 

[SMD]

Is the power light showing orange at the same time? What gauge wire did you use?

The owner's guide seems to have a pretty comprehensive run down on installation and use, to include stating that the error light with power light indicates insufficient power to the fridge.

I've been running my Engel with essentially the same setup for years without a problem. Obviously I don't have an error light to tell me something isn't right, but it's worked for continuous cooling without problem. I don't remember with 100% certainty what gauge I used, but I think it was 12 gauge.

 

[TexasTJ]

I think I used 18 or 16 I tought it might be to small at the time, but I had it at the house. Guess Ill be going to home Depot for some 12 gauge tomarrow.

 

[Antichrist]

The manual linked to above says you can use 14ga for up to a 19' run, which is about what it is from the battery to the boot (I'm running from my starter to the boot and that's 14').
You want to get below 1/2v volt drop and for 15amps (fuse specified by ARB) you need 10gauge. That will give you .32 volt drop. 12gauge will be .51 drop.
Of course the fridge doesn't take 15amps while running, so 12 would likely be fine.
I didn't know home depot sold automotive wiring.

 

[TexasTJ]

not sure how i missed that when reading the manual the first time i guess ill be reading it again!

thanks

Oh so then I should just 14 or 10?

 

[Antichrist]

I wouldn't go smaller than 12.

This weekend I'm running power to the back of my wife's '97.
#1 welding cable from the starter to the rear left side connected to one of these

I'm running #1 because I'm probably moving the starter battery to the boot and putting a winch battery in the stock location.
Then running a #6 cable, protected by one of these:

to a fuse block mounted on the headliner near the alpine window.

Trailer brake controller, external aux lights, etc. will be powered from that.

 

[mbuckner]

I used 10ga wire .. and it was only a run of 4ft for an Engel 43qt fridge ..

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

The manual linked to above says you can use 14ga for up to a 19' run, which is about what it is from the battery to the boot (I'm running from my starter to the boot and that's 14').
You want to get below 1/2v volt drop and for 15amps (fuse specified by ARB) you need 10gauge. That will give you .32 volt drop. 12gauge will be .51 drop.
Of course the fridge doesn't take 15amps while running, so 12 would likely be fine.
I didn't know home depot sold automotive wiring.

They call it primary wire. Another option is low voltage landscaping wire, sold by the foot available at HD up to #10 with heavy duty insulation, comes in 2 conductor.

 

[Antichrist]

I used 10ga wire .. and it was only a run of 4ft for an Engel 43qt fridge ..

For 19' for 15amps 12ga would result in 0.51v drop.
10ga would be a 0.32v drop.
Since the fridge shouldn't be drawing anywhere near 15amps, that's why I said 12 would should be ok.
10ga definitely won't hurt though.

They call it primary wire.

********
I typed "primary" then changed it to "automotive" to make sure he knew exactly what I was talking about.

He doesn't really need 2 conductor, the ground points in the back can be used.

 

[AxeAngel]

I have a run of 4ga from the battery to the rear area.
Fuse block like Antichrist under the hood and a distribution block in the rear.

Just remember to run the fuse as close to the battery as possible.

-Sam

 

[AxeAngel]

4ga was the largest wire I could fit under the door sills. It was a tight squeeze. Grommets in my firewall is stuffed with wires, looks like a muffin top

-Sam

 

[Antichrist]

I'm running it under the vehicle, that's why I'm using the feeder stud, to get it to the interior.

 

[chrismc]

What exactly is "primary" wire, and how does it differ from something like stranded THHN? Most of the time I use "zip cord" wire from PowerWerx for automotive stuff, but in a pinch I wouldn't hesitate to use some stranded THHN from the Home Despot as long as it was reasonably protected.

 

[Antichrist]

What exactly is "primary" wire, and how does it differ from something like stranded THHN?

Probably little to none.

May be some variation in insulation type.