Hello, everybody. Thanks for your previous input on my questions. I value all your help. I do have another question, concerning the Dometic fridge in my Familia 320. We have just returned from a week away, and a couple of issues arose with the fridge. When it gets up and running, on mains electricity, it works a treat, possibly better than my fridge at home. However, the internal temperature rose to 10 degrees in the middle of the week, and, when checking the manual, it seems the ambient temperature affects it. Well, it was hot outside. My other issue was concerning it's operation on the battery. I contacted AL to query why, having had it switched on during the journey to the campsite, it was still 30 degrees inside. The answer was it needs to be already cold to operate correctly. Fair enough. However, on the return journey, with the fridge down to around 2 degrees to start with, it had attained, on our arrival home some five hours later, a temperature of 20 degrees. So, can anybody tell me if this is normal, and that the bottom line is that the battery powered fridge is not very effective?

This doesn't sound right to me at all. If you started at 2 deg and the door was kept shut then I'd have expected it to still be pretty cool after 5 hours even if it was off. It does depend on what is in there as well of course - a full fridge will stay cool longer than an empty one. The recent very hot weather has been a bit exceptional - or perhaps not these days.... I always regard the battery support as a 'keep it ticking over' facility more than anything else.
Ambient temp is relevant at the lower end of the scale as well - below 5 to 8 deg you need the cover on to make sure the fridge will work OK.
I just wonder whether there's any power getting to the fridge while it's on battery/in motion - fuse/switch unit????

To be honest with you, we never experienced problems with any of our fridge units, all kept the contents cool and fresh. We travelled the continent extensivley from Keil in Northern Germany to Sicily, in a variety of campers, motorhomes and caravans, temperatures much warmer than here, even as they are at the moment it's not that hot!

Reckon you have something not right with your fridge, could be a sensor or even the refrigerant? Not much help I know but having not experienced the problem it's difficult😨

Perhaps you have a leaking door seal or the door was not shut properly on that journey. You can test the door seal easily enough by trying to trap a piece of paper in the door seal when shut.
Some members on here use a £50 note ;)

Thanks for all your help, everybody. As a result, I've emailed AL, with a view to getting the fridge checked out. The caravan was new only in December. Thanks again!

I usually have my van on charge for two days before leaving to make sure the battery is topped up and the fridge is cold. Have you checked that all your pins are working on the car towing socket. It is very common for a car dealer fitted tow bar to omit the connection to the pins which charge the battery and supply the fridge whilst towing.

I am also assuming that you are switching the fridge to battery mode when towing.?

Tow Bar Wiring

Quote: Poptop320 wrote in post #8

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I usually have my van on charge for two days before leaving to make sure the battery is topped up and the fridge is cold. Have you checked that all your pins are working on the car towing socket. It is very common for a car dealer fitted tow bar to omit the connection to the pins which charge the battery and supply the fridge whilst towing.


Tow Bar Wiring

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Quote: Aaron Calder wrote in post #10

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Is this correct? When the green switch is 'on', current to the fridge heater element comes from the EHU so when towing, the green switch needs to be 'off' and the red switch 'on' - or have I misunderstood something?

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If it's a new Eriba the fridge settings are a simple rotary switch so just turn it to the battery symbol.

Hi, Guys. Yes, it's a new Eriba, so the fridge setting is a rotary switch, turning it to the mains or battery symbol. I've spoken to Cameron at AL, and he doubts very much that the fault lies with the Eriba (of course he does!). My first port of call is The Towbar Centre in Poole, incidentally recommended by AL, to get the 13 pin connector on the car checked. Because they are recommended by AL, they specialise in fitting towbars for Eribas, so I'm not convinced this is where the problem is. After this, if the car connector is fine, it's back to Cameron.

As has already been mentioned, it might be that the cabling to the respective pins of the CAR 13-Pin socket have not been wired in. This is often the case when the manufacturer (or manufacturer supplied) socket electrics are ordered by the fitter. You don't need to be technically minded in order to be able to check whether or not the relevant wires have been fitted (or connected) by lifting the socket lid where, on the inside face, should be engraved the socket layout. Pins 10 and 11 are the relevant ones as concerns the fridge with Pin 10 supplying the power and Pin 11 the earth.

Please note that the fridge requires a separate earth cable (Pin 11) and should not be confused with the other two earth cables (Pin3) with is the corresponding earth cable for Pins 1-8, and Pin 13 which is the corresponding earth cable for Pin 9.

The attached diagram may help. ISO11446.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

As a final point - even with ALL wiring in situ power will NOT be supplied to the fridge when the car engine is not running. The extra fridge feed (Pin 10) needs to be wired to the car ignition system via a relay. This is to safeguard the fridge running the car battery down when the engine is not running. It is because of this extra wiring and the work it involves (laying cable from the rear of the car to the front) that many times simpler wiring is supplied. It is also more suitable for people who only tow garden trailers etc and have no need for fridge wiring.

On older Dometic fridges, I don't think that the 230Vac (green) and 12Vdc (red) switches are interlinked. Mine are turned on all the time so that whatever power source I have it just works! Saves having to remember to switch the 12Vdc on when towing. The thermostat only works on the 230Vac supply, 12Vdc is on all the time when towing and gas is regulated manually by the 3 or 5 way gas regulator knob.