First trip..

[kennyjackett]

Just back from first trip in the Autosleeper..
Apart from leaving the fridge on the battery for 3 hours running the battery dead It all went well!
Just haven't worked out this fridge. We had it plugged in on a hook up but then was out in the forest all day and just didn't know how to keep the fridge on? Gas? Sill newbie question I know, sorry..

Other than that 'Brutus' didn't miss a beat.

[kevtherev]

Just back from first trip in the Autosleeper..
Apart from leaving the fridge on the battery for 3 hours running the battery dead It all went well!
Just haven't worked out this fridge. We had it plugged in on a hook up but then was out in the forest all day and just didn't know how to keep the fridge on? Gas? Sill newbie question I know, sorry..

Other than that 'Brutus' didn't miss a beat.

The fridge should not work on 12V unless the engine is running.
It would suggest the relay (behind the control panel) is not switching off.
Use the gas, it is much easier and gets the fridge really cold.
Plus your fridge will work on 230 V just use the rocker switch and select the plug symbol
.

[a1winchester]

My 'fridge works well on both gas and EHU, in fact last weekend it worked too well, and froze lots of the things in the cold compartment. - Operator error. Should have turned the temp. control to a higher setting.

As Kev says, it shouldn't be able to run off any battery when the engine isn't running. You didn't say which battery got run down - starter or leisure?

[kennyjackett]

Ah, ok..

Basically we had it on the leisure battery on the way down (fridge with on the 'battery' symbol), then hooked up to the mains hook up on site. All good. We then drove to the forest, parked up. The fridge was left on the leisure battery but the with on the van control panel was switched on '12v' and red light was on.. The van was totally dead. We had to get RAC to come and jump us. He said the battery was just too low to start the van.

Hmmmm....

[Ralf85]

As stated above the fridge should only work off the leisure battery via the generator while you are driving. When stationary it should be switched over to the hook up switch or run it on gas. It should not operate off the battery then. Sounds like somebody has been twiddling with the electrics and screwed up.

[BOXY]

Check to see if you've got 35 amp fuses fitted in the cables from the positive posts of the batteries. If one of the fuses has blown your leisure battery won't be charging as you're driving but it will be powering the fridge. If you've got a multi-meter check the voltage across both batteries with the engine running. The charging voltage should be over 13v on both, but if one of the fuses is blown it will be lower on your leisure battery.

[a1winchester]

I wouldn't assume that it's the 'fridge that drained the battery. That could be a red herring.
Have you had battery drainage / no charge problems at other times?
I have been caught out with a low battery at times, either due to warn fan belt not charging, or some other mystery overnight drain. I now carry a battery pack as an insurance against this. By the way, the starter battery doesn't have to drop a lot of voltage to be too low to turn the engine.

Going back to the 'fridge issue, switch it to 'battery' symbol when driving, and 'electric' when on EHU. In neither setting should it drain the starter battery.

Hope you get to the bottom of your problem.