12V Fridge on D2 stock wiring?

99Discovery

99Discovery

Adventurer
If I recall correctly the rear 12V port on the D2 is a 20A fuse. Is the wiring guage big enough for a 12V fridge? I'm looking at the 37qt. ARB, but wondering if I'd need to run a seperate power feed.

Anyone have any experience with a 12V fridge on the D2? How long did it run on the stock battery? Did the alternator hold up? Extra wiring needed?

Any help would be appreciated. I'd hate to drop the $$ on a fridge only to realize I'd need more money in mods just to run it. I'd rather get required mods done first...
 
wagex

wagex

Adventurer
id imagine it should be the fridge only draws what like 3 amps?

edit: i just did some searching apparently our rear outlet is keyed hot you might want to figure out something to make it constant hot, i found this thread you might find it useful.
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/44306-Disco-II-rear-12v-power-outlet

looks like il be doing this same mod as i plan on putting a fridge in the rear of mine as well in the next year or so before we start some longer trips.
 
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NatersXJ6

Explorer
I don't have a disco, but I ran separate 8 awg to the battery for my fridge. I wouldn't recommend anything less. The camping equipment section has lots of threads about voltage issues with fridges. It also ha lots of people liming to run just fine off of the factory plugs in a Rubicon.

I think part of it is a question of what you chill. Having soda nd beer appear " cold" when wheelin is different than having no food spoil over 3 days in the desert. I would suggest buying the ARzb wiring kit and installing it all at once. I hard wired using a sub panel, wire, and fuse block from local suppliers, and spent about 4x as much. I'm not sure yet that I got 4x value.
 
99Discovery

99Discovery

Adventurer
Thanks for the quick responses.

I forgot about the keyed hot. Maybe it is 15A not 20A? I'll have to check. I remember I looked it up once to ensure that the 12V RoadPro oven would work and it was well over the specification (and the oven works excellent).

I have quite a bit of 10ga, but no 8ga. I'll look into the re-wire route..
 
howirolla

howirolla

Campfire Passport
I ran my fridge like that for almost a full summer, I had it set at 36 and I could get about 12 hours give or take out of my old battery, so time will depend on how old/good your current battery is. some guys seem to be just switching to a single deep cycle and not having problems. but I had no issues other than not being able to run it very long. and now I run a dual set up.
 
K

kcabpilot

Observer
Rear outlet is indeed 20A, shows it right there in the Rave wiring manual. I plugged a 'Y' outlet into it that ran to my fridge and an Odyssey PC680. When the ignition was turned off fridge ran off the Odyssey, when ignition was on rear socket powered fridge and recharged Odyssey. I ran tests and combined current never exceeded 8 amps.
 
454

454

Exploder
kcabpilot said:
Rear outlet is indeed 20A, shows it right there in the Rave wiring manual. I plugged a 'Y' outlet into it that ran to my fridge and an Odyssey PC680. When the ignition was turned off fridge ran off the Odyssey, when ignition was on rear socket powered fridge and recharged Odyssey. I ran tests and combined current never exceeded 8 amps.
Click to expand...

Tell me more about this 'Y', please.
 
LR Max

LR Max

Local Oaf
Just to benchmark you, your cell phone charger draws around ~2amps at 12v (if you have a "fast" charger, then 4.8amps). So the stock wiring should be fine for your application.

However if you wanted to go Full Expo, you could get something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JJ53EH8?psc=1

Extra ports. I'm looking at adding something like this to my general-shenigans 4Runner (since having one 12V socket really sucks when trying to run a GPS, a GPS locator-thingie, and a few cell phones).

Oh and the "Y" is probably related to the trailer hitch wiring. There is a plug behind the passenger side tail light for the trailer wiring. If you aren't using the trailer wiring, there is your factory wiring to tap off of.
 
454

454

Exploder
What I was interested in was a 12v plug that could run the fridge and charge a small battery next to the fridge when the truck was switched on. Then when the truck is off the battery could run the fridge.
 
K

kcabpilot

Observer
Not much "set up" to it Stu, just plug in the splitter then plug the fridge and PC680 into it. My fridge is a Coleman, I drilled a couple of holes in the handles to take bungee cord hooks and ran the back one through the cargo hold down and the front around the seat mount (rear seats were removed) The Odyssey PC680 is about 6x4x2 inches and is a dry sealed type so I can lay it just about anywhere. If you put some Non-skid on the bottom of the fridge and the side of the battery they will not slide around on the carpet. I suppose different refrigerators may have different power demands I measured mine with an inline ammeter and it took 4 to 5 amps. Also the battery will draw more or less amps depending on its state of charge when you apply power to it by switching on the ignition. I never saw it draw more than 5 amps
 
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