Help with understanding the 3 way fridge

[Soaring]

I would like to know how some of the members here hook their vans up to the house and cool the fridge down over night before they leave as our 15amp plug won't fit our house power points as they are all 10amp . The fun of learning huh

Three possibilities. The first two are legal the third is not.....
You can have a sparky Eire up a 15a external power point.
You can buy an amphibian lead which basically has a 15a female and a 10a male with a safety switch inline to limit current draw.
Or some people have been known to either modify a 15 a lead by filing down the earth pin, or fitting a 15 a female plug to a 10 a lead. Both not recommended or legal.

 

[Soaring]

Beat me by 2 min @Burnsy !

 

[Burnsy]

Three possibilities. The first two are legal the third is not.....
You can have a sparky Eire up a 15a external power point.
You can buy an amphibian lead which basically has a 15a female and a 10a male with a safety switch inline to limit current draw.
Or some people have been known to either modify a 15 a lead by filing down the earth pin, or fitting a 15 a female plug to a 10 a lead. Both not recommended or legal.

Can't suggest anything illegal on here.....I got rapt over the knuckles for that last year .....totally understand though!

 

[AddItUp]

Thanks @jed Yes, there is certainly lots to learn, but I suppose that's half the fun.

 

[AddItUp]

Does anyone have suggestions for the best place to buy an Ampfibian? I think that will be the best solution for me. Thanks.

 

[fishinglizard]

jaycar sell one for 79.95, its not water proof. but cheaper than amphibian

 

[AddItUp]

Cheers @fishinglizard that's certainly cheaper than the ampfibian.

 

[jed]

Three possibilities. The first two are legal the third is not.....
You can have a sparky Eire up a 15a external power point.
You can buy an amphibian lead which basically has a 15a female and a 10a male with a safety switch inline to limit current draw.
Or some people have been known to either modify a 15 a lead by filing down the earth pin, or fitting a 15 a female plug to a 10 a lead. Both not recommended or legal.

Thanks Soaring i think i will end up looking into doing one of the first two possibilities it would be handy for charging up the battery as well cheers mate

 

[jed]

Hi mate, there is a thread on powering van from your house but legally you have 2 choices. 1 have a 15amp outlet installed or 2 buy an ampfibian or simillar ( think that's how it's spelt) it allows you to safely plug into your 10amp circuit at home.

Thanks Burnsy one day I will look into doing one the 2 choices it would be handy to have the ability to cool the fridge plus charge up the battery Cheets mate

 

[CJ1177]

I would like to know how some of the members here hook their vans up to the house and cool the fridge down over night before they leave as our 15amp plug won't fit our house power points as they are all 10amp . The fun of learning huh

or a 3rd option is this from jaycar http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=MS4044&form=CAT2&SUBCATID=1001#3

 

[Xpandafan]

Hi @ AddItUp when we bought our van they told us if your not sure if the car can handle the fridge on the 12v don't stress, the fridge is like a big Esky just fill it up then put in a few frozen ice blocks (packed around the beer of course) should do fine until u can hook up to the 240v or gas when you set up ,that's what we do .I would like to know how some of the members here hook their vans up to the house and cool the fridge down over night before they leave as our 15amp plug won't fit our house power points as they are all 10amp . The fun of learning huh

Like @Burnsy says. The cost is about the same for either option. The Ampfibian goes with me in case I need to connect up at the kids place and use a 10amp point.

 

[DroversDog]

Like @Burnsy says. The cost is about the same for either option. The Ampfibian goes with me in case I need to connect up at the kids place and use a 10amp point.

Wow, I didn't know there was a legal option but I found out the hard way that you need to carry a 15A cord with a 10A plug when travelling. At our first freecamp on our first big trip, I discovered I hadn't checked the gas before we left! We needed to keep the fridge cold and the freecamp (a showground) had free power - but they were only 10A 230V sockets! So we had to keep travelling to the next caravan park which, of course, had 15A sockets.

The upshot is that you need to carry a 15A to 10A conversion cord as a contingency. Just make sure you don't run more than one high-power appliance in the van at the same time, e.g. don't run the aircon at all and only use the electric kettle, toaster or hotplate one at a time. The fridge, lights and battery charger only drain a little bit of power, so they can all be on at the same time.

Edit: Of course if you've got the 'Amphibian' option, you don't have to worry about what appliances are on at the same time - the circuit breaker in the lead will trip if you draw too much current.

 

[04diesel]

We have just completed an 18 day trip around NSW with a variety of free camping and van parks. Our 14-44 has the 150lt 3way fridge in it. We used all 3 options to run the fridge,
Our tow vehicle is wired with an anderson plug set up run through a solinoid which switches the power off to the anderson plug when the ignition is turned off, I also have a control switch inside the car so i can turn the power on and off as i feel.
When travelling we ran the fridge on 12v but found we had to turn the setting up to maintain temp. With the solinoid we didn't have to worry about unplugging the car when we stopped for lunch or to do a bit of shopping.
When we freecamped we ran the fridge on gas but made sure we turned the setting down as it would freeze everything inside if left on the 12v temp setting. When plugged into 240v we ran the fridge on the 240v setting and found that leaving the temp setting the same as the gas was fine.
The other advantage of having the anderson plug on the back of the car is that I removed the alligator clamps and put an anderson plug on my compressor so I can inflate the tyres on the car and van without having to lift the bonnet.

 

[AddItUp]

Thanks for the great run down @04diesel Sounds like you have fantastic set up.

 

[Stan Lee]

Amphibian is the way to go! We often visit friend's and set up on their property and just plug in to a 10a power point!!! As far as i'm concerned money well spent AND gives us greater flexibility!

 

[AddItUp]

@Stan Lee Yes, I think the ampfibian is the way to go. Just a matter of trying to find the right price.

 

[Stan Lee]

I know they rnt cheap BUT u wont regret it! I shopped around but in the end i walked into my local service / parts centre and purchased one! I couldn't b bothered waiting!!

 

[Adam G]

I'm not convinced that these ampfibian devices actually make things any safer, aren't the 10amp power outlets already protected by a 10amp circuit breaker at the switchboard?

 

[Stan Lee]

Mate i'm no techo but if they r on sale and meet ANZ standards its good enough for me! I recall there initially were 2 diff models but the cheaper one was later banned!

 

[Adam G]

I understand they do allow a 15amp device to legally connect to a 10amp socket but I fail to see how it increases electrical safety, it just doesn't seem to make sense, the circuit should already be protected by a 10amp circuit breaker or in older places a 10amp fuse.