StarCraft 17:58.3 Mk11

megcam · Mar 30, 2016

I was/am clueless on a lot of things caravanning when we bought our van. Am thankful though that our salesman recommended a 7 pin flat plug to match what was on the Pajero and to change the fridge wiring to anderson plug. Let us know what you sort out with lighting the fridge on gas.

achjimmy · Mar 30, 2016

megcam said:
I was/am clueless on a lot of things caravanning when we bought our van. Am thankful though that our salesman recommended a 7 pin flat plug to match what was on the Pajero and to change the fridge wiring to anderson plug. Let us know what you sort out with lighting the fridge on gas.

Yep that's the best way, it's just when I set this up was in a hurry and it seemed to work. Actually it works really well until the plug over heats. I could spread the load over the other pins but why bother. The Anderson is so much better.

spiderpig · Apr 1, 2016

Your 12v Anderson wiring on the Paj works a treat for running our fridge in the van while driving jimmy

And those fans are excellent, ive fitted 3 in our van, one for our bed and one each for the kids.

achjimmy · Apr 1, 2016

spiderpig said:
Your 12v Anderson wiring on the Paj works a treat for running our fridge in the van while driving jimmy

And those fans are excellent, ive fitted 3 in our van, one for our bed and one each for the kids.

Great to hear Ben, it should it's 13mm cable right through. I wired the Cruza the same, just got lazy on the SC not anymore.

achjimmy · Apr 3, 2016

The light over the stove is great but no light over the sink was a pain. Picked up a slimline neat led from RTM but it was designed for a plug out the end . So screwed it apart and attached a lead and created a sub circuit from the roof lights with fuses for the recently installed fan and this light.

achjimmy · Jul 14, 2016

It's an issue lighting the fridge on gas aftter it sits around. last trip I ended up lighting the fridge from the rear acess hatch to the burner. But in Jayco have positioned the vent to far to the left to allow easy acess for lighting and no acess for maintenance! So I decided to fit a larger Dometic vent. The larger vent will only aid cooling as well besides now allowing easy acess to the burner.

achjimmy · Jul 14, 2016

Radio was playing up in Bluetooth too. Basically Jayco don't know how to wire a car stereo

they hook the accessories wire and the power wire together !!! On inspection they also didn't fit the rear brace bracket and it had been rubbing. So I fixed that too and added a switch to give me easy access to turn the outside zone on and off.

cruza driver · Jul 14, 2016

I like that bigger fridge vent idea @achjimmy

17triton · Jul 14, 2016

You must love cutting holes in your van Jim lol. That along with what you did at the top should help with the cooling big time. Top job it looks very professional.

achjimmy · Jul 14, 2016

Yeah you don't get a lot of choice with fridge vents. Basically I needed it over so you can get to the little access flap to get a lighter in. Then you have a chance of getting it alight. The bigger vent will just aid cooling.

achjimmy · Jul 17, 2016

With cover in place. The cover is very tight to put in? Not sure if I should have made a bit more clearance? I scraped out the foam and glued wood in to hold he screws better.

achjimmy · Jul 17, 2016

Also had the fridge pins get hot and melt on the 12pin plug ! My bad I knew this would happen. Moved it to the 6b&s with and Anderson plug. Was messy to get the heavy wire all the way to the fridge so I terminated it under the bed and disconnected the fridge wire from the mess in the tin can under the van and fed it up to meet the fuse box. As voltage drop wasn't a problem more the plug this will
Be fine and make the fridge work that tad better in 12v

Will get some good pics

Drover · Jul 17, 2016

Firm fit is good......................replace the plug but should have checked the voltage drop, you may not have needed to replace the cable, I found once I did a solder job on the birds nest all was good.

achjimmy · Jul 17, 2016

Drover said:
Firm fit is good......................replace the plug but should have checked the voltage drop, you may not have needed to replace the cable, I found once I did a solder job on the birds nest all was good.

Nah mate over all the years towing and traveling with the folks as well I've seen too many cooked plugs. And when they go you can be stranded with no lights too. Andersons are cheap and designed to take 50amps it's really a win win

Drover · Jul 18, 2016

Oh I wasn't meaning not to change the plug, 12 pin cause too many hassles, Andersons are the way to go, I meant just check the voltage drop from socket to fridge/setek, I found once a decent connection was done in the birdsnest under the van my power was good. Actually the wires in the fridge from the 12v connector to the heater element got very, very hot as they were not as big as the feed.

achjimmy · Jul 18, 2016

A

Drover said:
Oh I wasn't meaning not to change the plug, 12 pin cause too many hassles, Andersons are the way to go, I meant just check the voltage drop from socket to fridge/setek, I found once a decent connection was done in the birdsnest under the van my power was good. Actually the wires in the fridge from the 12v connector to the heater element got very, very hot as they were not as big as the feed.

Ah okay yeah no Jayco have actually used something that looks a tad heavier than 6mm auto? Maybe a dinkum 5mm squared? The fridge ran alright so with 13mm sq running from the tug to under the bed and then the 5mm for about 1.8m to the fridge it should be good

megcam · Jul 19, 2016

Looking forward to the rewiring pics. I have a separate feed via anderson but on the last trip the fridge just wasn't even maintaining temp while driving. Green light was on but very little cooling happening. Figure I'd better check for loose connections and/or voltage drop. Pretty sure it used to be OK but had not previously been of gas or 240v for 5+ hrs. And here I was hoping to ignore 'The Birds Nest'