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It pays to know your car… mystery solved!

Posted by on April 6, 2013

So, have been looking into the mystery of why the battery in a brand new car ends up flat after just a couple of hours of having a fridge plugged in.

Having the car fridge plugged in at the best of times will place a fair load on the battery, and to resolve that issue, I am looking where to mount a second battery in the car. With the right kit and isolator, you can comfortably run dual batteries, but the Auxilary battery will only charge when the car is running, and not until there is sufficiant charge in the main starting battery.

Having a caravan on the back is very similar, given there is a 12volt fridge in the caravan, it is important that while the car is stopped and the engine is not running that power to the van is cut so as to not drain the battery.

In my last Patherfinder, when the auto elec wired the 12 pin plug for the new van, he fitted an isolator that will cut the power when the engine wasn’t running. The fridge in the van can survive a few hours of no power, and as soon as you get to a camp, you flick the switch over to gas or 240v.

This time round I thought I would save some time and money by having Nissan deliver the car with the 12-pin plug already wired… problem is they haven’t fitted an isolator!!!!

That’s right, when plugged into the car, the caravan is constantly pulling power from the battery!!! Good on ya Nissan ya jokers!!!

So it seems it wasn’t just the fridge in the back of the car that drained the battery, but it was also having the caravan connected to the car for a few hours!! Grr… going to have to sort that out before the big trip. Might be able to do something with the dual battery setup so it doesn’t draw power from the main battery.

NOT HAPPY NISSAN!!!!

🙁

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