Fridge running battery out

[aldwarii]

Hi there

My vehicle is a 3.6 JL 2018 with the aux battery disconnected using the neg terminal and fuse 42

The problem is that I have a refrigerator on board, and no matter how much I set it to eco mode, it doesn't turn off if the battery weakens; it just keeps running until it drains the battery completely.
I've tried several refrigerators, with them being working fine on other vehicles on eco mode but not mine.

I have noticed also that our battery gives a false reading with the engine off.
As example, when the battery charges 12.3V, it gives me 11.6v on the fridge (Or any other auxillary device). But, when I switch to RUN using the push button without starting the engine the fridge give a correct reading of 12.3V

Anyone knows what is issue please?
Thanks in advance

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[Ratbert]

Do you have aux switches? Those will automatically shut off when the battery gets too low.

 

[Gruffid]

Depending on how you plug in your fridge, you’ll get different performance. If you plug your fridge into the 12v outlet built into the cargo area, you’ll see a voltage drop compared to if you read the voltage right at the battery. This is for two reasons: 1: that 12v outlet is managed by the BCM which manages the output of the circuit. 2: the wire size and length of wire run (how far between the two ends of the wire) will cause a voltage drop. This is in addition to all of the other Jeep vehicle electrical demands when it’s parked.

So, you can help that by running a 10ga wire directly to the battery to run your fridge and running the engine daily for 20-30 minutes.

 

[aldwarii]

Do you have aux switches? Those will automatically shut off when the battery gets too low.

Unfortunately the fridge isn’t connected to AUX switches, I run a direct fused cable from the battery

 

[aldwarii]

Depending on how you plug in your fridge, you’ll get different performance. If you plug your fridge into the 12v outlet built into the cargo area, you’ll see a voltage drop compared to if you read the voltage right at the battery. This is for two reasons: 1: that 12v outlet is managed by the BCM which manages the output of the circuit. 2: the wire size and length of wire run (how far between the two ends of the wire) will cause a voltage drop. This is in addition to all of the other Jeep vehicle electrical demands when it’s parked.

So, you can help that by running a 10ga wire directly to the battery to run your fridge and running the engine daily for 20-30 minutes.

thanks for the response

I actually run a 10 gauge cable with fuse (depending on the distance-Gauge diagram), it also give me a low voltage

The fridge will run for 6-8 hours without any issue, except that it will drain the whole battery (as example, if the fridge were run in eco mode overnight, I will wake up with a dead battery)

 

[aldwarii]

Depending on how you plug in your fridge, you’ll get different performance. If you plug your fridge into the 12v outlet built into the cargo area, you’ll see a voltage drop compared to if you read the voltage right at the battery. This is for two reasons: 1: that 12v outlet is managed by the BCM which manages the output of the circuit. 2: the wire size and length of wire run (how far between the two ends of the wire) will cause a voltage drop. This is in addition to all of the other Jeep vehicle electrical demands when it’s parked.

So, you can help that by running a 10ga wire directly to the battery to run your fridge and running the engine daily for 20-30 minutes.

thanks for the response

I actually run a 10 gauge cable with fuse (depending on the distance-Gauge diagram), it also give me a low voltage

The fridge will run for 6-8 hours without any issue, except that it will drain the whole battery (as example, if the fridge were run in eco mode overnight, I will wake up with a dead battery)

 

[Jeep Wick]

thanks for the response

I actually run a 10 gauge cable with fuse (depending on the distance-Gauge diagram), it also give me a low voltage

The fridge will run for 6-8 hours without any issue, except that it will drain the whole battery (as example, if the fridge were run in eco mode overnight, I will wake up with a dead battery)

I would run an extra battery with solenoid that charges when you are running and disconnects from the Jeep when it's off. If you kill that battery, it will still start and then recharge.

 

[grimmjeeper]

Could be that your battery is just about at the end of its useful life.

I had a similar problem on a several year old battery. Swapped out for an aftermarket replacement and the problem went away.

 

[zouch]

hey Mohammed!

i know it's not exactly what you asked for, but here's how i eliminated that concern.

i set my fridge up to plug into a Portable Lithium Battery, and have that battery plugged into the 'Cigarette Lighter' socket in the left rear of the passenger compartment
i've relocated the Fuse in the PDC from F43 to F45 so that that Cig lighter socket is only active when the vehicle motor is running.*

this way, my fridge can suck the Portable battery dead if things aren't working perfectly, and i still have a good vehicle starting battery. the Portable battery recharges whenever the engine is running, even if the power supply is sub-optimum.
this also means i can pull the fridge and Portable battery out when stopped at camp/picnic and have the battery keep running the fridge while it's out of the vehicle.

of course this all assumes that your J**p is configured the same as those in the US market; i don't know what variations you might have with the vehicles that are delivered there.


*EDIT:
note that the Cig Lighter Plug is only energized when the engine is running normally; for some reason, it is not energized at Remote Start and doesn't go hot until you hit the Start/Stop button on the dash.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I am not willing to chance my battery being dead when I need it. I run the fridge off of my Ecoflow and I use an Aux switch, that goes to an ARB cig adapter with 10g wire, that charges up the Ecoflow.

 

[aldwarii]

Could be that your battery is just about at the end of its useful life.

I had a similar problem on a several year old battery. Swapped out for an aftermarket replacement and the problem went away.

Hi there
i dont think so actually, the battery is brand new (an aftermarket one) with approximately 1 month old

hey Mohammed!

i know it's not exactly what you asked for, but here's how i eliminated that concern.

i set my fridge up to plug into a Portable Lithium Battery, and have that battery plugged into the 'Cigarette Lighter' socket in the left rear of the passenger compartment
i've relocated the Fuse in the PDC from F43 to F45 so that that Cig lighter socket is only active when the vehicle motor is running.*

this way, my fridge can suck the Portable battery dead if things aren't working perfectly, and i still have a good vehicle starting battery. the Portable battery recharges whenever the engine is running, even if the power supply is sub-optimum.
this also means i can pull the fridge and Portable battery out when stopped at camp/picnic and have the battery keep running the fridge while it's out of the vehicle.

of course this all assumes that your J**p is configured the same as those in the US market; i don't know what variations you might have with the vehicles that are delivered there.


*EDIT:
note that the Cig Lighter Plug is only energized when the engine is running normally; for some reason, it is not energized at Remote Start and doesn't go hot until you hit the Start/Stop button on the dash.

That is a great idea really ! And that is exactly what I need, to make the fridge run only while the engine is on

 

[aldwarii]

I am not willing to chance my battery being dead when I need it. I run the fridge off of my Ecoflow and I use an Aux switch, that goes to an ARB cig adapter with 10g wire, that charges up the Ecoflow.

The issue is, I would keep the ecoflow inside the car

We have a hunting season during August and September, the outside temperature is ranging 107-116F. Inside the vehicle, the temperature usually range about10-20 degrees above the outside temperature

Wouldn’t Keeping a lithium battery inside my vehicle with these high temperatures be a dangerous option?

 

[ParadigmDawg]

The issue is, I would keep the ecoflow inside the car

We have a hunting season during August and September, the outside temperature is ranging 107-116F. Inside the vehicle, the temperature usually range about10-20 degrees above the outside temperature

Wouldn’t Keeping a lithium battery inside my vehicle with these high temperatures be a dangerous option?

That's food for thought. Mine is in my Jeep 90% of the time in Texas. Heck, last night it was 116 in my garage.

LiFePO4 is safe up to much higher temperatures because it doesn't 'cook off' until over 220ºC (at which point the interior of your car would already be melting!).

 

[Vanburi]

Unless this is a residential fridge, it should not drain your main battery in 6 to 8hrs unless said battery is on its last leg.

 

[bugnuker]

I setup this with auxiliary battery, using redarc DC to DC charger that only charges the auxiliary when the Jeep is running. Fridge, starlink, extra 12v, tailgate table, and several USB c chargers are all connected to auxillary. I charge my drone and all cameras using this. Using redarc Bluetooth battery monitor to know voltage and estimated time remaining in auxiliary battery. Took me several days to wire it all up. Also, onboard air using the auxiliary battery as well.

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