Installing a 12v fridge in the boot..

[Overseer]

I already have a 12v mini fridge that i use at home infrequently.

I'll be heading off camping a few times over the summer, so i'm thinking about prepping the car so i can easily drop it in when i head off.

I believe it came with an adapter to plug into the cars cigarette lighter.

now there are two problems associated with that.

1) obviously the boot + cigarette socket are far apart.  so maybe fitting another socket in the boot would be a good idea? (my mates 4motion already has one there!). Would I need thick guage cable? could i steal a feed from something else.. like the amp power lead that already runs up through the car?

2) i'm unsure if the cigaretter lighter socket works. tried lighting a ciggy for a mate off of it a while ago and it didnt heat up -BUT- i know the day i picked my car up i borrowed a ligher->power thing to run a cd walkman from so maybe its just the removable bit thats broken.

[Mirage-]

Hell with a full ICE install consisting of tv/dvd/playstation 2 and a fridge in the boot all you need is a toilet and shower and you can move out of your house and into your car.

What sort of current does the fridge pull? Just thinking that if it's on all the time it may kill your battery.

Mate had a set of LED's which fit to the ciggy lighter and we simply pulled them to pieces and connected them straight up to the interior light live.  Would imagine that if all that's needed is a 12v supply you can pull it directly from your amp power cable directly from the battery.

[JMallows]

You've got a MK3 so it mightn't be the same as for me... I just put a cigarette socket in the boot, and i used the power from the boot light feed, and from the tailgate (to light it) Pretty easy for a MK2. I used thinish single core wire, and it wa fine. I now have three! I fitted one in the front using the radio supply, with household plug wiring, then fitted a centre console that had one in.

Just have to say watch what dissipation of power is though as you could drain your battery, although if you were worried about that, just put an op amp with potential divider on the non-inverting input, and it'll only work when the votage is above a certain amount (eg 12.2) thus giving you a cut off

[Blue MK2]

use the boot light

[AdamB]

use the boot light

I think it might draw too much current and fry the wiring.

[Dizzie]

it will. fridges draw loads of current. 0 guage from the battery it is then

[JMallows]

Probably wont. And if it is a worry then a similar trick to what i said can be done to limit the current.

[Overseer]

if its a temporary thing i think a feed from the thick amp wire will be ok.

if it were more permanent i'd think about a split charge system.

[tattyoldwagon]

Overseer,

Just a little point, I've got one of those mini fridge things for the car and it says in the instructions not to use in the boot while travelling. I think the main reason is that it will give out heat as it cools your beer, if the heat can't dissipate to anywhere it will burn the fridge out, which won't keep your beer cold. I stuck mine on the floor in the back of the cab for the journey down to RTTS (the cable was plenty long enough for that) and the beer was lovely and cold, shame it was raining! But the sat and sun were lovely!

Michael