Connecting my 4 x 4 to the Grid.

Submitted: Monday, Dec 12, 2005 at 20:32

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Lone Wolf

As an add on, to a previous thread by willow 2839... who writes... “Fridge on or off when not in use”, I noticed Roachies post about plugging his Patrol into 240 volts in the evening, to both power his fridge, and trickle charge the battery.

This is where I started to pay attention.

I guess all of us, well, the ones with car fridges, wish we could also have them turned on 24/7/365, so we can bring home the drinks, etc. when the need arises, but alas, we only have them on when going camping. Bills comment seemed unorthodox at first, but then, when I thought about it further, I saw merit in the process. His idea is not that far removed from the Block Heaters they use in Alaska, to keep the sump oil warm whilst parked at shopping centres etc.

So, if I adopt Bills idea (we’ll call it Bill’s idea...), and I’m garaged at home every night, what drawbacks, if any, can people here see happening?

I park in the open, like, no roof over the vehicles, so...

1) Do I need one of those gay looking caravan female type pluggy thingies to connect the extension cord into my car?

2) Is there a plug - socket combo, that allows easy disengagement if one drives off, forgetting to unplug?

I guess I would really be keen on having a 12 volt DC line out to the vehicle, but I guess voltage drop is going to be a killer, especially for a fridge.

I did a real quick (half hearted... okay!) search on the net, using the words “Block Heater”, and not much came up. Oh, okay, it has some stuff, about what is does, but nothing about how it REALLY works. Are they all 110 volt mains power jobs? What happens when you unplug them, by accident, when driving away? It seems that instead of having to re-invent the wheel, I should look at what others are doing with comparable technology, ergo the wanting more info on the Block Heater outlets you see in Alaska.

Now, my house, and my business, both have Clipsal Safety Switches wired in, so the event of electrocution should be greatly minimised, but, what if I’m at Joe Blows house for an overnighter, and we roll out the extension cord, and it rains, or another vehicle runs over it, or......?

Any input from you guys would be good.

Cheers

Wolfie

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Reply By: V8 Troopie - Tuesday, Dec 13, 2005 at 01:42

Tuesday, Dec 13, 2005 at 01:42

Wolfie, my troopie had a charger built in for as long as I had it. It was one of the first projects I undertook. There is room for one behind the lining on the right aft side ( where the second tank filler normally goes- which I do not have). The inlet is just on the outside there, it has survived the test of time (15 years)

It is a home made 6 Amp voltage regulated affair, I am a licensed electrician so making that part and connecting it up was no problem.

Now your questions;

1. yes

2. depends, not with the lead plugged straight into (1.) where driving off will rip something apart, resulting in big sparking and banging fuse blowing.
However, if you plug a very short extension lead into (1.) and a long extension lead into that then one can hope the extension connection will unplug first since its in line to pull straight out. Driving off without unplugging is not something I would recommend to even try, you are on your own there.
BTW, the rules of caravan park power connections require a 15A lead so the receptacle in my car is also a 15A type (dunno if they actually make 10A ones).

Klaus

AnswerID: 143602

Reply By: Peter 2 - Tuesday, Dec 13, 2005 at 08:27

Tuesday, Dec 13, 2005 at 08:27

the other way to do it is what I do. I've got an 8 amp 12v power supply which is sitting beside the truck on the garage wall. Leave the window open and plug the fridge into the cord from the power supply, I usually loop the cord over the drivers side rearview mirrio so that it has to be unplugged to enter the truck.
The frig may have probs running in a closed vehicle outside as there would be no airflow.
I guess I'm fortunate in that the truck sits in the garage when not away 4 wheeling or camping, we use an older car to run around in, ie: it may not be used for acouple of weeks at a time.

AnswerID: 143620

Reply By: Member - Geoff M (Newcastle) - Tuesday, Dec 13, 2005 at 09:23

Tuesday, Dec 13, 2005 at 09:23

Hello Wolfie,
My Brother in Law is a fireman and they use something like what you are talking about to trickle charge the truck batteries when it's not out on a job.
They have a 24volt 3 stage charger mounted to the station wall with two leads out of it. On the end of the leads they have a pair of very well insulated alligator clips. The clips also have a short piece of cord, I think it's SS wire attaching them to the wall.
On the truck they have two rearward pointing brass pins about 20mm in diameter and about 80mm long, again well insulated.
They clip the alligators onto the brass pins and leave the truck on charge.
When the call goes out the passenger is supposed to unclip the alligators before he gets in, if he forgets and the truck drives off they slide off the end of the pins and hang down the wall.

Don't know if this helps or even makes sense,

Geoff.