Weingart DC plug connection

This is another warning for all TM owners. I know it's been talked about before, but do not plug high energy use appliances like TE coolers or auxiliary absorption refrigerators into the 5 amp DC TV socket!

The DC socket melts!  Unfortunately, I did this over the weekend and now I have to replace this socket. :P

We bought one of the small Dometic portable gas absorbtion refridgerators from camping world to augment the main one in the TM. It works great by the way. It's an AC, DC or gas hookup unit.

Anyway, it draws too much current for the 5 amp TV DC plug. Now I'm going to add an individual, dedicated circuit running directly from the battery, with an in-line 15 amp fuse for this cooler. I'll terminate it with a a 2-pole DC plug, where it mates to the fridge.

Anyway, this is an FYI. Hope you don't make my mistake!

Gregg in Portland

[Civil_War_Buff]

Thanks for the heads up Gregg, I was going to do just as you warned against on my trip..I will have to devise something else.  I think that I will add something that conects to the battery as well.

Larry

[BobWilson]

Gregg,

What model refrig did you get and how much current does it require?
Seems like that 5a circuit needs an indicator light to show that it is live and a fuse.

Bob W.

Bob:
The refridge has a 16 amp fuse on the plug!! I looked earlier today - it's rated at 6 amps... OOOP's! :-[

When I pulled out the wiengard wall socket to look, it is "fused" in that once the plastic bottom of the DC socket melts away, the flat metal spade tip that completes the circuit at the bottom of the socket falls away from the socket and hangs by it's connector wire.

Kind of a wierd set up, crude but effective... Oh well, another lesson learned the hard way.

Gregg

Bob:
Sorry only answered half your question. As to the model of the fridge. It's a Dometic 3-way power fridge. It even has wheels no less. makes it a whole lot easier to move around.

We had nothing but bad luck with TE coolers, so I invested in this. What a difference. Camping World has them on sale. I ran it on AC power this weekend since I had a full hookup site.

Gregg

[Bill]

We had nothing but bad luck with TE coolers...

It is sad that so many people have had bad luck with TE. Our Coleman ($79 from WalMart) is wonderful, and we wouldn't be without it, but it seems that trouble is more the rule than the exception.

For those of you with TE troubles, here is one possible help. A few weeks ago, we were dry-camping in the Chiricahua Mountains in Arizona. In the space next to us was a couple in a tent (brave folks! it was cold!), and I noticed that they had my exact Coleman TE cooler on their picnic table. I asked him how he liked it, and he gave it a kick and a sneer, and said "Darn thing never worked, so I just use it as a regular ice chest." I asked if I could take a look at it. I removed the cover over the TE unit, and found that the fan mounting was crooked, and the fan rotor was firmly lodged against the plastic housing. When the fan doesn't turn, the unit doesn't cool, of course! I straightened the fan, turned the unit on, and it cooled like a champ.

It reminded me that when our unit was about 6 months old, the fan started making a whizzing noise. I opened it up and found the same thing. The fan is vibration-isolated by mounting it on four rubber washers, and the guy at the factory was a little over-zealous with his air-powered screwdriver. As the cooler aged, the rubber gradually crushed, the fan housing twisted, and eventually the rotor came in contact with the case, making the noise. But if it had fully crushed before we bought it, we would never have known that the fan wasn't running.

Anyway, my point is that these things have only two parts - the TE module (a 4"x4" block of finned metal), and a small circulating fan to bring the cold air into the food compartment. There is very little that can go wrong. If you have one, and it won't cool, open it up. If there is 12-volt power to the TE module, and the fan goes around, it almost HAS to work.

Bill

Bill:
On mine, the DC wire melted last summer on our trip home from Arizona. I canned it as I wouldn't trust it any longer, but thanks for the tip.

Plus, a TE cooler is only good for 40 degree's below ambient.  :-/ It's fine if you're camping when it's 80 outside, but if you go to the Southwestern Desert and it's 105 outside, then it's no longer effective as a refrige or cooler.

That's why I replaced it with a gas absorption portable fridge.

Just my 2 cents anyhow.

Gregg

I bought a 400W inverter on our last trip.  We used it on the DC plug connection to run the TV and VCR.  Seemed to work fine but now I am concerned.  Will that plug handle my inverter w/ TV, etc.?   As you guys are aware, I am a zero in the electrical department.

Chris

[Bill]

Bill:
On mine, the DC wire melted last summer on our trip home from Arizona. I canned it as I wouldn't trust it any longer, but thanks for the tip.

Plus, a TE cooler is only good for 40 degree's below ambient. :-/ It's fine if you're camping when it's 80 outside, but if you go to the Southwestern Desert and it's 105 outside, then it's no longer effective as a refrige or cooler.

That's why I replaced it with a gas absorption portable fridge.

Gregg -  

Yes, I remember that incident.  We never did figure out where the short was.  Wish I could have gotten my hands on the unit for you ...

You're right about the 40 degrees below ambient.  'Course I live in the Arizona desert half the year, so I try never to camp where it is 105!  In the summer I camp in the mountains, and put off my desert camping until the temp drops to 80.  Fewer scorpions, centipedes, and rattlers, too!  But you are right - if you are out there at 105, a gas absorption refrig is the only decent solution - a TE certainly is not it.

Bill

[Bill]

I bought a 400W inverter on our last trip. We used it on the DC plug connection to run the TV and VCR. Seemed to work fine but now I am concerned. Will that plug handle my inverter w/ TV, etc.? As you guys are aware, I am a zero in the electrical department.

Chris

Chris -

Figure it this way.  Your TV/VCR unit probably draws about 60 watts.  (You should check the label on the back for this number.)  To get 60 watts out of a 12 volt source, you need 5 amps.  (watts = volts X amps)  Add another 10-20% for inverter losses, and you are drawing maybe 5.5-6 amps through the cigarette-lighter cord and into your inverter.

In other words, you are close to the edge, but should be all right AS LONG AS YOU KEEP THE PLUG AND SOCKET CLEAN.  I suggest you wipe off the plug if you see any crud on it, then insert the plug fully and firmly, then rotate the plug a bit in the socket to scrape the contact areas clean.

Be sure to check the label on your TV/VCR, though.  Some are a lot more than 60 watts.

Bill