Engel 3 pin plug on 12v

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mickstanz

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Hey,
Just got myself a new 60L Engel for the camper trailer. As it only just fits into the fridge slide - the plugs on the side are not able to fit. My plan is to open it up this weekend and solder in a new cord that will run out of the rear vent instead - Straight from the wires on the inside. Both 12V and 240V.

Problem is that i see the 12V plug has 3 pins? Just wondering if anybody knows what the 3rd one is for? Or is it just there and unused?


The 12V plug - i'll be cutting off the fridge end and will use a anderson plug instead, and will also put a anderson plug on the end that i cut off so i have the option of using the original side plug if i want.

240V plug - will cut off the fridge end and use original lead to hard wire directly to inside of fridge. This means i wont be able to remove the 240V lead but as this fridge is going to live in the camper 24/7 i'll just coil it up behind the fridge and get it out when i need it. Down the track i'm going to wire camper up for 240V anyway.


Anybody see any issues with my plan? I'm confident with my soldering so i can't see that being an issue as long as theres somewhere i can get to the wires i need.
 
Sounds like it will work fine, I'm fairly sure the third pin is not active and is there to secure the plug into the socket. Make sure everything is fused
 
I've started to change all my toy's to anderson plugs, I find them much more reliable and I know after a 6 hour drive the fridge is still running. Cig plugs are shite as far as I am concerned.
 
Cigarette lighter plugs are for cigarettes....another thing too, I have replaced my 7 pin flat trailer plug with a 12 pin flat plug, the five extra connections are capable of accepting heavier cables (including the earth return) and I have eliminated the separate Anderson plug for the fridge...and the 7 pin flat plugs can still be fitted into the 12 pin.
 
I hope the fridge your powering is of compressor variety and not a 3 way, I feel those plugs are incapable of supplying the amount of power those Noah's Ark fridges draw, a designated anderson would be the only "safe" option.
 
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Smaller 3-way fridges only draw about 10A on 12V but again, like caravan 3-way fridges, they're unregulated on 12V. It draws that 10A constantly. Invert the power, it'll consume something like 12A at the inverter's input - but it will use the thermostat, so it'll turn off that consumption once the fridge reaches the desired temperature.

Personally, I use Anderson plugs too. It's not just because I'm using fairly high amounts of current (about 40A to my caravan, but only about 12A into the tub at the most), but it's because Anderson plugs can be relied upon to stay together. In fact, now that arthritis has firmly set in, I find it quite difficult to separate the bloody things!
 
Cheers for the feedback.

Took the Engel apart today for a look (Taking apart a brand new Engel wasnt fun!), as youll see in the pictures there are just spade connectors on the back of the plug, so i'm not going to have to cut/solder anything - simply going to find the right size spade connectors (just your basic ones i think they are) to fit into the original plugs and if i ever want to change it back again (warranty claim etc) i can just change it back to normal and i cant see anyway they would be able to tell i'v ever changed it.

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Cheers guys hope this can help somebody in the future. Now to go make it fit into the camper...
 

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