Assistance with electrics on a small fridge

[DC]

Hi all, I recently acquired a small fridge from an old place of work and its brand new with instructions and its supposed to be used for camping or boating it’s a 12v / 24v fridge. I am just unsure on how to wire it up?
I have one of those multi volt adaptor things and I was wondering if I could just wire it up to that at 12v to see if it works? As I don’t have a 12v / 24v battery.
It has a sticker on the back saying it needs a “Pre fuse required” and I am not sure what that means? Please see pictures below, hoping someone can give me a few pointers on how to wire this fridge up so I can test it out?

In the instructions it mentions using a MOBITRONIC EPS-100W and MPS-35 rectifiers to connect them to a 230v mains supply (see picture below)












Any help will be greatly appreciated
Cheers DC

[AnthonyUK]

Use a car battery charger to power it as I would guess it is from a caravan/RV.

[themadhippy]

I have one of those multi volt adaptor things and I was wondering if I could just wire it up to that at 12v to see if it works? As I don’t have a 12v / 24v battery.

not unless it can give out 10 Amp,most struggle with a 1A load,

Pre fuse required” and I am not sure what that means?

you need to put a fuse holder on the red wire and fit a 15A fuse

Use a car battery charger to power it

might work if theres no fancy electronics ,most car battery chargers dont give out a smoothed DC.could always try it on a car battery

[DC]

Hi Guys, thanks for the swift replies Madhippy you said “you need to put a fuse holder on the red wire and fit a 15A fuse”. I googled fuse holder 15 A and it came up with car related fuse holders and fuses is that the right sort of thing? Or can I get one from my local electrical hardware shop? Also will I need to add a fuse and holder even if I am using a 12v battery?
Cheers DC

[AnthonyUK]

I would definitely add a fuse if running from a battery in case of a short.
A fuse rated at 240v will be OK for the same rating and a 13A would probably be close enough.

[DC]

Would I need something like this ? that are used for cars ? with a 15 amp fuse?



Cheers DC

[BenB]

Having a fuse like that inline is a good idea just in case it's not working properly. A nice fat 12v shortcircuit can do bad things. Have you not got access to someone with a car and some jump leads? I wouldn't use a car battery charger as said because some of the modern ones are "intelligent" and won't work and the simpler ones are pretty crude devices chucking out variable volts at constant ampage which it might not also like.

If you go to the local tip they'll likely have some old car batteries. Borrow one of those for a while. It may not hold a charge for long but enough to show whether the fridge works....

[steambrew]

We used to have a similar type fridge it was connected to a 12 volt battery and charged up as necessary on our boat but when on dry land we used a 240 volt ac to a 12 dc control box from Maplins worked perfectly Please remember the fridge is DC so no home plugs fuses are of any use to you

[themadhippy]

Yep that car inline fuse is fine.
Steam brew care to explain why plug fuse wont be any good on DC?

[BenB]

Amps is amps. Don't matter if it's 12v dc or 240ac. Fuse wire burns because of amps not volts.

[irv]

i felt this was the the right time and place to quote my dad "it's the volts that jolt and the amps that kill you"

it might not be relevant but its been a long week and i've had a few....

[AnthonyUK]

Yep that car inline fuse is fine.
Steam brew care to explain why plug fuse wont be any good on DC?

The thing to consider with DC is the risk of an arc across the fuse but at 12v it isn't an issue given the size of plug fuses.

[steambrew]

As for my reply this came about from reading 16 edition on the present electricity regulations , if you are happy to go this route go for it ,

[DC]

Hey guys, once again thanks for the replies I borrowed my brother in laws car battery charger and tested the fridge out and it works fine ! So I can either get an line fuse and a rechargeable 12v battery and use it to store yeast sample or I may sell it on as I already have a number of fridges.

Cheers DC

[themadhippy]

As for my reply this came about from reading 16 edition on the present electricity regulations , if you are happy to go this route go for it

16th edition is so last season, the 17th edition has been the present regs since 2008,but even back then i dont recall there being anything about BS1362 fuses and DC.