ARB fridge not cooling well on 12v

[flyinhawaiian01]

Wow! That is a serious automated switch "pod"! Pretty interesting how they have it set up, digital circuits trip and reset when the load is either reduced or short is eliminated. I would not be surprised if this becomes incorporated into new vehicles within the next few years, if it hasn't already started!

Price tag is crazy though, but I can't say anything about it, I have LOTS of expensive gadgets around here that many friends have scoffed at!

Its nice to have the plug direct to the fridge, although most of us, I believe, just wired the rear cig jack to the 8awg wire and called it good. At least that's what I did, those jacks are rated at 10A, which is over twice the amperage than what I've seen from the ARB fridge.

You know most of us here by now! For the most part, we all do stuff the right way and will spend the money for doing so, but if there's a way to do it cheaper and still be safe/solid, we'll go that route first!!! :guitar2:

 

[familymopar]

Wow! That is a serious automated switch "pod"! Pretty interesting how they have it set up, digital circuits trip and reset when the load is either reduced or short is eliminated. I would not be surprised if this becomes incorporated into new vehicles within the next few years, if it hasn't already started!

Price tag is crazy though, but I can't say anything about it, I have LOTS of expensive gadgets around here that many friends have scoffed at!

Its nice to have the plug direct to the fridge, although most of us, I believe, just wired the rear cig jack to the 8awg wire and called it good. At least that's what I did, those jacks are rated at 10A, which is over twice the amperage than what I've seen from the ARB fridge.

You know most of us here by now! For the most part, we all do stuff the right way and will spend the money for doing so, but if there's a way to do it cheaper and still be safe/solid, we'll go that route first!!! :guitar2:

The s pod is a little ridiculous in terms of price, that' for sure. there are more affordable versions but to be honest what sold me was the ability to dim lights. The bright lights on my truck are great much of the time, but it is not uncommon tat what I want to do is get a little light around the camp and don't want it so blinding. That, eliminating fuses, and the iphone controller option are what sold me on the pricey version. Are there better ways to spend money? I'm sure. But at that moment I convinced myself that this is what I wanted. In hindsight would I buy this one again? I was about to say no, but I probably would.

In terms of the way that you, and apparently most of you, have this thing wired, I am going to immediately plead stupidity. I honestly never even thought to just replace the wiring from the existing 12v outlet, no matter how blatantly obvious that seems now. My previous plan had been to cut the cig lighter end off the stock plug and just join that wire to some 8ga and run that up through the firewall and straight to the battery. Your solution seems embarrassingly apparent now. That being said I suppose I could still do that and return this thing, but removing the interior panels on the truck has proved nerve wracking for me, hence why I currently have my other wires running through the truck along the floor where they are visible. I figured once I had all the wires in there that I thought would be there for a while I would venture into taking the panels apart. Maybe that time is now.

 

[tigger]

Not sure how much money the wiring kit for the arb was, but it would have probably been a lot cheaper to just buy a cheap amplifier wiring kit, such as this one:

http://www.amazon.com/-NEW--WIRING-8GA-CABLES-QPOWER/dp/B00OFNXQHW/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1458671901&sr=8-13&keywords=8+gauge+wiring+kit

That comes with 17 feet of red 8awg wire, a fuse and holder, as well as a bunch of other stuff that you can just throw in a misc. box at home!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO..... speaking from experience, these type of kits are garbage. I ordered this one to do the exact same thing. The 8 gauge wire is probably closer to 12 gauge. (The insulation is 8 gauge though)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FKP7TY?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00

If you go that route, get a name brand.
Did a stereo install for a friend last week with this kit. It was really nice but overkill for your needs. Just stick with a name brand.
Amazon.com: KnuKonceptz KCA Complete 4 Gauge Amp Installation Kit: Automotive

 

[Jhalko]

The s pod is a little ridiculous in terms of price, that' for sure. there are more affordable versions but to be honest what sold me was the ability to dim lights. The bright lights on my truck are great much of the time, but it is not uncommon tat what I want to do is get a little light around the camp and don't want it so blinding. That, eliminating fuses, and the iphone controller option are what sold me on the pricey version. Are there better ways to spend money? I'm sure. But at that moment I convinced myself that this is what I wanted. In hindsight would I buy this one again? I was about to say no, but I probably would.

In terms of the way that you, and apparently most of you, have this thing wired, I am going to immediately plead stupidity. I honestly never even thought to just replace the wiring from the existing 12v outlet, no matter how blatantly obvious that seems now. My previous plan had been to cut the cig lighter end off the stock plug and just join that wire to some 8ga and run that up through the firewall and straight to the battery. Your solution seems embarrassingly apparent now. That being said I suppose I could still do that and return this thing, but removing the interior panels on the truck has proved nerve wracking for me, hence why I currently have my other wires running through the truck along the floor where they are visible. I figured once I had all the wires in there that I thought would be there for a while I would venture into taking the panels apart. Maybe that time is now.

I have an Spod I'm installing soon, not the smartphone version. I also have an Indel B fridge to go in. Still debating whether I was going to wire it through the spod as I'm going to run a new 12v outlet and 8g wire for it in the rear. Interested to see how yours goes.

 

[familymopar]

I have an Spod I'm installing soon, not the smartphone version. I also have an Indel B fridge to go in. Still debating whether I was going to wire it through the spod as I'm going to run a new 12v outlet and 8g wire for it in the rear. Interested to see how yours goes.

I think you will be very happy with the s pod. I think what I am going to do is run the arb wirekit from s pod to the rear and hopefully flush mount it on the drivers side wheel well opposite the stock 12v (I have the fridge on the driver side because it fits perfectly behind the 40% seat). Whether I can flush mount it depends on whether the arb plug socket detaches from the large mounting housing it comes in. In either event, I have 4 s pod spots open so I will be connecting it through there for the time being, if I ever need the last spot I can just move it to the battery. But for now I like the idea of being able to remotely monitor the battery and click the fridge on and off if need be.

If you have the s pod se you have the capability of adding the smartphone doodad. It didn't come with it and is an add on. It wasn't out when I got mine but they were talking about it and I ordered it just recently. Seems like a good idea but of course it was another chunk of change to send s pod.

I keep flirting with the idea of starting a build / adventure thread and starting at the beginning and catching up to now. That is severely unlikely by this weekend though (and I have taken few pics along the way) so I will make sure to post results back here for you. I look forward to hearing how your system works out as well.

 

[wcjeep]

I did a wiring home run for my ARB fridge. The female 12v plug I used was low quality. The ARB fridge was not happy. Anything else I plugged in did not care. Eventually I plugged in a small inverter. ARB fridge into the invertor. No more problem.

 

[flyinhawaiian01]

I did a wiring home run for my ARB fridge. The female 12v plug I used was low quality. The ARB fridge was not happy. Anything else I plugged in did not care. Eventually I plugged in a small inverter. ARB fridge into the invertor. No more problem.

Unfortunately, inverters are inherently inefficient, I've seen some that are rated at 65% efficiency, so that causes your electric usage to go up quite a bit.

Even though your ARB fridge only uses around 2-4 amps, with an inverter, you end up using as much as 6-7 amps, possibly more depending on how much overhead the inverter uses.

I'd still do a dedicated line from the battery over to the cig plug outlet, eliminating the extra piece of equipment.

I'm gonna do some testing with my ARB and my 30A power supply to see exactly what loads look like when it turns on. It has an amp/volt meter built in so I can see exactly what the load looks like at different voltages. This would be much more helpful to see EXACTLY what a standard ARB fridge requires for power.

 

[flyinhawaiian01]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO..... speaking from experience, these type of kits are garbage. I ordered this one to do the exact same thing. The 8 gauge wire is probably closer to 12 gauge. (The insulation is 8 gauge though)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FKP7TY?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00

If you go that route, get a name brand.
Did a stereo install for a friend last week with this kit. It was really nice but overkill for your needs. Just stick with a name brand.
Amazon.com: KnuKonceptz KCA Complete 4 Gauge Amp Installation Kit: Automotive

Yeah, I know Brian, but that kit I posted to would be just fine for up to 10A @ 20 feet of 10awg cabling with a 3% voltage drop, assuming its actual copper wire and not copper-clad steel wire! I think I'm using that one for mine, actually. Nope, just checked, mine says "Tsunami 8awg" on it. It was still cheap though. So far, so good!

I use this chart just for reference of current drain/wire requirements:

http://assets.bluesea.com/files/resources/newsletter/images/DC_wire_selection_chartlg.jpg


Interesting to note here too, that @ approx. 20 feet, and given the stock wiring is probably 16~18 awg wire, that chart says approx. 10% voltage drop! So, at 12 volts at battery, you're probably only getting around 10.8volts with a load. That means more amp draw, which of course kills the battery even faster.

 

[tigger]

I did a wiring home run for my ARB fridge. The female 12v plug I used was low quality. The ARB fridge was not happy. Anything else I plugged in did not care. Eventually I plugged in a small inverter. ARB fridge into the invertor. No more problem.

Unfortunately, inverters are inherently inefficient, I've seen some that are rated at 65% efficiency, so that causes your electric usage to go up quite a bit.

Even though your ARB fridge only uses around 2-4 amps, with an inverter, you end up using as much as 6-7 amps, possibly more depending on how much overhead the inverter uses.

I'd still do a dedicated line from the battery over to the cig plug outlet, eliminating the extra piece of equipment.

I'm gonna do some testing with my ARB and my 30A power supply to see exactly what loads look like when it turns on. It has an amp/volt meter built in so I can see exactly what the load looks like at different voltages. This would be much more helpful to see EXACTLY what a standard ARB fridge requires for power.

This is a note from TruckFridge for the Indel B which is the same compressor as the ARB...

"(Note: Although the 110vAC will run on a correctly sized inverter, this is not the best method. It is best to let the fridge run on 12vDC, as the inverter duplicates the fridge electronics by changing 12vDC to 110vAC and the fridge then changes 110vAC back to 12vDC.)"

 

[wcjeep]

This is a note from TruckFridge for the Indel B which is the same compressor as the ARB...

"(Note: Although the 110vAC will run on a correctly sized inverter, this is not the best method. It is best to let the fridge run on 12vDC, as the inverter duplicates the fridge electronics by changing 12vDC to 110vAC and the fridge then changes 110vAC back to 12vDC.)"

That makes total sense. Running the inverter is an extra hoop to jump through for the power. The inverter takes power to operate. This would waist power overall. I normally run the ARB fridge in my Dodge Diesel. I have extra DC power to spare. Some vehicles barely have enough alternator capacity to run stock systems. Adding additional amp draw with a poorly fitted cold rated alternator could be asking for trouble. I'm referencing the 87-95 Jeep YJ. I have no idea if the 4Runner alternator is correctly fitted for the vehicle.

 

[familymopar]

Slight stall since this happened:

<a href="http://s1292.photobucket.com/user/chuckgreenlee/media/unspecified%2010_zpsgzgrphsq.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b573/chuckgreenlee/unspecified%2010_zpsgzgrphsq.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo unspecified 10_zpsgzgrphsq.jpg"/></a>

New one should be here tomorrow.

 

[ADVnut]

Wiring to rear

I'm curious as to what cabling route you all are taking to the rear of the vehicle?

I am wanting to add a dedicated run of ~8-10 awg to the passenger rear tire hump, similar to stock for my Indel B fridge.

It seems that through the cab, under the truck, or through the frame might be options.

:cheers:

 

[tigger]

I'm curious as to what cabling route you all are taking to the rear of the vehicle?

I am wanting to add a dedicated run of ~8-10 awg to the passenger rear tire hump, similar to stock for my Indel B fridge.

It seems that through the cab, under the truck, or through the frame might be options.

:cheers:

I ran from under the passenger seat as I installed a distribution block there. Otherwise I would have come through the large grommet on the bulkhead and straight down the drivers side inside (if you are adding new).

 

[ADVnut]

I ran from under the passenger seat as I installed a distribution block there. Otherwise I would have come through the large grommet on the bulkhead and straight down the drivers side inside (if you are adding new).

Thanks for the info. I am most likely coming from the engine bay the more I think about it. Not sure if it makes more sense to go through the firewall or enter the cab at the rear and run the length underneath.

Under seems like it would be easier.

 

[familymopar]

Thanks for the info. I am most likely coming from the engine bay the more I think about it. Not sure if it makes more sense to go through the firewall or enter the cab at the rear and run the length underneath.

Under seems like it would be easier.

I did a lot of looking around under the truck and could not find a satisfactory route. My fridge line comes off the battery, through the firewall grommet, along the driver side to the cargo area. I have not pulled the trim pieces and it just runs along the crease between the trim and the carpet.

My lights on top take the same route. I dropped the wires down along the weatherstrip on the rear hatch and then they just pop in over the weather strip (for now), under the cargo tray and meet up with the fridge line running up the driver side and through the grommet. Three cords in all that are hardly noticeable as they are, partially due to the weathertech liners.

I do intend to rewire behind / underneath the panels but really only wanted to do it once so I was waiting until I thought most or all of the wiring I "intend" to do was done.

 

[Jhalko]

Thanks for the info. I am most likely coming from the engine bay the more I think about it. Not sure if it makes more sense to go through the firewall or enter the cab at the rear and run the length underneath.

Under seems like it would be easier.

I did a lot of looking around under the truck and could not find a satisfactory route. My fridge line comes off the battery, through the firewall grommet, along the driver side to the cargo area. I have not pulled the trim pieces and it just runs along the crease between the trim and the carpet.

My lights on top take the same route. I dropped the wires down along the weatherstrip on the rear hatch and then they just pop in over the weather strip (for now), under the cargo tray and meet up with the fridge line running up the driver side and through the grommet. Three cords in all that are hardly noticeable as they are, partially due to the weathertech liners.

I do intend to rewire behind / underneath the panels but really only wanted to do it once so I was waiting until I thought most or all of the wiring I "intend" to do was done.

Take it through the firewall then under driver side trim, those pieces come up super easy, I can't remember if you have to take the trim piece where the seat belt attaches off (don't even ask why I had it all off before!). In the second row I have taken off the little step plate (you may not have that as I have third row). Then you can get in and under the rear cargo driver trim easily depending on model and setup. As mentioned this is where I'll run my wires, but pulling that trim is really nothing, just pull evenly. Much better than wires outside the truck.

Actually going to start pulling trim and wires now...

 

[familymopar]

Take it through the firewall then under driver side trim, those pieces come up super easy, I can't remember if you have to take the trim piece where the seat belt attaches off (don't even ask why I had it all off before!). In the second row I have taken off the little step plate (you may not have that as I have third row). Then you can get in and under the rear cargo driver trim easily depending on model and setup. As mentioned this is where I'll run my wires, but pulling that trim is really nothing, just pull evenly. Much better than wires outside the truck.

Actually going to start pulling trim and wires now...

I assume you are talking about the sill plates? I have pulled on those pieces with as much force as I am comfortable with and they have not budged. Are the sill plates what you mean? You just pull even and straight and they pop off?

 

[Jhalko]

I assume you are talking about the sill plates? I have pulled on those pieces with as much force as I am comfortable with and they have not budged. Are the sill plates what you mean? You just pull even and straight and they pop off?

Assuming we are talking about the same piece yes, it takes slightly more force than I like but the drivers door plate has four clips and a bunch of slots and if you pull up it will come off. There are pics around here, I will take some tomorrow. My issue is all my truck work begins after my son is in bed while my wife and daughter are out of town the next week or so...

 

[tigger]

I assume you are talking about the sill plates? I have pulled on those pieces with as much force as I am comfortable with and they have not budged. Are the sill plates what you mean? You just pull even and straight and they pop off?

Just get a trim tool, slip it under from the outside and slid sideways until you hit a clip, then pop up. They will handle a lot more pressure that you think. Probably the most durable trim pieces on the 4Runner.

You can see the 4 holes at the bottom of this pic

 

[Jhalko]

Just get a trim tool, slip it under from the outside and slid sideways until you hit a clip, then pop up. They will handle a lot more pressure that you think. Probably the most durable trim pieces on the 4Runner.

You can see the 4 holes at the bottom of this pic

Dude, is that a 4runner interior or a lunar lander? I just pulled up on the edge with my hands, but I generally use trim tools as well.

:clap2::clap2: