Reata's Build Thread
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12v Always ON ARB fridge with ARB wiring loom kit
Reata and others,
After having been a longtime forum stalker, this is my first post. I must first say a huge thank you to everyone on this forum as I am totally green when it comes to working on cars. I really wouldn't have been able to accomplish any of these mods without reading and seeing what others had already attempted. So, THANKS.
Disclaimer: I didn't take pics yet as I was too frustrated and the heat index was 115 or something.
We have a summer road trip coming up which is my excuse to the wife for all my recent mods. That being said I attempted (with stress on attempted) the 12v fridge mod. I decided to go ahead and use the ARB loom because it already had an inline fuse and 12v female socket (although I didn't realize the difference between a regular old American cigarette lighter vs I assume, an Australian 2-pole design which the loom has). Anyway, literally seven hours later I ended up finishing and the darn thing actually works!? I pretty much copied my install from Reatas pics. I ran into a few problems though:
First of all, the loom contains a ground and hot wire, so it is alot bigger than just a single wire. This gave me problems at the firewall. In the rubber gasket, the large loom wire would not fit next to the rear windshield washer line like Reatas. So next to this, I cut off the the pointed rubber nipple seen in Reatas pic which ended up working out ok.
My next hiccup was threading the large loom through the B pillar base back to the second row. The loom would not fit within the Toyota white plastic channel so I opted to go lateral to this for a course of about 5inches between the channel and the base of the metal B pillar frame. As far as loom protection this is one spot I am worried about as this is really the only area near metal.
I also had trouble removing the rear cargo panels on the wall which incidentally look a little different in my Limited with 3rd row. I put the new outlet alongside the factory rear 12v/plug like Reata. I also did my first solder and heat shrink as the loom needs to be cut to size. ARB provides 15 ft of loom which was more than enough for this application. I had a heck of a time removing the factory 12v/plug housing--there must be some special tool for this!? I would not recommend a flat head screwdriver!
All in all, like I said the fridge works well. I am currently experimenting with running the fridge on the lowest level of battery protection with a single factory battery, to see if I will still be able to start the car! One cool thing (pun intended) I have noticed is at night I can see the temp readout clearly via the rear window reflection in my rearview mirror while driving.
Other thing about the loom as I said before, the outlet it comes with is not the typical American cig lighter one. It fits the supplied fridge cord but I dont know what else. This I decided is ok with me for now as the fridge will be dedicated to this outlet.
I hope my next mods will prove less time consuming and frustrating, but it was a great learning experience and I am glad I did it. Next up for me, is the GOBI install and the Roof top tent as long as the rack gets to me before our trip (fingers crossed). If not, I am up shat creek without a paddle...
Sorry for the lengthy post- you guys rock
Later
Reata and others,
After having been a longtime forum stalker, this is my first post. I must first say a huge thank you to everyone on this forum as I am totally green when it comes to working on cars. I really wouldn't have been able to accomplish any of these mods without reading and seeing what others had already attempted. So, THANKS.
Disclaimer: I didn't take pics yet as I was too frustrated and the heat index was 115 or something.
We have a summer road trip coming up which is my excuse to the wife for all my recent mods. That being said I attempted (with stress on attempted) the 12v fridge mod. I decided to go ahead and use the ARB loom because it already had an inline fuse and 12v female socket (although I didn't realize the difference between a regular old American cigarette lighter vs I assume, an Australian 2-pole design which the loom has). Anyway, literally seven hours later I ended up finishing and the darn thing actually works!? I pretty much copied my install from Reatas pics. I ran into a few problems though:
First of all, the loom contains a ground and hot wire, so it is alot bigger than just a single wire. This gave me problems at the firewall. In the rubber gasket, the large loom wire would not fit next to the rear windshield washer line like Reatas. So next to this, I cut off the the pointed rubber nipple seen in Reatas pic which ended up working out ok.
My next hiccup was threading the large loom through the B pillar base back to the second row. The loom would not fit within the Toyota white plastic channel so I opted to go lateral to this for a course of about 5inches between the channel and the base of the metal B pillar frame. As far as loom protection this is one spot I am worried about as this is really the only area near metal.
I also had trouble removing the rear cargo panels on the wall which incidentally look a little different in my Limited with 3rd row. I put the new outlet alongside the factory rear 12v/plug like Reata. I also did my first solder and heat shrink as the loom needs to be cut to size. ARB provides 15 ft of loom which was more than enough for this application. I had a heck of a time removing the factory 12v/plug housing--there must be some special tool for this!? I would not recommend a flat head screwdriver!
All in all, like I said the fridge works well. I am currently experimenting with running the fridge on the lowest level of battery protection with a single factory battery, to see if I will still be able to start the car! One cool thing (pun intended) I have noticed is at night I can see the temp readout clearly via the rear window reflection in my rearview mirror while driving.
Other thing about the loom as I said before, the outlet it comes with is not the typical American cig lighter one. It fits the supplied fridge cord but I dont know what else. This I decided is ok with me for now as the fridge will be dedicated to this outlet.
I hope my next mods will prove less time consuming and frustrating, but it was a great learning experience and I am glad I did it. Next up for me, is the GOBI install and the Roof top tent as long as the rack gets to me before our trip (fingers crossed). If not, I am up shat creek without a paddle...
Sorry for the lengthy post- you guys rock
Later
limamike
New member
Reata is the man! This thread, along with a little support from him helped me do the 12v install. ARB fridge is now in and running!
I need to do this for my fridge.
Also, FYI to anyone running a fridge on the stock battery: I ran my fridge at very low temperatures in very high heat for over 12 hours without running the truck. I've read of plenty of people over at EP that have run a compressor-based fridge for days on a stock single-battery setup without every running the truck and having no issue when they went to start the truck. I don't know if the ARB or Engel fridges have this feature (I'm surprised if they don't), but my EdgeStar automatically shuts-off if the volate gets too low.
Anyway, cool setup Reata and Joneseyyy. I'll get there soon!
Reata
New member
No clue on this fellas. I have the Engel and don't even know if this is a function of mine or not. I run it all the time (beer and water) and havent had any troubles. I do have the Monster platinum DieHard. See thread for details on battery install. I have run the fridge and my CPAP overnight with no problems at startup the next morning, but I always worry about it and take a back up to jump off of just in case.
Titanpat57
Senior Member
I ran a new 10# wire and outlet in the cargo section (down the drivers side, under the door sills)to run the fridge. I also used the Sears Platinum, going to a Blue Sea 6 fuse panel, then run accessories from that. My fear was the wire going to OEM outlet was too small (I believe it's 16#) and that over a period of time it would ruin my Engel from running " starved voltage" to it (but we're not dealing with heat anywhere near you guys).....I recently read a graph that showed the voltage drop after running a certain amount of feet, so that's what prompted the new socket.
Is the Cpap 12v also?? I have to get one this month, it'd be nice if it was.
The Gobi rack looks great! What's the plan for addtional lighting?
Is the Cpap 12v also?? I have to get one this month, it'd be nice if it was.
The Gobi rack looks great! What's the plan for addtional lighting?
Titanpat57
Senior Member
Thanks for the info! It'll be a big help.
I completed the second part of the sleep study a few weeks ago, so I'm hoping the company that supplies the machine had contacted me before the Vermont Expo...so I'll probably get shot by other campers for keeping them up all night!......hope jonessyy remembers his earplugs!:boxer:
Thanks again:cheers:
Pat
I completed the second part of the sleep study a few weeks ago, so I'm hoping the company that supplies the machine had contacted me before the Vermont Expo...so I'll probably get shot by other campers for keeping them up all night!......hope jonessyy remembers his earplugs!:boxer:
Thanks again:cheers:
Pat
Reata
New member
Yes, I was and in fact, my buss bar idea (although a great idea) I ended up scrapping and just man-handled the bad boy in there. It works great and has provided me great service. I still want to go dual of this size, but haven't done it yet. Got the lift on and now just need another $1,000 for shoes. BT/KO's in 235/80/17. Same size almost exactly, just narrower. I like a narrow track anyway. What are your thoughts?
Reata
New member
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