NomadicLife.com.au
Fridge connections in a 4x4 and the use of adaptors
Some Fridges use a cigarette lighter fitting, which
means most auto accessories stores can help with an adaptor,
but others have a custom connector. The custom connector is
technically better because it screws in, rather than the
cigarette lighter type plug, which can vibrate out over
rough terrain. Adaptors can be purchased either from
the fridge supplier, or a 4wd accessories specialist.
The 4x4 specialists typically do car installs, and therefore
can source the socket piece required, or they may be able to
custom make a splitter.
It would however be preferable to take the problem to a 4wd
specialist to get the right options in the first place.
Running a fridge, plus potentially a second fridge is likely
to cause an issues with the current drawn. Using adaptors is
not always a safe way to run any electrical accessory, as it
may cause more current to be drawn, than the wiring is able
to take.
The standard wiring to the boot accessories point in most
4x4's, is very light weight. The fuse used, may not be up to
the load. The best option would therefore be to speak to a
qualified auto electrician, or a 4x4 accessories store. They
can assess what is going to be plugged in, and fix all these
issues, which may require a second battery to be installed.
As part of the process they can also mount a second
point in the car to plug in whatever other accessories are
to be used.
See also this
tale of caution about a 4x4 that had a problem, but it
was not Fridge related.
How to do a quality search using a search engine How
to find the answers to your questions, and get a better
quality result? As with anything else, the better you do it,
the better the result. There is a method, to what at times
seems to be the madness of a Search Engine (e.g. Google
etc). There is a system called Boolean Operators, which is
part of the "language" used, and the proximity of the words
to each other. There is a lot of information about it on the
internet, but in simple terms, see the examples below.
One of the more powerful tools that can be used is:
"inverted commas". By putting something in quote marks, it
narrows the search to that exact phrase. An example might
be, you have the phone number of a company, but not the
address, so put the phone number in quotation marks. They
need to have a site, or are listed somewhere on the
internet, and the exact format they use, for this to work.
The number has the usual 8 digits, try it in several ways if
you have to. For instance "0000 0000" and if there is no
result, try using the spaces differently for example. "00
000000". Using the same principle, it is easier to find a
company, or information. If it is for instance the
"Australian chamber orchestra" being searched for, without
quotes you will find many sites which mention them, but with
quotes, their official site is the top search (in Google at
least).
Boolean Operators
| Operator | Example search | The search will find... | Venn diagram results shown in pink |
| AND | north carolina and prohibition | items containing "North
Carolina" and "prohibition." AND narrows a
search, resulting in fewer hits. |
 |
| OR | zimbabwe or rhodesia | items containing either "Zimbabwe" or "Rhodesia" or both. OR broadens a search, resulting in more hits. |
 |
| NOT* | mexico not new mexico | items containing "Mexico" but not "New Mexico." Caution! It is easy to exclude relevant items, so use with care, or re-search if the results do not find what you want. |
 |
*NOTES: Some systems use AND NOT or ANDNOT in place of NOT. While most systems are case insensitive, a few systems, such as Britannica Online, require you to type Boolean operators in upper case.
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