12 volt cigarette style receptacle for a fridge

[05kas05]

i was looking to add a 12 volt cigarette style receptacle for my fridge
i have a truckfridge tf-51 12 volt chest freezer.

any recommendations on a good receptacle i found some at the local auto parts but they looked like they were made for light duty stuff such as charging phones and such.
am i being over cautious? I'm honestly not real sure how much power the fridge draws.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

There's a lot of cheap crap out there.

The outlets and plugs available in the boating world are usually pretty good quality.

Blue Sea Marine is a great brand, and can be ordered from Amazon. Not cheap, but high quality stuff.

Regards
John

 

[akrvbob]

Even if you buy quality products they are both going to wear out in a few years because it's an inherently poor design.

You can cut both ends off and replace them with Anderson Connectors and then you're good forever.
http://www.amazon.com/Anderson-Powerpole-Connectors-Pair-Genuine/dp/B005P9CATU/

Bob

 

[karl]

What Bob said- x2

 

[Almost There]

How would you mount them, say in an interior wall?

 

[05kas05]

thanks for the link bob i remember sternwake posting about using those but could not remember the name i went ahead and ordered some to have on hand. now i need to go read the thread on proper crimping and find me some quality crimpers.
i will go ahead and wire in that 12volt socket just for the time being then i can use it for my fan or my phone later. thanks for the help everyone as always it is appreciated !!!

 

[psytechguy]

I use a Blue Sea Marine 12V outlet for my 12V fridge and for all the other outlets in my camper as well. No problems at all. The fridge is around a 2.5 amp draw.

The fridge connect is not an outlet that normally gets plugged/unplugged very often, but nice to have if I need to plug anything else in at that location in a pinch.

I also have 2 of the Blue Sea double USB outlets. Good stuff!

 

[SternWake]

Note that ciggy plugs usually have fuses in them.

Blue seas receptacles are good. But ciggy plugs are inherently pooor connections that will waste some battery power heating the re eptacle plug and wiring.

30 and 45 amp powerpoles are the same size, and will mate together.
But, the 45s are much harder to crimp, almost requiring their special tool to do properly.

Ill admit to screwing up more than one crimp on the 45s, and I'm good at these types of things. The 30s are much easier but can only easily accept 14 GAuge or thinner wire. Ive managed to get 8awg into the 45s. But stripped strands down to 10 awg to fit.

Im probably going to buy the powerpole. Crimper as it will work on regular crimps and insures proper. Rimps on the 45s

 

[05kas05]

sternwake do you have a link to the crimper you were going to buy ? is it available on amazon? if so i would also like to pick one up so i have the right tool for the job.

 

[SternWake]

http://www.powerwerx.com/powerpole-accessories/tricrimp-crimping-powerpole-contacts.html

http://www.amazon.com/Anderson-tricrimp-Tricrimp-Powerpole-Crimper/dp/B000ASDAR2

I've no personal experience with this tool, yet, I just know That my regular wire crimpers need lots of finesse to get a satisfactory result, and I usually shoot way higher than satisfactory.

But my 45 ampers pass 41 ampsfor well over an hour barely getting warm on 8wg, whereas my ciggy plugs melted passing 7.5amp for any length of time.

 

[Reducto]

These crimpers work great on the 30a powerpoles and can be found at any Home Depot or Lowes:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-Tools-9-3-4-in-Crimping-Cutting-Tool-1005/100630657

Put a single crimp in the contact using that tool. Sometimes the end bends up when you do this - bend it back so the whole thing is straight like it was before crimping. Insert it into the housing so that the part of the contact that bends down comes down over the metal thing in the housing. You should hear a little click when it is fully inserted. If it doesn't click, use a jewler's screwdriver to push it the rest of the way in from the back.

When I used to go through a lot of these connectors for a previous hobby I would get more from here:
http://www.powerwerx.com/

The housings can be reused, Just use a small screw driver to lift up the end of the contact and pull the wire out from the back.

 

[SternWake]

Yes the 30 amp powerpoles work fine with many crimpers, but the 45's, which you pretty much need if you want to use 12 or 10 awg wire, are another matter.

There are a bunch of U tube videos on how to do the crimps and insert them into the housings.

I've got a 30 amp powerpole hooked to a Blue seas ciggy plug, as one cannot argue with the ubiquitous nature of ciggy plugs, and generally for anything under 3 or 4 amps there should not be much of an issue.

If there is not a need for multiple connectors, I am not sure I would recommend buying the powerwerks connectors and crimper just for one or 2 connections.

I've got a dozen in use and I have not yet gotten their crimper, but I've also ruined a couple crimps when trying to get 10 or 8 awg into the 45 with the various crimpers I have on hand.

Repeated bending and rebending of the 45 amp tangs is to be avoided.

 

[Reducto]

Yes, those 45 amp connectors are difficult to do right without a proper crimping tool. I don't have anything that requires more than 30 amps, though. I use the tool I linked for lots of other crimping and wire cutting.

The 75 amp connectors are bigger versions of the 30 amp and can be used with a regular crimper.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

How would you mount them, say in an interior wall?

No one has volunteered an answer to this question yet. The best I can think of is to get a blank outlet cover, drill a hole and install a rubber grommet in it, and have a couple of inches of wire with the Power Poles hanging through it.

If someone using them has a better way, I, too, would like to hear it.

Regards
John

 

[05kas05]

i found this i believe would work for mounting into a wall or cabinet
http://www.amazon.com/Anderson-Powe...62&sr=8-1&keywords=power+pole+connector+mount

 

[Almost There]

i found this i believe would work for mounting into a wall or cabinet
http://www.amazon.com/Anderson-Powe...62&sr=8-1&keywords=power+pole+connector+mount

They sure would!

Thanks.

 

[05kas05]

check out the powerwerx.com site that sternwake posted they have some other mounts for them also plus all the connectors and crimpers needed for them.