D3 Fridge - Who's fitted or removed one?
 

Should be getting my hands on a fridge for my S8.

Has anyone fitted one or removed one? Any tips or advice on what is needed would be appreciated. I have read the Tech Dump on it but first hand experience is always better!

Thanks

OK so I now have my fridge, just have to find time to fit it.

Looking at the loom, it is basically a 12v and earth so I can't see why it needs to be routed all the way along the side of the car to the front fuse box when a feed can be taken from the boot.

If anyone has the fridge fitted from factory, could they tell me if the rear interior lights come on when it is opened? I read it somewhere on the 'net but it was a bit vague.

I heard other people say it only comes on with the ignition.
There is no ignition controlled 12v in the boot :(
dognmonkey website shows how you can use a relay and take a trigger off the reversing camera module if you have it.
http://www.dognmonkey.com/audi/how-t...udi-a8-d3.html

That makes sense.

A mate of mine needed to have a fridge or cool box in his car when travelling around Europe to keep medical items in that HAD to permanently stay cool.
In the end he fitted a dedicated second battery and appropriate control circuits so that it ran all the time but was recharged when the engine was running.

Bit OTT, and it was a BMW not an Audi, but it worked.

The special armoured A8 has a second battery, no idea where it went.

That's interesting as the donor vehicle owner said he wired it on the LHS where the DVD etc sit. There is also a 12v socket in the boot (I think) so wouldn't that be ignition controlled?

I think you're correct in that the fridge would indeed only work when ignition is on which is probably a bit pointless but it's just one of those stupid things I wanted :ROFL:

There is a magnet in the fridge door which is acting as a switch for something...I can't see it cutting the power when open but I think this is to operate the interior rear lights when open. Will have another read of the instructions and see which circuit are tapping into.

Hi, Homer.
I've retrofitted a fridge in my MY08 S8, after a previous restoration (white plastic became beige, full cleaning, testing and painting of the door and visible plastics in the same color of the leather).
The fridge comes with a calculator that activates/ desactivates the unit depending on the inlet voltage. If it's too low, the fridge won't start, in order to preserve the battery.
The little magnet in the door is a detector. When the fridge is under voltage and the door is open, the led light in the inside turns on.
Concerning the fridge, it's a very good unit, which runs with compressor instead of Peltier cell (this last one with a limited capacity of cooling and performance). Thus, the fridge is able to cool and freeze, in fact, after the maximum cooling position, you'll hear a "clic" where the fridge is able to keep sub-zero temperatures, very nice!.
About the installation. The power supply is basically a 12V DC. The connector is very tyical on VAG's, for example, it's the same one that the used in the footwells, door lights, etc, therefore you can get it easily.
In my case, before making the factory installation, I used the 12V power supply in the boot (Mine comes with that option), using a homemade power cable, with 1.5 mm2 wires (positive and mass) and a cigarette lighter connector, fused with a 10A fuse. Not all the cigarette lighter connector are prepared to withstand that current, and in some of them the current can melt the plastic... so finally I've performed the factory wiring in my car, following the procedure of the Manual from the Tech Dump, except for the connection of the positive wire.
In fact, if you look the wiring schemas of the Tech Dump, on section 116-Refrigerator Box, you'll find two different wiring schemas, depending on the MY of your car. Retrofitting instructions of the coolbox specifies the instalation up to MY05 (10A fuse and connection to the relay J680- terminal 75); MY06 and above comes with a 15A fuse, and the power supply comes from J329 relay (Terminal 15), that only gives power when the contact is on. I honestly prefer this option because is the right one for my S8, and because this option prevents for battery draining if I forget to turn off the fridge.
In case of need, I keep the wire to the 12V supply of the boot (by the way, is permanent), and in case, I can use a Suaoki Jump Starter U28, that acts as an external battery as well, and comes with a cigarette lighter female plug.
If you finally decide to install the factory wiring, here are the references of the pins that you need, if you want to crimp them instead of soldering:
-Fuse holder in fuse box: N 907 326 03 (You'll need 2, sold in pack of 25),
-Fridge Connector: N 906 845 05 (Same as previous).

Don't hesitate to ask me if you need more information.

Cheers

Hi Tiburon3, thank you so much for such a detailed post! Mine is also a facelift so will go for the latter instructions. Were there any particular issues with the fitting, trim removal or wiring? My plastics are also with the painters at the moment, will pick them up in the new year now probably.

The only Tech Dump I read was 30 - retrofitting the coolbox. I will have a look at the one you mentioned. Thank you

You won't have any particular issues, just take your time and be careful when you pry off an reassemble the trims.
Have a look to Tech Dump #2 (wiring), the information that I told you is in page 1266.

BR

Well, to complete the thread, I (finally) got around to fitting this! A big thank you to Tiburon3 for his help and advice, I routed it correctly down the length of the vehicle and into the relay and fuse box. All works as it should, just need time to test but not doing anything other than rare short journeys at the moment so time will tell. On to the next one :)