Ever since i got my Waeco fridge ive been killing batteries. ive not had much solar power. only 40Watts, and now nothing til i rig up some new ones which are coming.
Ive just been talking to someone about LPG fridges. I used to have a VW Kombi and i had 3 way power including Gas.
REally seems to make sense and until now i havent heard of gas fridges on boats, but what im hearing is 9kg of lpg would last weeks of continuous running. Any objections?
I really love the idea of not killing more batteries
ss I think you need about 120 watts of solar to run a frig ......
gas is not popular for friges for maybe a good reason . ..... big bang theory?
lpg fridges have to be kept level. My camping one was great but even a bit off kilter it stopped working. The liquid has to be able to drip through the diffuser(sp?) piping.
If you can get a gas fitter to install it and certify it OK!!
BUT...............That is likely to cost more than the fridge. I think the risk outweighs the benefit.
It is possible to have a solar panel, dedicated battery and 12 volt fridge that will work long term without chewing up batteries.
Mate has an Eva Kool and swears by it.
www.evakool.com.au/fridge-freezers/fridgemate/
bcf and anaconda sell 3 way fridges that you can connect a bottle to. no conversions needed.
Select to expand quoteslammin said..
lpg fridges have to be kept level. My camping one was great but even a bit off kilter it stopped working. The liquid has to be able to drip through the diffuser(sp?) piping.
i doubt it would ever be level on my boat!
The 3way fridges also draw heaps of power if used on 12 volt much more than a dual fridge.
So , not a good idea? Im yet to try fridge with bigger panels . Im not planning to use fridge constant but just freezimg bottles every 2 days to put in my great 80l esky
Yeah not a great idea. I thought about it too but as above too much to overcome. BUT for camping a 9l bottle will last about a month and will freeze stuff. So 12v while driving which has marginal cooling because of keeping it level and then gas overnight to chill it right down to 0 works pretty well even in extreme desert or tropical climates.
Hi SS,
I don't know if this helps , but I've got an Indel Isotherm that is just magic on power draw. It's a compressor/evaporator type, the plate in the fridge is really thin, not like a cold plate. I am no expert, but Isotherm did some cool stuff with their voltage management systems and compressors to improve energy draw. If I leave my fridge on 24/7 on max cold (enough to keep ice cubes), my 400Ah battery bank lasts a week without any charging at all (with nothing else switched on).
Mine was a 60l and cost $1500, which is about the same as the Waeco equivalent, and I can attest to their energy efficiency.
There's a good link on Keogh marine that explains it better than I do.
www.keoghsmarine.com.au/REFRIGERATION
Edit: I think a lot of a fridge performance is down to the quality of insulation too, ie: it probably doesn't matter how good the cooling system is , if the insulation is naff, you'll be draining power all the time.
Steve,
I leave my 40l Engel on 24/7, its on a 100a/h battery with a 44w solar panel maintaining it. The battery is nearly always at 90-100% depending on what time I check it. Your cooler is probably running too much. Insulation should help.
Shaggy is on the money , Indel Isotherm fridges are exceptionally good on the power . My fridge has been on 24/7 for the last 3 years . Runs from 400 amp hour lithium set up with solar panels .
So would it be worth the fridge having its own battery/solar set up separate from the main control panel?
Select to expand quoteJolene said..
Steve,
I leave my 40l Engel on 24/7, its on a 100a/h battery with a 44w solar panel maintaining it. The battery is nearly always at 90-100% depending on what time I check it. Your cooler is probably running too much. Insulation should help.
Me too Jolene. Ive got 1 x 120W solar panel, Waeco fridge is always on and always at 4 Deg, and batteries always 100%. Fridge has insulating jacket on. Like what Shaggy said thats very important.
There might be something wrong with your solar+battery set up Steve or fridge. Make sure your solar regulator really is an MPPT unit and not just a pretend one. Lugging an LPG bomb is something too scary for me. Both my previous boats had one and I took them off.
What model Waeco is it?
Select to expand quoteTrek said..Jolene said..
Steve,
I leave my 40l Engel on 24/7, its on a 100a/h battery with a 44w solar panel maintaining it. The battery is nearly always at 90-100% depending on what time I check it. Your cooler is probably running too much. Insulation should help.
Me too Jolene. Ive got 1 x 120W solar panel, Waeco fridge is always on and always at 4 Deg, and batteries always 100%. Fridge has insulating jacket on. Like what Shaggy said thats very important.
There might be something wrong with your solar+battery set up Steve or fridge. Make sure your solar regulator really is an MPPT unit and not just a pretend one. Lugging an LPG bomb is something too scary for me. Both my previous boats had one and I took them off.
What model Waeco is it?
the waeco is a CF40. works very well when the batteries are full. However i started with only a 40ah battery and a 40watt panel. i then got a 120ah battery. Shortly afterwards my panel fried. if i plug the fridge into AC it works perfectly and it worked really well at the start when the batteries were full. Since the panel fried, my only way to charge the batteries have been through the outboard motor. This works very well, but of course only when motoring. So lately ive not been using the fridge at all except as an esky. Ive got a really great massive esky (80L) which ive now put on the companion way space in place of the steps. Ive put Paddle board grip on the top of it and its sooo good. Easy access to food etc and better than steps. At Pittwater for easter i had 4 2L plastic bottles with frozen ice and i still had Iced bottles 4 days later.
I need solar panels anyway and im leaning toward flexible ones as im really tryna keep weight down. No bimini frames, or superfluous things on deck. On Ebay there are some 100 W flexi panels that come with controllers.
i think the jacket for fridge is important because the fridge door doesnt seem to great in regards to being sealed. Walls of fridge quite thin as is the roof/door of fridge. Im glad for the tips regarding the lpg. i had a guy talking my ear off about them and how good they were and was ready to move on my fridge and replace with a 3 way one.
And ive got no panel ATM. the 40W panel had its own built inn regluator and when checking it one day it was fried.
Select to expand quoteSectorsteve said..
So , not a good idea? Im yet to try fridge with bigger panels . Im not planning to use fridge constant but just freezimg bottles every 2 days to put in my great 80l esky
buy an ice maker.
Select to expand quoteSectorsteve said..
So would it be worth the fridge having its own battery/solar set up separate from the main control panel?
That is what I was suggesting above. With a dedicated panel and battery for the fridge you should always have good batteries for ships power and engine starting.
The only other draws are lights. Stereo and soon Tiller pilot downwind only.
Icemaker? Naaa
I had a look at the CF40 manual, it says it draws 6A when its running. If its on 50% of the time that's an average of 3A which an average battery+solar should be able to handle when its sunny. But at night that 3A average adds up to a fair bit.
If theres 10 hours of darkness you've got 3A x 10 hours which is 30 amp hours. That will kill 1/3 of your batteries charge. If the battery wasnt fully charged in the first place it could flatten the battery. I looked on a camping forum and someone with a CF80 said theirs was running 50% of the time. But on the bright side, as long as the battery is good and charged every day a 100AH battery should be fine.
Have a listen to the fridge for a while if you are sitting near it and guestimate how much time its on versus how much time its off so you have a real knowledge of how much power its using. It makes the reason for good insulation instantly obvious!
You need to make sure the amps per hour you put into the battery exceeds what you take out later. The lighting circuit of an outboard is usually a bit low on amps, my Mariner was only good for 2A. That means it would need to run for 15 hours to get enough charge to run your fridge overnight.
