Waeco cf40

[shamirj]

my new fridge arrived today the waeco cf40 from brisbane in 2days off ebay. great price included cover as well. specs say its a 37L capacity, weighs 17kgs and draws 0.87 amps per hr. need to seriously now look at my aux battery, have the D34 optima yellow top up front but at 55ah was going to do that as a aux but seems to low, people seem to be going for 100ah agm batts.
did quick call around found caterpillar 100ah $170 in parramatta or next up 145ah for $350. what concerns me is the weight diff.

optima weighs 18kg vs 100ah caterpillar at 30kgs. factor in perm solar panels down the track at 15-20kgs, rear drawers already in place, camping gear, spares, inverter 1500watt, water tank, the weight begins to add up.

want to play around with the location of the fridge though when i get a chance, seriously thinking about cutting the base of the middle seat (middle row) so that i can mount the fridge there. have access for all 4 occupants, easy to turn on/off and monitor without loosing space in cargo area or rear vision due to height on top of drawers.

i know the seat is a dual seat so hacking into it may not be as simple, dont mind loosing seating for one and making it a 4 seat vehicle instead of 5. dont want it on the single side seat either which would be easier to remove that seat as the display would be behind the pass seat then. any thoughts ?

also dont want to add more weight re fridge slide or drop slide. thx

[simonmelb]

What do you want to use the fridge for? Not a silly question. If your planning on touring and camping you'll want to have good access to it when cooking etc. Think how many times you open and close the fridge at home.

Having in the centre of the back seat would be a real pain, when compared with on a slide at the rear, where Id image all your cooking and eating stuff will be stored.

We traveled for 9 Months with a Fourby Fitout setup and the layout makes short of extended tours really easy.

As far as batteries go I wouldn't be scared off by the Yellow Tops 55AH. There are many people including Drivesafe who highly recommend them due their deep cycling ability and very fast charge rate. I suspect power to rate they are better than the Cat.

[Mundy]

Regarding batteries, I agree with simonmelb, it depends on what sort of driving you are intending to do.
By all accounts the Optima batteries appear to function ok under the bonnet. I have not tried them but have tried a wet cell and 2 agms. The first was a disaster (acid boils and spills off road) and the 2 agms didn't last long due to the heat. Eventually put a 100Ah into the rear in one of the panier storage boxes (I have a 5 seater).
Another problem under the bonnet is the size of the battery. Very hard to fit a 100Ah battery under the bonnet.
However, my experience is a 55Ah is too small unless you have a solar panel, but it depends on how you use it. When travelling and camping in North Qld (in winter) temps still reached 35deg and while out walking or doing some other activity the temp inside the vehicle was so high the fridge ran almost continuously and my then 55Ah battery barely lasted a day. That's ok if you are travelling every day but not if you want to stay in the one place for a few days.
With respect to location of the fridge, also agree with simonmelb, much better on a fridge slide in the rear.

[PhilipA]

X2
And make it on the floor unless your SWMBO is 188CM tall.

LH side so that you don't have to open the door right up to slide the fridge.

You can run a cable under the rear door floor trim as there is a gap there that also can be opened up a bit.
Regards Philip A
You can fit a 130AH AGM in the normal starting battery tray and an Optima blue top 750CCA in an ARB battery tray and switch battery functions ie the Optima is the starting battery. I was surprised to see the ARB trays are still available on Ebay. Mine are now about 20 months old and are going strong, but I have also made a heat shield for the Optima and wrapped it in insulation.
Regards Philip A

[Mundy]

You should put fridge on LHS of rear, not only for the door reasons given by PhillipA but also because the radio aerial is in the window on the RHS and the fridge will interfere with AM reception.

On floor is also better because, its cooler and gets less sun on it.

[Ollie]

I fitted a 3rd Gel Cell battery in the rear LHS where the rear seats would fold into. There was a 6mm twin cable running from the 2nd battery to a socket in the rear but the volt drop caused problems with the fridge cutting out.
Fitted an Intelligent Battery Charger Pt/No HMPB200W13.8 from Hummingbird Electronics
Tel: 1300 155541 www.hmbe.com.au
$210 delivered it will still charge the 3rd battery with an input voltage of 9vdc
I will post some pictures.
There is a Jaycar cut off relay between the 1st and 2nd battery with a manual on switch for use if winching in an emergency

[shamirj]

thx to all suggestions, a couple of observations...

bit annoyed with waeco for having the LCD display and the fridge openning on opposite ends which means when fitted i can only either see the LCD display facing outwards or turn the fridge around to have the lid openning back to the centre of the vehicle. Ideally i would have liked both the display and openning on same side. my pref will be to have the display facing me as i open the back door. after much playing around with locations and then hoping into the vehicle have noticed the best location including vision wise to have it mounted on the driver side. the dip in the rear glass is not affected this way. fridge sits level with the top of my spare which has been raised due to the Les Richmond Auto stronger wheel carrier install.

i cannot believe the costs for the drop down slide as much as the cost for the fridge at $650. currently sits on top of the drawers, dont wont to hack up my drawers to drop it down. i think i will have to resort to getting a drop slide any idea how much they weigh. i dont think they are light.

Speaking of weights, weighed the Disco with 2 occupants = 2.54T with all my usual extras added. not sure how much a std Disco weighs but Im guessing Im over by approx 200-250kgs.

speaking of batteries i have the optima yellow top as start batt then the enclosed pic as my aux battery, which was the original start battery. not sure of its aH. is this the original N70 type battery suitable or not? this is mounted in the rear pass side cargo area. so heating or size may not be an issue. i am concerned about weight of the bigger 30kg 100+aH batteries.

type of driving will be mixed short and some perhaps long trips.

other pic is of the tie down points for the waeco which are aluminium attachment bolted under the grab handles, i have temp screwed a small handle in front of the waeco to strap down to for now. see pic.

as for the radio aerial will prob update the stereo and may go to an external aerial anyway. my rearward vision is more important to me. also have anderson plug to install instead of the cig ligher plug that came with the waeco. thx again

[shamirj]

hi all,

quick update on the waeco's power consumption...

turned the fridge on last night at 8.20pm on 5 degrees C. charged by aux battery unsure of size as it was the original battery in the vehicle when i got the LR. At 6.20am some 10hrs later through out the night the voltage difference was amazing. it started with 12.4-12.5v normal range once the waeco was started dropped to 12.1-12.2v but this morning 10hrs later it was back to 12.5v?

how can this be, after 10hrs use the voltage has remained the same, realise this was through the night so current draw maybe low but still expected somewhat of a voltage drop after 10hrs. Am i missing something here. thx

[Pedro_The_Swift]

is the rear inside battery a standard wet cell?:eek:

and is it just me or is .8A really REALLY good? almost unbelievably good?

[p38arover]

Do you carry two passengers in the back?

On my Rangie, I have my Engel on the LHS where the smaller seat is.

The fridge is easily accessible through the door. I just folded the seat up and put the fridge behind it. If needs be, I can remove the fridge and revert to a 5-seater in a couple of minutes.

The Engel may be somewhat narrower than your Waeco.

[shamirj]

short answer yes i do carry pass in the rear and did look into mounting on the single rear seat area but my pass is tall so the seat is pushed further back and the rear wheel arch gets in the way as well as the base in the D2 is not flat so I would have to mount it higher to make fit. It just did not fit well with the waeco hence located in the rear for now.

the voltage is amazing, i will try again during the day to test it out on a hot day and see the diff in volts. I must admit i had nothing in the fridge not sure whether this makes any diff, will try again empty on a hot day soon.

as for the battery not sure what it is, its a NRMA battery which i called them and found out its a high CCA battery but they were none the wiser about the aH rating on these 2yr warranty batteries they stock. Its listed as a heavy duty 4wd battery.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Fridges always work better/easier full;)

I am not sure a wet cell battery inside the vehicle, even in a battery box is a good idea.