car fridges

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Originally Posted by Kev the Fridgy

Hmmm an interesting thread this one... could I ask if any of the fridges are being used as freezers and if so what temps your achieving............ I am always interested in this topic having repaired Engels and Danfoss systems over the years and built up many Eutectic systems in the marine industry

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G'day Kev!

I'm interested in the eutectic system for converting an existing 100l esky (an Evakool IK100, to be specific) to an eutectic system. After researching a bit, I think they would be ideal for the sort of travelling/camping we do. We rarely stay in one spot for more than overnight, so I thought the time driving would be ideal for cooling down the eutectic system, with having less power draw when we're not driving.

Do you have any advice/suggestions on this? Any advice welcome (even if it's that I shouldn't do it).

I haven't come across too many conversion kits, Ozefridge being one of them.

Cheers!
Michael

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kev the Fridgy

Hmmm an interesting thread this one... could I ask if any of the fridges are being used as freezers and if so what temps your achieving............ I am always interested in this topic having repaired Engels and Danfoss systems over the years and built up many Eutectic systems in the marine industry

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i used to run my 32L engels as a freezer, 3 weeks on a simpsondesert trip and a couple of other smaller 5 day trips.

from memory it used to run somewhere between -10 and -15 not cold enough to hold ice-cream, mine would never get to -18. my 32L is maybe 5 years older than my 40L.

the last couple of time i used it i noticed it rarely cycled off, come to think of it i might have posted a thread on here

the up shot is i now cyro-vac meat and run both angels as fridges

here it is......oh and only just changed my battery system around last week, its now a 2 sec job to give the battery the once over

I had a look at some Eutectic web sites including Ozefridge. They look to be the duck's nuts for a serious portable fridge/freezer.

Yes they are a ripoff allthough found a Primus duel zone fridge/freezer 75 litre for $1350 at Anaconda it seems like a goodun, seals,cabinet well insulated.The salesman said they use less power than Waeco/Engel.It has the Darfos motor?As yet to put it thru its paces, will let you know.

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Originally Posted by pabooth

Yes they are a ripoff allthough found a Primus duel zone fridge/freezer 75 litre for $1350 at Anaconda it seems like a goodun, seals,cabinet well insulated.The salesman said they use less power than Waeco/Engel.It has the Darfos motor?As yet to put it thru its paces, will let you know.

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I've got one of these Primus units as well as a 40L Engel and a 50L Waeco...

They all work fantastic...

:cool:

i believe all danfos compressor draw the same power.........the amount one uses depends on the type and thickness of the insulation, how many time you open the lid, ventilation around your fridge, have you left your car in the sun with the windws left up etc etc etc

sure factory testing in a controlled climate one will perform better than another........how you operate my mean the fridge preforms a whole lot diffferent

i have two engels, if one was to fail i reckon i would go a custom build with danfos motor

We've got two Engels. An MF35 (steel case) which we bought new about 10? years ago and an MF17 (plastic case) which I bought second hand from Cash Converters about 5 years ago for $250, couldn't get my wallet out quick enough. :D

The MF35 has travelled a lot of k's on some of Australias worst roads/tracks and has never missed a beat. Often used with a Cool Zone extension on longer trips. The MF17 was fairly battered looking when I got it so it hadn't had an easy life, (probably why it was so cheap) is used as a freezer.

Both have travelled along the GRR and up to the Mitchell Falls three times and up to Kalumburu once. The MF35 has crossed the Simpson twice, the MF17 once. Both have 'done' the CSR from Wiluna to Bililuna, travelled the Gary Highway from end to end and 'survived' the Anne Beadell without a hiccup from either of them.

Plus countless other excursions. The MF35 has just returned from Cape York where it served as a full time freezer for six weeks.

I tend to set the fridge (MF35) on about 2 degrees C and the freezer (MF17) on -7 degrees C. This varies a bit depending on the weather and gives us pretty good results.

If either failed I would get it repaired if possible or wouldn't hesitate to buy a new Engel.

My only recommendation is lose the cigarette lighter plug and hard wire in or use the Engel 2 pin screw in plug. Cigarette lighter connectors are useless on corrugated roads (fall to bits and/or rattle out).

Deano :)

Iv'e got one of the first Evakools to have the Danfoss compressor fitted and its now over 10 years old (Retrofit model). Never missed a beat in all those years since the new Danfoss was fitted. Prior to the Danfoss compressor they used a local compressor made in QLD that gave heaps of trouble (micro-compressors QLD).
Also got a 3 way fridge in the camper trailer but that runs best on gas.

Well I've had a little insight into why car fridges are so exxy as I just priced up a Danfoss BD50F compressor to repair a friends domestic fridge/freezer. (They have no 240V supply, only solar/batteries)

Holy smokes is it exxy for a littley :eek:

RRP is $1200+ + GST :o

OK, my price is a lot better than that, but both the wholesale and retail prices are insane compared to a normal domestic or small commercial hermetic compressor.