Thread: Fridge management.....

Originally Posted by mrapocalypse

Like Zulu Delta says, he freezes dstuff during the day and it helps the fridge at night. That seems a pretty good idea!

Ian

thats no good for beers

when i did my simpson crossing i was runing one 40L fridge and one 32L freezer however i had two aux batteries with a total of around 200amp hours of storage and didn't have a problem,

if you are on the move everyday day one aux battery will be alright. say if your fridge did not cycle at all overnight and it was drawing 3amp/hr over say 16hrs thats only 48amps, throw in a light and you might use 60amps (keep in mind...well my engel cycles at approx 50% so that cuts you usage right back) best case 40amp over night. if you can squeeze say an 80amp aux battery you should not have a problem

i pretty sure a member on here did his first simpson trip with just his start battery and was running a 40L engel and he didn't have a problem as he was driving everyday

down at coma on the weekend there was not much sun and as i was runing my fridge between 0 and 1 degree along with not doing much driving cause my clutch was playing up i turned the thermostat back so that over night....well from midnight when i stopped drinking the fridge would run between 4-5 degrees. no sure if this theory extended the cycle times. i was just playing and didn't really need to do it as i have 200amp hours of storage along with a solar panel

hth

I can highly recommend my 47L Evakool. In my D1 it fits north-south (I know your D2 has more room but things still tight with a cargo barrier). I bought it off the floor but if you order it in you can spec it with the hinges on any side you like. It is very efficient as it's a fibreglass ice chest firstly with a danfoss compressor & controller and added. Made in Caloundra. 47L model has the option of fridge/freezer using a divider as the element is at one end only then if you remove the divider the whole thing can be set to fridge or freeze, whereas engel & waeco don't offer this until 80L which is bloody big in the back of a Disco.
As already mentioned I too turn it down overnight and it will happily keep the freezer section frozen solid. The fridge has a cutout at 9v from memory and I use one of Tim's Traxide DB systems which protects the start battery. The 2nd battery is purely aux but if I ever do have a problem with the start battery I carry jumper leads for that (plus mine's a manual anyway).
The salesman I bought it off told me has actually already has 2 engels and on a trip to the cape he was very surprised at how much more efficient the evakool was. Waecos have danfoss compressors but use their own controller which have a reputation for giving problems.

So even if you are getting stuff out of the fridge at night you can still turn it down at bed time and it will be OK and use less amps?

Am I with ya here???

My auxillary battery is a Fullriver 60AH AGM and i have it looked after by a Traxide Tronics SC40 dual battery controller, never had a problem with the fridge draining the battery.

I sometimes used It to run a 240v battery charger through an inverter to charge the camper battery overnight if the day has been cloudy and i feel the solar panel hasn't given it enough charge.

I also use a light running off it while sitting around the fire, the fridge always runs all night, in fact the fridge runs 24/7 while we are away camping.

If you setup your dual batteries properly and use a good quality controller, you'll have no problems running the fridge overnight.

Baz.

I have a Waeco auxilliary battery that I got with my 50 lt fridge as part of the deal. We spent two weeks touring around Tassie in January and it happily ran the fridge overnight and charged sufficiently during the day, it was just wired up in series with the fridge and the 12v outlet in the back of the Disco.
The only problem we had was one day when the battery plug got knocked out and the battery discharged. Fixed by buying a double cigarette adapter and charging the battery and running the fridge simultaneously that day. Waeco battery pack is 32a/h
Regards,
Tote

My 110 has a duel batt system with a 40l engel. We sleep in the car zo we simply turn the fridge off at night to avoid the buzzzzzzz. IF you crank it for an hour or so before the shut off it will only get to 4-6degrees by the morning when you switch it back on. easy. Having some frozen food at the bottom covered by a nice layer of newspaper always helps as well.

Jim

A few questions one must ask oneself:
Is a fridge really a necessity?
Its usually used to keep dairy products, meat and beer cold and thats about all. I realise that the beer can be a problem for some, but there are ways to cool beer down to acceptable temperatures without a fridge, the burning petrol on sand over buried cans trick works well, as does a bit of Urea mixed with water, to name a few. Dairy products can also come in either powdered (milk) form or concentrated form (ghee)... check out some army rat packs and see what they use.

If a refrigerator is deemed a necessity, why do I need it?
Of course if an insulin dependency problem or some other similar requirement arises then the fridge is an automatic necessity.
Besides keeping the grog cold.
Frozen and meat stuffs do require refrigeration if you wish to take them, but there are wonderful things like cryovac packs, corning, and other ways of storing meats (just like they used to do).
I always try and work out how I am going to survive under the worst possible scenario, and with this in mind when we pack for a trip, the fridge is treated more as a luxury rather than a necessity. We only use a 35l Waeco fridge, wired to its own battery pack which in turn is wired to the car, and also carry an esky which is fed by the recycling of frozen water filled wine casks as per the last thread. Covering these casks with an aluminium sheet (or cake dish) holds the ice longer. Aluminium sheeting in fridges between layers is a great trick for upping their efficiency.
In 83 when we first went to the cape, our fridge blew up on day three, and we were away for over a month and survived quite comfortably. Luckily I dont drink beer, and with the amount of coke I use in my rum, the temperature didnt make much difference.
Food for thought perhaps.
Regards
Glen

When I first started reading your last post ZD I was a little confronted.... But I realized that was becuase I WANT A FRIDGE dammit! However, upon reflection - treating it as a luxury is a great idea!

I have already begun considering our catering arrangements and by coincidence we will probably be carrying lots of things that don't require refrigeration.... So yes I think cold food and fresh milk (Organic of course) will be the taste of luxury but we will get by quite well when my wiring falls apart!

Thanks for replies all.....

Fascinating stuff

Ian