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Solar panels are fitted to the roof and wired up.
The batteries drop to 13.5v when the fridge is running and bounces back to 14.2v in less than a minute when the fridge stops cranking [bigrolf]
I will leave the fridge running overnight and see how much it depletes the batteries.
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I cant comprehend running a 240v fridge off an inverter off batts powered by solar..
but that could just be the old fart in me not willing to accept change... [tonguewink]
The fridge is only 140l and it draws about 5A when running, My 40l and 80l 12v friges draw abot 8A for the both of them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift
The inverter wastes a bit of power But it is minimal So the 140l 240v fridge is actuality more frugal on power than 120l combined with the two 12v fridges running at the same time [thumbsupbig]
Lots of people run an inverter for their 240v cook tops and coffee machines So why not a 240v fridge[biggrin]
The 3 way fridges I have had before were bloody useless on 12v But ran well on 240v and gas, This way I can run a fridge using 12v and it performs perfectly. by converting tbe 12v input to 240v.
The solar setup is 500w of panels feeding 2x 120AH AGM batteries, The panels can put out 14A to 16A if needed.
3 way fridges draw a fair bit of power when running on 240v But IF you had plenty of solar input and enough battery storage maybe it could be possible to run a 3 way on 240v via an inverter instead of pulling up at the end of tbe day to find your salad stuff all limp and more importantly your beer tepid from running tbe 3 way on 12v [thumbsupbig]
Just an update on the 240v 140l fridge running off the solar/inverter setup in the van.
I ran the fridge 24/7 on solar for 10 days and it worked well enough however after 3 days of overcast/rainy weather the batteries did drop to 12.2v overnight so I shut it down.[bigsad]
In normal sunny weather the batteries held up well with them only dropping to 12.5v to 12.7v overnight[thumbsupbig]
As we don't usually go anywhere in in rainy overcast weather this setup will most likely suit our needs for running the fridge, lights, fan, USB charging and the TV in the van and if the weather does turn to mud I can always fire up the genset to run everything and charge up the batteries at the same time[biggrin]
I would have loved to have reported that the 500w of solar would run everything in ALL weather conditions But it doesn't and it has its limitations, It is what it is unfortunately.
However in sunny conditions the setup seems to work well enough, Maybe I just expected too much from it.
12.2v isn't that low for an AGM, I let mine go to 12v without worry or 11.5v if desperate. Might have gotten you to some sun or at least the next drive
It is my understanding that at 12v an AGM battery is at less than 40% SOC and running them down to this low level will severly shorten the lifespan of the battery.Quote:
Originally Posted by josh.huber
Even at 12.2v the battery is at less than 50% SOC which is also less than ideal as well, At 12.5v-12.7v the battery still has about 75% of its charge left.[thumbsupbig]
I suppose I could increase the battery storage AND the solar imput to resolve this issue But the simplest solution is to just run the fridge during the day on solar at low light conditions or when driving and charging the system from the tow vehicle.
I always carry a 3KVA genstet with me and would much rather use that when the batteries start to get too low than kill my AGM's[thumbsupbig]
Yeah cool..I see your point..I see my batteries as consumable items and am ok to push a bit more out of them. I find even when I look after them better they seem to die due to age rather then use. I only use then recreationally, but my second battery in the disco gets a full time floggin and still puts out 2 years.
I have a couple of 115AH AGM batteries housed in ARC battery boxes that are now about 7 years old that are still in perfect working order[thumbsupbig]
I also have 3x 100AH AGM's fitted in my 79 Series that are over 5 years old that are also in great condition still.
The cranking batteries in the various breeds of 4WD's I have owned average about 2-3 years before I have to replace them unfortunately[bigsad]
