Fridges & Cold Beer -- How I Done It --

Got my solar sorted a few weeks ago and thought I’d do a bit of testing with the fridge to see if my solar will support the fridge permanently running without any additional help. I’ve now gone down a rabbit hole trying to determine if my fridge is faulty and would appreciate any views on this @Dellmassive or anyone else who has experience in this area.

Quick background. Was doing a very long run with a couple of friends a few weeks ago so popped some food, water etc in the fridge in the van so when we finished we had something to eat and drink. It was a cool day with intermittent sunshine. When we got to the van the food was OK but the drinks didn’t seem particularly cold (fridge was set to 3C). That is what started me down the rabbit hole.

I’ll skip all the things I’ve done in between times and cut to the chase. I’ve popped a couple of temp sensors in the fridge and one next to the outside of the fridge in the van. I’ve now set the fridge to -2C which i reckon is giving an average temp of 2-3C in the main compartment. I seem to have a difference of 4-5C between what the fridge is set to and the actual temp in the fridge. The sensor in the main compartment is placed in the centre at the bottom (coldest place and where i believe the thermistor is located). I have another sensor in the small compartment, more on that one later. During the day, the fridge seems to do it’s thing, compressor turns on and off and temp is controlled, the average temp does seem to drop as little over the day. At night when the outside temp is low, the fridge shuts down and eventually turns on again. This morning I took the picture below. Sensor shows 3.69C, fridge thinks it is -1C, so it doesn’t turn on. It does eventually as the outside temp rises. The delta between the fridge setting and the actual temp seems to vary as the ambient temp rises. as ambient rises, the delta reduces. Overnight, as ambient drops, the delta is larger. Picture of 24HR temp trace below.

I can’t decide if the thermistor is duff or not. On the surface it works but I shouldn’t need to have the fridge set to -2C for it to actually be 3C. I’m also puzzled by why the temp overnight seems to be a little higher than the temp at which the compressor kicks in during the day (Why doesn’t it start up as it does during the day)

In doing this testing I have also noticed the smaller compartment can be 7C or more higher than the main compartment. I was very surprised by this. There is no direct cooling in that compartment so I i expected it to be higher, just not than much......

On the positive side, the solar seems to be performing very well, Leisure battery voltage has not been below 12.3V or so since the fridge was connected, Starter battery has also been higher than normal as solar is charging that too. I’ve also watched the current output switch up as the compressor on the fridge kicked in so the full current draw on the fridge was coming from solar. Picture below this morning where solar is charging starter battery (5.36A) and trickle charging leisure (1.13A)

Apparently the thermistors in WAECO/DOMETIC fridges off this type are known weak spots. I have watched a few youtube videos of Aussies dismantling their fridges and cutting up the insulation to get to the thermistor to change it. I won’t be doing that as mine is still under warranty.

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Got my solar sorted a few weeks ago and thought I’d do a bit of testing with the fridge to see if my solar will support the fridge permanently running without any additional help. I’ve now gone down a rabbit hole trying to determine if my fridge is faulty and would appreciate any views on this @Dellmassive or anyone else who has experience in this area.

Quick background. Was doing a very long run with a couple of friends a few weeks ago so popped some food, water etc in the fridge in the van so when we finished we had something to eat and drink. It was a cool day with intermittent sunshine. When we got to the van the food was OK but the drinks didn’t seem particularly cold (fridge was set to 3C). That is what started me down the rabbit hole.

I’ll skip all the things I’ve done in between times and cut to the chase. I’ve popped a couple of temp sensors in the fridge and one next to the outside of the fridge in the van. I’ve now set the fridge to -2C which i reckon is giving an average temp of 2-3C in the main compartment. I seem to have a difference of 4-5C between what the fridge is set to and the actual temp in the fridge. The sensor in the main compartment is placed in the centre at the bottom (coldest place and where i believe the thermistor is located). I have another sensor in the small compartment, more on that one later. During the day, the fridge seems to do it’s thing, compressor turns on and off and temp is controlled, the average temp does seem to drop as little over the day. At night when the outside temp is low, the fridge shuts down and eventually turns on again. This morning I took the picture below. Sensor shows 3.69C, fridge thinks it is -1C, so it doesn’t turn on. It does eventually as the outside temp rises. The delta between the fridge setting and the actual temp seems to vary as the ambient temp rises. as ambient rises, the delta reduces. Overnight, as ambient drops, the delta is larger. Picture of 24HR temp trace below.

I can’t decide if the thermistor is duff or not. On the surface it works but I shouldn’t need to have the fridge set to -2C for it to actually be 3C. I’m also puzzled by why the temp overnight seems to be a little higher than the temp at which the compressor kicks in during the day (Why doesn’t it start up as it does during the day)

In doing this testing I have also noticed the smaller compartment can be 7C or more higher than the main compartment. I was very surprised by this. There is no direct cooling in that compartment so I i expected it to be higher, just not than much......

On the positive side, the solar seems to be performing very well, Leisure battery voltage has not been below 12.3V or so since the fridge was connected, Starter battery has also been higher than normal as solar is charging that too. I’ve also watched the current output switch up as the compressor on the fridge kicked in so the full current draw on the fridge was coming from solar. Picture below this morning where solar is charging starter battery (5.36A) and trickle charging leisure (1.13A)

Apparently the thermistors in WAECO/DOMETIC fridges off this type are known weak spots. I have watched a few youtube videos of Aussies dismantling their fridges and cutting up the insulation to get to the thermistor to change it. I won’t be doing that as mine is still under warranty.

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Which fridge do you have pls? Which size?
 
I've spent many hours looking at different fridges... in the end, I've just plumped for 1 of these:
Dellonda 36L Dual Zone Compressor Fridge
I was mainly swayed towards this as I managed to find a 20% off Voucher that currently works on limited items on eBay (this being one of them). The voucher code is PRICEWINS if that helps anyone... So I got it for just under £240.

It's also dual zone, so can actually be set with 1 zone as a freezer, and 1 zone as a fridge (most of the others are 1 Zone is temperature controlled (i.e. Freezer) and 1 Zone just the overflow, so not quite as cold (but not actually temperature controlled).

Hope this helps someone... Voucher is only valid until 7th May, so be quick!
 
? I thought they were all around the same power draw. Do you think differently? There are 3 power settings and a recommended car battery protected setting.

Apologies I don't know anything about them - just looking for something myself but would like to run it off grid.
 
Apologies I don't know anything about them - just looking for something myself but would like to run it off grid.
I read this thread from beginning to end and they all seem to be very similar/variations of the same just different names and slightly different finishes. Dometic is twice as expensive but couldn't get my head around paying that much. After reading Dellmassive's reviews on this thread I looked for a warranty with a company I could easily contact and a fridge I liked the look of. Hope that helps
 
I've spent wayyy too long trawling through trying to find what fridge to buy. I ended up getting the cheapest 30ish litre I could find which was the Vevor 35L, it seems the same as the Aplicool CF35 and very similar too the Polarbox 32L. It was only £220 delivered from the Vevor website.
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Vevor 35L
 
The fridge turned up today and I'm super pleased with it. The quality is better than I expected. It chilled down (empty) to -2 in about 20 minutes. It can be controlled remotely via the Alpicool car fridge app, this also allows you to change the battery protection settings etc.20210602_212748.jpg20210602_212501.jpgScreenshot_20210602-184834_CAR FRIDGE FREEZER.jpg

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My only gripe was the Hermes driver denting the van delivering it , Prehaps thats karma for buying a cheap chinese copy?
 
hi

about to take the plunge these things are quite expensive ! Two questions for anyone out there

the Dometic ones keep being praised for quiet running and being safe to your car battery is this true of the cheaper versions it will be in with us when sleeping so perhaps it’s important

we currently have a kombi with a planned 40 winks bed in the back I was planning on getting a 30 odd litre one and placing between front seat and back seat in the middle on the floor any one do this ?

cheers
 
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being safe to your car battery is this true
I’m not sure this is true of any of them as the voltage cutoff is too crude to be much use. It is much better to have something like the Victron Smart Battery Protect which allows you to set a voltage to trigger the 12v sockets in the rear to isolate. The Bluetooth version has an app which allows you to set a much finer voltage to 0.01 accuracy so you can fine tune it.

I put the Smart Battery Protect under my passenger seat on the feed to the 12v sockets so it shuts anything off if low voltage is reached protecting my starter battery but the same principle applies if you have a leisure battery set up.
 
Thanks that's so handy to know might not put so much weight on battery protection then

any comments about noise anyone ?
 
I’ve got this one, 35l I think. It sits nicely behind the drivers seat and the first row of kombi seats. I find it quite enough when sleeping in the van and I always have my head that end. The compressor does cut in and out so they are not completely silent. For the money I’ve been very happy with it


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