Adding a new DC Fridge during a LA Heatwave

[themexicandoctor]

Originally Posted by eric1514

What temp are you trying to achieve in the refrigerator?

An average* of 34-38°F,Night/Day.

As it is, its now working like a dream in Santa Monica.

At 29° in the hot sun, it outperforming itself.

With the loose battery connection remedied yesterday by my mechanic with last night's 32amp draw my Batteries are now at 100%, from 91% at 10.30am with just 6 minutes driving & 3-4 more hours of Solar

[GeorgeRa]

Originally Posted by themexicandoctor

An average* of 34-38°F,Night/Day.

As it is, its now working like a dream in Santa Monica.

At 29° in the hot sun, it outperforming itself.

With the loose battery connection remedied yesterday with a 32amp draw my Batteries are now at 100%, from 91% at 10.30am with just 6 minutes driving.

Wow, impressive, 32 amp draw, are you cooling or cooking. Must be a very potent fridge at 400 watts. Cheers.

[themexicandoctor]

I don't know what happened yesterday other than I was trying to cool a fridge down that had been parked, in the van, in the hot sun & turned off for 2 plus hours in115° heat, with no breeze but now is PERFECT.

Adding this Fridge, exposed weaknesses in my charging systems that hadn't been relevant until this installation.

I AM VERY HAPPY WITH THE NOVAKOOL R3800.

AND GRATEFUL TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED HERE.

[themexicandoctor]

Originally Posted by GeorgeRa

Wow, impressive, 32 amp draw, are you cooling or cooking. Must be a very potent fridge at 400 watts. Cheers.

The 32 amps worst case scenario would be the fridge at 2.2amps per hour HOWEVER I BELIEVE for the first time since the installation, ONLY AFTER rectifying my bad ground connection, that the fridge isn't as big a part of those figures because FINALLY IT WAS ABLE TO CYCLE OFF.

There was the draw from the Fantastic Fan, the Carado Personal Fan & Lights included. Probably 10-12amps combined.

[themexicandoctor]

And that was a 17 hour draw, from about 5pm to 10am, with some driving (28 minutes at 8.45-9.15pm) that failed to get the batteries to 100%.

[GeorgeRa]

Originally Posted by themexicandoctor

The 32 amps worst case scenario would be the fridge at 2.2amps per hour HOWEVER I BELIEVE for the first time since the installation, ONLY AFTER rectifying my bad ground connection, that the fridge isn't as big a part of those figures because FINALLY IT WAS ABLE TO CYCLE OFF.

There was the draw from the Fantastic Fan, the Carado Personal Fan & Lights included. Probably 10-12amps combined.

You likely meant 32 amphours and 2.2 amps, these units truly means something.

[@Michael]

Originally Posted by themexicandoctor

An average* of 34-38°F,Night/Day.

As it is, its now working like a dream in Santa Monica.

At 29° in the hot sun, it outperforming itself.

With the loose battery connection remedied yesterday by my mechanic with last night's 32amp draw my Batteries are now at 100%, from 91% at 10.30am with just 6 minutes driving & 3-4 more hours of Solar

Is the 99F temp the camper temp? If so, this is vastly better performance than my NovaKool RFU6200 ever has seen. I've been lucky to get 55F temp difference, never 70F difference. I've sometimes seen as poor as 40F difference between fridge and camper temps.

[Nova Kool is replacing mine under warranty. They think it's low on freon]

[themexicandoctor]

Originally Posted by GeorgeRa

You likely meant 32 amphours and 2.2 amps, these units truly means something.

I mean that 32amp* hours was drawn from my batteries in thst 17 hour period.Some of that was the Fridge, lets say 17÷2=13.5 x 2.2amps = 29.7** plus the fans & lights.

This isn't me calculating but reading from the Histor of the Smart Meter.

**probably much less

For the first time, my Novakool is cycling on, then off, just like it should

[themexicandoctor]

Originally Posted by @Michael

Is the 99F temp the camper temp? If so, this is vastly better performance than my NovaKool RFU6200 ever has seen. I've been lucky to get 55F temp difference, never 70F difference. I've sometimes seen as poor as 40F difference between fridge and camper temps.

[Nova Kool is replacing mine under warranty. They think it's low on freon]

I have Sensorpush Bluetooth units in my Front Cab, Under the Bed where the Inverter (rarely used sits), in my fridge on back wall, & in the rear sleeping area.

Here is a snap shot - I love these units not only for their real time data but also their long term data & graphs over an hour, day, week, month or year

[themexicandoctor]

As for your larger unit, I scoured hundreds of forum pages from our Class B to Sprinter Forum, Boat Forums, Australian Forums, etc & I found the #1 issue reported with Novakool units was always the 6200 & it was usually determined to be inadequate ventilation, poor installation.

That yours was Freon, Hallelujah.

And they are replacing the whole unit, not just getting it repaired at Authorised Dealer?

[themexicandoctor]

Update: my Novakool R3800 is PERFORMING FLAWLESSLY!

Been parked on a hill for 2 hours previously that would normally knock out the 3 Way for a couple of days.

Came back & my temperature is as you see it; 22.6°F

[tgregg]

Originally Posted by themexicandoctor

Update: my Novakool R3800 is PERFORMING FLAWLESSLY!

Been parked on a hill for 2 hours previously that would normally knock out the 3 Way for a couple of days.

Came back & my temperature is as you see it; 22.6°F

Glad to see you refrigerator is working better snd finally not running constantly, but isn't 22.6° F too cold for a refrigerator?

Isn't your food freezing?

Why can't your Novakool maintain a constant temperature?

[eric1514]

Originally Posted by tgregg

Glad to see you refrigerator is working better snd finally not running constantly, but isn't 22.6° F too cold for a refrigerator?

Isn't your food freezing?

Why can't your Novakool maintain a constant temperature?

Those are all good questions. I imagine some of it is MD dickin' around with the thermostat dial but still... I installed THIS, specifically the TS2-030, so that I could tell the fridge exactly what temp I wanted and although it might at times struggle in the afternoon heat, it never froze my vegetables.

[SteveJ]

Originally Posted by eric1514

Those are all good questions. I imagine some of it is MD dickin' around with the thermostat dial but still... I installed THIS, specifically the TS2-030, so that I could tell the fridge exactly what temp I wanted and although it might at times struggle in the afternoon heat, it never froze my vegetables.

I bought something similar for my absorption fridge.

https://amazon.com/gp/product/B019I3...?ie=UTF8&psc=1



It can install remotely but I installed it inside the fridge. I ran the wiring through the drain tube. Currently $15 on Amazon. It has performed flawlessly with very little current draw. A bonus is that when it does make temperature it shuts down the fridge circuit board off saving battery drain. It's nice to not worry about stuff freezing anymore in my "automatic" temperature control Dometic RM2451. I've traveled with it for two months, so far.

Eric, I like your install. I was on the road when i put mine in and wanted to do it quickly. I may or may not do something different once I shut down for a bit. Current plans are for traveling until about 1 Dec with a short break in early October.

[booster]

Originally Posted by SteveJ

I bought something similar for my absorption fridge.

https://amazon.com/gp/product/B019I3...?ie=UTF8&psc=1



It can install remotely but I installed it inside the fridge. I ran the wiring through the drain tube. Currently $15 on Amazon. It has performed flawlessly with very little current draw. A bonus is that when it does make temperature it shuts down the fridge circuit board off saving battery drain. It's nice to not worry about stuff freezing anymore in my "automatic" temperature control Dometic RM2451. I've traveled with it for two months, so far.

Eric, I like your install. I was on the road when i put mine in and wanted to do it quickly. I may or may not do something different once I shut down for a bit. Current plans are for traveling until about 1 Dec with a short break in early October.

There are apparently lots of private labels brands of that controller. I recently built one into the control circuit I designed for our defective heat recovery ventilator in the house, that looks identical.



I think I would be be a bit wary of putting it inside the frig itself as the electronics don't appear to have moisture proofing of consequence on them. I didn't put ours into the HRV case itself as it would see cold there for the same reason.


We have found that the remote wireless thermometer senders get condensation in them in the frig, we always put them in a ziplock bag now and have had no failures since.

[SteveJ]

Originally Posted by booster

There are apparently lots of private labels brands of that controller. I recently built one into the control circuit I designed for our defective heat recovery ventilator in the house, that looks identical.



I think I would be be a bit wary of putting it inside the frig itself as the electronics don't appear to have moisture proofing of consequence on them. I didn't put ours into the HRV case itself as it would see cold there for the same reason.


We have found that the remote wireless thermometer senders get condensation in them in the frig, we always put them in a ziplock bag now and have had no failures since.

I like that ziplock idea, off to do that now.

[themexicandoctor]

ERIC was correct, i am still dicking around with the Thermostat.

Because of the issue with MY poor electrical connection, I couldn't get the unit to work right.

God knows how long I have had the issue - I barely use the Inverter so my system was never taxed.

Right now its 32.6°F.

[themexicandoctor]

This article is a great description of what it does, what it doesn't, hoe to set each sensor up (90 seconds), etc.

https://faroutride.com/sensorpush-review/

This couple also at first had issue with the unit sitting in water when the freezer would defrost & like you, the solution was a ziplock bag.

[avanti]

Just to close a loop:
Reading the voltage across the power terminals of the fridge would have immediately led us in the direction of grounding problem. How to do this is worth learning. (don't mean to lecture--just trying to be helpful).

[themexicandoctor]

I tried with my voltmeter inserting the probes into the back of the fridge at the module but couldn't get the probes in to get a reading - my RV Guy said the only way to do this was the Clampmeter which was only reading 2.1 versus 2.2amps.

Is there a better way, could I have put the probes right into where the 12 volt wire connections were wire in plugs & wrapped?

Or most likely, was it an intermittent issue, with the connection - I didn't get under the rig when he found the issue to check, I just trusted him 100%.

I will get photos next week & a better answer but it appeared to be under the rig, driver's side, where the underneath connections for the shunt (?) were.

If you have a link to understand the process I do have a voltmeter.