Installation of refer Cooling Fans

[Shore-T]

Hey all, hope you are well. Spent the majority of the morning yesterday installing these internal and external fans in my refrigerator and the refrigerator compartment. Installation was pretty straight forward. I got these kits from RV Cooling Unit Warehouse in Memphis TN (RV Cooling Unit Warehouse) . Pricing was about what it would cost if I were to piece meal the unit. It was very convenient to get all parts in one package with instructions and terrific telephone technical support. All items arrived in a very timely manner, well packed and complete. I do not know how much I will benefit from these fans, but I know that in my other rig the exhaust system was horrific. According to the vendor, I would not expect him to say anything else, the extra air flowing through the external cooling fins help the refer operate more efficiently. The external fan has a thermostat that kicks the unit on when the compartment reaches 85 degrees and it also has an override switch. Accordingly the internal fan helps circulate the cold air. The internal fan only has an on/off switch. I’ll follow up with temp indicators later on. I am in no way shape or form related to or work for this vendor. I am simply a very satisfied customer.

[mkguitar]

very tidy.

my makeshift fans are at about $12 incl wiring, fuses and switches.
1 fan internal, 2 external

my mounts make use of velcro, bailing wire and zip ties- your is nicer!

Mike

[booster]

Always of interest is how much power these systems are using.

Have you measured the actual power consumption?

[Shore-T]

Originally Posted by booster

Always of interest is how much power these systems are using.

Have you measured the actual power consumption?

No Sir I have not. In fact in the interest of due diligence I have no idea how to do so? Is it easy to do?

[Shore-T]

Originally Posted by mkguitar

very tidy.

my makeshift fans are at about $12 incl wiring, fuses and switches.
1 fan internal, 2 external

my mounts make use of velcro, bailing wire and zip ties- your is nicer!

Mike

Mike, thanks but my stuff is also mounted with zip ties with the exception of the internal fans which came with two mounting tabs that fit onto the fins. Has been keeping the frig at a steady 38 degrees and it's 95 out today.

[booster]

Originally Posted by Shore-T

No Sir I have not. In fact in the interest of due diligence I have no idea how to do so? Is it easy to do?

All you need to do is open the 12v power wire to them and use a multimeter on the 10 amp scale in series with the fans.

[mkguitar]

my fans came from ebay seller rdr-electronics- $15 7 fans

7 - FP-108B S1 DC Brushless PC Computer Fan 90mm X 25mm 12V .32A 59cu ft/min



my harbor freight folding solar panel puts out about 1 A max so I can almost mitigate the fan use.

been using these for a few seasons now I would guess I have a few hundred hours on them

mike

[Shore-T]

Originally Posted by booster

All you need to do is open the 12v power wire to them and use a multimeter on the 10 amp scale in series with the fans.

Hey guys, got some help from my neighbor and we came up with the following info: all the fans (1 external and 2 internal) running at the same time have an amp draw of less the 1/2 amp. The inside fans draw 0.14 each and the outside fan draws 0.2. Is this excessive? As you can tell this area is not my forte.
Thanks to all. Best. Shorty (aka Shore-T) sends...

[BBQ]

If you have a 100 amp-hour battery,
50% of the capacity is usable (ie 50AH is available).

If your fan draws 1 ampere,
the battery can support it for 50 hours (50AH divided by 1A).

===========================

If you have 200 amp-hour of battery,
50% of the capacity is usable (ie 100AH is available).

If your fan draws 0.5 ampere,
the battery can support it for 200 hours (100AH divided by 0.5A).


ps. we are talking about fans alone, nothing else.

[Shore-T]

Originally Posted by BBQ

If you have a 100 amp-hour battery,
50% of the capacity is usable (ie 50AH is available).

If your fan draws 1 ampere,
the battery can support it for 50 hours (50AH divided by 1A).

===========================

If you have 200 amp-hour of battery,
50% of the capacity is usable (ie 100AH is available).

If your fan draws 0.5 ampere,
the battery can support it for 200 hours (100AH divided by 0.5A).


ps. we are talking about fans alone, nothing else.

bbq, thanks for that boat load of info. I highly doubt that I will ever be off grid for an extended period of time. However if I am I guess I can rely on the genny and portable solar panel unit. Thanks again.
Best.

[booster]

Originally Posted by Shore-T

Hey guys, got some help from my neighbor and we came up with the following info: all the fans (1 external and 2 internal) running at the same time have an amp draw of less the 1/2 amp. The inside fans draw 0.14 each and the outside fan draws 0.2. Is this excessive? As you can tell this area is not my forte.
Thanks to all. Best. Shorty (aka Shore-T) sends...

If those are the actual running amperages, that is not too bad. I mention it being actually the measured amps because I have seen lots of the 12v stuff that is way off what the rated amps are. I think a lot of that is because most of the time our vans are running at more than 12v, and closer to 12.5v or more.

.5 amp would use 12ah per day from your batteries, if run continuously. In hot weather, you may need them to run that much, from what others have seen, although much of the time you may be able to have them off at night.

How much of an issue that power will cause is going to be determined by how much battery capacity you have, and how much of it you are willing to use.

Disclaimer for the following statements--I am a believer in using 80% of your capacity with lead acid, wet or AGM, batteries, while others believe in the "50% of capacity rule". IMO, we have seen plenty of evidence that the 50% rule, related to increased battery life, is, at best, severely exaggerated.

That said, using 80% discharge maximum, you would lose probably 8 to 15% of the capacity of one 100 amp hour battery per day running the fans continuously. If you have two 100 amp batteries, you lose 50% less percent of capacity.

As reference, those with low power use vans who are careful, and have 3 way frigs, can use as low as 10-20ah per day total, although most would be a bit higher than that and probably closer to 30ah per day. TV, DVD, and lots of device charging can run up the power use quickly, depending on how efficient they are.

Our compressor style frig will use between 17 and 40ah per day depending on weather, for comparison.

Our van, just running the smoke, propane, and CO detectors, a battery monitor, and the solar controller will draw just about the same .5 amps.

If you are going to be off grid a lot, and using most of your battery capacity regularly, you may want to consider putting in a battery monitor so you know how much power you are using and how much you have left.

[Shore-T]

Originally Posted by booster

If those are the actual running amperages, that is not too bad. I mention it being actually the measured amps because I have seen lots of the 12v stuff that is way off what the rated amps are. I think a lot of that is because most of the time our vans are running at more than 12v, and closer to 12.5v or more.

.5 amp would use 12ah per day from your batteries, if run continuously. In hot weather, you may need them to run that much, from what others have seen, although much of the time you may be able to have them off at night.

How much of an issue that power will cause is going to be determined by how much battery capacity you have, and how much of it you are willing to use.

Disclaimer for the following statements--I am a believer in using 80% of your capacity with lead acid, wet or AGM, batteries, while others believe in the "50% of capacity rule". IMO, we have seen plenty of evidence that the 50% rule, related to increased battery life, is, at best, severely exaggerated.

That said, using 80% discharge maximum, you would lose probably 8 to 15% of the capacity of one 100 amp hour battery per day running the fans continuously. If you have two 100 amp batteries, you lose 50% less percent of capacity.

As reference, those with low power use vans who are careful, and have 3 way frigs, can use as low as 10-20ah per day total, although most would be a bit higher than that and probably closer to 30ah per day. TV, DVD, and lots of device charging can run up the power use quickly, depending on how efficient they are.

Our compressor style frig will use between 17 and 40ah per day depending on weather, for comparison.

Our van, just running the smoke, propane, and CO detectors, a battery monitor, and the solar controller will draw just about the same .5 amps.

If you are going to be off grid a lot, and using most of your battery capacity regularly, you may want to consider putting in a battery monitor so you know how much power you are using and how much you have left.

Thank you again. Primarily I stick to COE sites with W/E. However if I do happen to stray off grid I do not do more than 1 or 2 days. Your recommendation for a battery monitor is noted and being programmed into the Raodtrek budget at this time. Thanks to you all for your timely responses and useful information. If I can every be of assistance from lovely "Rocket City" let me know. Best.