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Northtree670
Member
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# Posted: 18 Oct 2020 21:49
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Greetings All,
Jumped in and bought a 13cu unique DC fridge with the seloc/danfoss compressor. Runs off a claimed 62w/h.
I'm planning on running it off a used marine battery, standard size, hooked up to a standard charger run off the gen.
If I can run the gen 50% or less that would be ideal.
Eventually I will add a proper battery bank, and possibly solar, at least to keep the battery topped off, if not run the setup entirely.
Looking to keep the cost down while keeping my options open for expansion.
Any issues I should expect?
How do I protect the battery from low voltage? (Before the fridge kicks out)
Best inverter options?
TIA, been reading the forum a lot but there is much to sift through.
Located in Ontario
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 19 Oct 2020 07:14
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What AH is the battery?
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FishHog
Member
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# Posted: 19 Oct 2020 08:23
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Need to know the size of your battery as Brettny asked. I bought the same fridge this summer ran it for 3 months straight and was very happy with it but I’ve got 4 x 255 ah batteries hooked up to 2x320w solar panels.
On one used battery I suspect your going to be running your genny a lot.
Once it’s cold my fridge draws 5 amps when the compressor is running. Never timed it but I’m guessing it runs 25-30% of the time depending on outside temp
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Northtree670
Member
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# Posted: 19 Oct 2020 13:08
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Just checked the battery it's a group 24 only 65 AH, thought it would be higher. If I aim for 50% discharge 30AH and 30% duty cycle, that should last upto 12 hours between charges (30ah/6a=5hrs/.3=15hrs roughly speaking)
On a 10A charger 3-4 hours charging time, 8 hours battery to be safe, means only running the gen 1/3 of the time. Drop my weekend fuel use from 5 gallons to under 2 gallons.
Good start I think?
I can always use ice packs to thermal bank it, though it may not be necessary.
This is only temporary till I get a proper setup, probably AGM battery for what I need.
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 19 Oct 2020 15:23 - Edited by: Brettny
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I'm not sure how much you spent on that fridge but I'm about $1200 into a solar system with 440ah, 465w, 1200w pure sine wave inverter, 40a CC, 30a rv charger, 1kw inverter generator and 4.3cuft fridge with top freezer. Generally I run the generator about 6hrs a 3 day weekend. It burns about 40oz of fuel doing this. By adding another pair of golf cart batteries ($200) il beable to use no fuel. We also have 120v interior and exterior lights.
The big question mark I see with your system is when you get there and the fridge is at room temp, how long does it run before it's down to temp? Mine is a normal 120v fridge and even taking the food from the cooler to the fridge I just turned on it wont shut off for about 5hrs.
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 19 Oct 2020 15:26
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Also a 30a rv charger is paired real well with a 800w running generator. 30a x 13.8v is 414watts your putting into your batteries. A 10a charger is really small for the fuel your useing.
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Northtree670
Member
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# Posted: 19 Oct 2020 19:59
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Brettny, thanks for the tips. It says not to load food for 4 hours on startup.
I expect I will run off the genny in eco mode to cool it down and charge the batteries, I wasn't sure how big of charger I could put on and not hurt the batteries, but that is even better.
These DC fridges are only marginally less expensive than a propane unit, but without the drawbacks of propane and about 1/10 the energy use, seemed like a good long term investment.
I thought about upsizing my fridge, but don't want to go in circles. The little fridge I have now 5 cu. Ft. ran off a 1000w running inverter gen in eco mode, but I just wondered about the startup surge of starting the fridge especially cause it's quite often.
Going from 24/7 generator use to far less is a huge gain. right now I am only spending 6 weekends a year there. Still have lots to read before I jump in with both feet.
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Northtree670
Member
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# Posted: 19 Oct 2020 20:05
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I normally run off a champion 2k (1700 running) and found fuel consumption similar to the 1k running except the fuel tank is bigger
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 20 Oct 2020 05:46
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At 6 weekends a year I would just use a cooler with block ice. The fridge being 13cuft for a weekend place I'm sure you plan on being there alot more than about 12 days a year?
4.5cuft is plenty big enough for 3 grown adults for 3 days along with drinks. We hardly use the freezer but for making block ice or frozen burgers.
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