Cooler to fridge upgrade

[larrie]

My Truckfridge showed up via FedEx this morning. Can you guess which way was not up?



More to follow.

[Ford_6L_E350]

The sign doesn't indicate the fridge can be damaged by other positions, nor that it should ship with the arrow up, just to set it up for sometime before use.

Sounds like no harm, no foul.

Have fun with the installation and enjoy a cold one out of the fridge later this weekend.

Mike

[BIGVANS]

Yep. That’s just about the oil running up into the coil tube, keep it upright and it drains back down, most all fridges are like that.

[larrie]

Removed the old Coleman thermoelectric cooler today and installed the new fridge.

Here is the old cooler that was installed by the PO.


The cooler was installed with a friction fit so that it was easy to remove. The PO added some blocking to the original cabinet opening that also had to be removed.


Once the blocking was out of the way the opening was ready. Then removed the original under sized wiring to the cooler and pulled some new 10 ga wire back to the fuse panel.

It was now time to unbox the fridge. The shipping box.


Opening the shipping box I found another box.The tie straps were great for lifting the inner box from inside the outer box.


This label was on the inner box.


Opening the inner box I found several blocks of styrofoam that held the fridge in place.


Removing the box, which just lifted off, I took a look at the compressor and control panel. The control panel is on the left side of the compressor.



Here is a close up of the compressor label. It appears that Danfoss got taken over by SECOP


The fridge just fit into the width of the cabinet. I installed a couple of 3/4 x 1-1/2 wood rails on the floor of the existing cabinet to allow air to flow under the fridge. The is about a 6" gap between the top of the fridge and the top of the cabinet. Am planning on using this space to mount some electronics and for the other half of the ventilation requirements for the fridge.


The fridge runs great. It even came with a blue LED light on the inside.


The only issue that came up is that I may have discovered an electrical issue with my 12v converter. Will look into that next week

[86Scotty]

Nice! I want one!

[rockbender]

Looks great - nice job!

[Ultrasport12]

Nice job Larrie...It fits perfect in there...I am sure it will work much better than the old one and it looks better too...

[Vegasrandall]

I would be most grateful for a WAG on how much juice it takes in real life vs. the advertising statement.
Is it a power hog?

[larrie]

Will get the power draw information but first will have to resolve an electrical problem that has surfaced. The power converter/charger that is in the van puts out close to 18 volts when plugged into shore power. This is to much for the fridge, 14v max, and it shuts itself down on high voltage. This was problematic because i was hoping to leave the fridge running all the time when at home and plugged in. The converter puts out 14.2 volts with the van running and no shore power. The fridge runs fine with the van running.

Looks like a new power converter/charger is next on my list. The one that is currently in the van is a combination charger/converter/distribution center. Poking around the web I found several that have the same configuration but also have intelligent chargers in them. The one that I think I will get is a WFCO 8735P Power Center, http://www.wfcoelectronics.com/UI/Power ... pe=3&pid=3. It is about 1/4 the size of the old one which will allow me to gain some storage space back under the dinette seat and has a front panel for easy access. No more opening the trap door. Have not found a reason for 120v in the van so do not need an inverter.

Ah the joys of owning an 23 year old SMB

[rockbender]

I'll be curious on power consumption too - I'd guess that the 40A in 24 hours is pretty close. My larger 130 Isotherm (pretty much the same compressor and everything else, just bigger) pulls about 3.8-4 amps when running and is typically on about a 50% duty cycle. I'm planning on getting some fans set up to hopefully cut the cycle time down.

Larrie - you already know this, but solar will be your friend with this baby!

When the engine is running and you are getting 14.2V from the alternator - the converter has nothing to do with it. Time for a new one I guess!