Interested in knowing if anyone is using a 120v frige with the danfoss compressor in their b van? Weaco or dometic?
How are your experiences? How is it effecting your house battery time, and are you using a solar strip
thanks
erip wrote: Interested in knowing if anyone is using a 120v frige with the danfoss compressor in their b van? Weaco or dometic?
How are your experiences? How is it effecting your house battery time, and are you using a solar strip
thanks
If you are going to go to the expense of getting a frig with the high efficiency Danfoss compressor in it, you may want to consider a 12 volt or 12/110 volt model. You save considerable amounts of power if you don't have to run through the inverter for the frig, and when you are on shore power your charger is more than capable of keeping up with the very low amp drain of the frig (under 3 amps normally).
We have a 12v only Isotherm in our 07 Roadtrek C190P, and would never go back to an absorption model. We have made adjustments to our battery setup to allow for the extra usage, which is in the 25-40AH per day for the frig. Currently, we have two Trojan T145 6v batteries (260AH) and a Trojan SC200 12v (115AH) for house batteries and are testing to see how well they work together. I also wired the frig so it can run off the starting battery, which is also a Trojan SC200. This gives us some extra capacity, and also lets us shut off the 12v power to the rest of the van when we are not in it. This saves about 1 amp of parasitic usage from the house batteries, which can add up over days of dry camping. When the frig is running off the starting battery, we can also disconnect all the power used by the Chevy parts of the van (radio, timers, etc) which about 1/3amp. With the 115AH starting battery, we can get 50+ AH for frig use, or a couple of days if it isn't too hot.
OK, I am a dummy. What is the advantage of one of these compressor refrigs over the normal 12v/110v/propane found in most Bs? I have a five footer in my RT and have never had a problem with an absorbtion refrigerator in any of my RVs. Help me out here.
Provan now puts the NovaCool 4.3 cu ft AC/DC compressor type reefer in the Tiger CX & Bengal. I think they use a larger version of the same in the Siberian. I believe the 3-way LP reefer is still an option. Other than a 232ah house battery bank (pair of 6V, IIRC), and a couple of solar panel options, there are no mods to the truck's charging system AFAIK. This is in a B-sized C, BTW.
Jim, "Let me tell you my conspiracy theory...."
'06 Tiger CX 'C Minus' on a Silverado 2500HD 4x4, 8.1 & Allison (aka 'Loafer's Glory') www.tigervehicles.com
My 1.7 cubic foot Norcold has been running 11 months a year for nearly 5 years now. It does not have a danfoss compressor, but some other louder more vibration prone compressor.
It has averaged under 1 amp per hour to keep the interior under 39 degrees. But I have added more insulation and interior and external muffin fans. When new the compressor took 2.7 amps, now it hovers between 2.4 and 2.5 amps when the compressor is running.
It switches automatically to 110 volt when plugged in to the grid and to battery when unplugged.
Only complaints are the noise, which I understand is not an issue with danfoss compressors.
I have a NovaKool 12v/120v compressor fridge in my Roadtrek. My RT has 2 6 volt AGM coach batteries installed as original equipment with an output of 220 amp hours. We do not have any solar panels. The fridge is turned on at the start of our trips and left on until we return. Mixed in to running on battery power we also may be hooked up to shore power which recharges our coach batteries. But on their own the batteries power the fridge, lights, and TV for at least three days. If hooked up to shore power at night and left to run all day, there is little drain at all on the batteries. I don't know if this helps, but this has been my experience. I had been told when selecting the compressor fridge that I could have gotten one that was 12v only and had the same experience. It auto selects its power source from what is available. NovaKool has been an exceptional company and worth a look. They have been very helpful from getting the fridge to my dealer/service where it was installed to answering any of the few questions that I have had since I have gotten it.
We switched because we were finding that the places we liked to stop to do things, like hike, bike sightsee, were too far off level for the absorption frig. It is also nice not to have to be turning the propane on and off all the time, every time you stop somewhere, as we would run on DC with the propane off while driving (controversial issue, I know, not the discussion here =).
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