Quote:
Originally Posted by ShrimpBurrito
This is very interesting. I am anxious to hear first-hand reports of its operation, particularly power consumption. If you find your batteries last a reasonable time -- say a week -- with your solar setup, then that would be very attractive to me. While I love that the propane fridge basically sips fuel and consumes virtually no power, I too have had problems with its slightly anemic cooling capacity.
Dave
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I'm sorry , but we don't boondock for such extended times, and I can't directly report on battery survival. (After 2 nights max, we either come home or schedule the next night at an RV place with electric and sewer connections.) I wil report on battery voltage in the AM, but this is with both Dometic and my CPAP drawing through the night, and with other "phantom loads" also present (primarily the Stereo and gas detector).
My Solar setup seems to have plenty of extra power- my CPAP machine uses about 50 watts through the night (7 hours), but the PWM finds the batteries to be "fully" charged by Noon, or even earlier. (Fridge running on gas under those circumstances). That's daylight time, with more than half the day left unused. My solar is 200W nominal, I'll SWAG at 140W max after PWM losses - the wiring losses are insignificant, compared to the losses in my PWM controller.
Per another thread, and the Danfoss spec sheet, I'll guess the
continuous power consumption of the new Fridge at 5-6 amps while running continuously. Pure SWAG, of course, and I'm not putting a quality power meter to isolate the fridge consumption from other loads. (My lights are all LED, but "phantom loads" are pretty high. Stereo and Gas Detector are probably the biggest "phantom" loads.) If these guesses are reasonably close, I can also "make up" for nearly all the power consumption of the Fridge by switching from PWM to MPPT.
I will post my actual results after seeing what happens in late July and early August, our hottest weather times.