Battery Chargers

[bartmac]

The fridge (57litre?) is fitted under the sink in our Mac26X....couldn't do without it...just goes to show the temp differences.(our home base is only just south of the tropic of capricorn)My wife won't go sailing in our winter which is probably warmer than your summer.We have 180 watt of panels and 2 x 187Ah Gel batteries and 2 start batteries (which can be switched to the general circuit...our motor is rope start).....last summer 12 days on the water with temps around 30-35C we still had frozen food on the way home.Mind you the fridge is like military operation...premeasured plastic containers which fit together like a jigsaw...just enough space for air flow...food & fridge is precooled at home and the batteries charging off the tow vehicle whilst travelling.....not much room for beer though (can sometimes sneak one in at night for the next day) ...had to make do with red wine

[Boblee]

Reckon we need a bigger one than the 70l, have an evercool which is fairly long and low so the lid can lift up on the bench opposite the head might even put another compressor (the third) in it but will use the bigger one as it drops it down quicker, we take the basket out and put a polystyrene divider in (brocolli box) which forms the freezer and then put a piece of polystyrene across the top but allows enough leakage to suck down the bit of the cabinet left for drinks etc.
If I do repair it will move the compressor out of the box which will allow more airflow and fill in the walls which should give us about 90l.
Most days in the dry (winter) are 32c or above and the interior of the boat is a fair bit hotter even on the water we bring the freezer home as full of fish as we can at -18c.
We only have the original starting battery and two 70ah batteries but can use a bigger one under the front berth easy but it works as is because we have so many options for charging and like to keep batteries topped up as high as possible at least once a day.
Sits right next to inverter and dc plug which taps into heavy cables linking batteries to cut down voltage drop.

[robbarnes1965]

I do have a problem with the fridge always running. But if it was connected to shore power directly it would still not be an issue.

As for not having one, in hindsight I would not have bought one but I went a little crazy when I signed for the boat at the dealer and basically checked off all the boxes! But I do keep my boat in a slip so the times where I want to jump on the boat for a spur of the moment sail it is so nice to know there is cold beer in the fridge...

If I would do it all over again with a Mac I would just have a good cooler on board and bring one extra one along for longer trips that would hold the meat and not be opened often. I would have to be more disciplined to remember to bring cold beer from home

[mastreb]

Wine. It's good warm.

[bartmac]

Not sure US mac owners know what a evercool is (having googled it I stand corrected)....let alone a dual compressor one....the demands of freezing down fish and general keeping of food so it doesnt spoil are sooo different.Ambient temperatures for a lot of North American Mac owner are such that refridgeration is maybe not in the forefront of thier minds....and thus the need for a sophisticated and larger scale electrical system to drive all that is not needed....meaning stand alone 12V.Having seen some of the large refridgeration units utilized by amateur fishermen in Australia who go to extreme length/distances to catch fish and freeze them...the mind boogles.Petrol drive remote compressor set ups & generators and multiple 12/24V chest type freezer/fridge units......I guess not just for fish.....beer features in there somewhere.
Bye the bye the fridges we utilize are 110v Vitifrigo units which come in on US imported vessels....they are actually NOT 110V but 12V with a transformer.....rip off the transformer and you have a 12V Danfoss compressor fridge...low draw quite efficient and cheap when purchased second hand off Ebay from unsuspecting Gold Coast punters who have ripped them out of thier floating ginpalaces to be replaced by new 240 V units.....which probably have transformers in them 240-12V

[Boblee]

robbarnes1965
For just keeping your drinks cold your cooler should have absolutely no effect on your batteries not charging in anything under 30c it would hardly need to run and plenty of time for charger to catch up.
Bartmac
The Danfoss compressor is the reason I like the Evercool over the engel.