MacGregorSailors.com

Interesting..
Even if they do not last as long.. if they are 1/4 the price... and it fails.. buy a new one!
The engineer at the club loves his unit.. but then again.. cost-no-object for him.

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The boat next to us in the marina uses a 2 ft x 2 ft solar panel to run their 48 Alpincool with a stand alone battery 24 x 7.
The temps have been up in the 90s for a month.
They always have cold, almost icy, beverages!
No shore power and no generator.

That sounds like a plan!

Note To Self..
Look into 48 Alpincool and some solar...
Buy more beer..

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Hi All


We have been using a Coleman Thermonic (solid state) Cooler on our journey to/on/(&hopefully from) Lake Champlain Vt.
It has held up reasonably well at getting and keeping thing cool to about 38-42 degree F.
Not anywhere near as efficient as one of thos Aplincool units BUT the side benefit is it also acts as a mild cabin heater!

Really takes the chill off the 54’F nighttime temps we have been having up here on Lake Champlain (anyone know what happened to summer after the 1st of September?).
It works so well as a heater that we have actually had the A/C turn itself on during the night above 72’F!

Not sure what the actual power consumption is but we figure it will drain a battery in very short order if not using an 115vac adapter on shore power!!!!

The current issue spec list for this unit is pictured below:





As mentioned it is not a slouch on consuming power with the current issue unit running at 5A on 12VDC that’s about 60 watts nominal. Given ours is vintage I think I’m safe in to “assume” that ours is running a bit more than the new current spec seems to infer.

But given it cost us $20 at a garage sale and our access to either shore power or a running engine (boat or car) and the ability to isolate a house battery from and engine start battery it is actually working out for us. We judiciously try to ever allow both batteries to be on the house circuit at the same time.

Though the aspect of running a thermonic cooler to heat the boat was a rather unexpected but currently pleasant surprise feature! Who knew?

Best Regards,
Over Easy

C Buchs wrote: ↑Fri Jun 25, 2021 8:19 am

C Buchs wrote: ↑Wed Dec 16, 2020 11:43 am I just have two batteries that power everything. I'm in a slip with shore power, but really plan to use this cooler on trips. I have a way to monitor my batteries. I'm looking forward to seeing how they hold up.

Jeff

I don't have very scientific information on how this is working. I brought the boat home before a trip, filled the cooler, and didn't plug the boat into shore power. Set at 34 degrees F, the cooler lasted two days before the low power setting turned it off. The boat was in full sun with an ambient temperature range of 50-75. At that point, I was still able to start my outboard. We took it on a weekend trip to Lake Billy Chinook and it only lasted a day and a half. The temperature was around 90 during the day and we were opening it every couple of hours. We did some motoring around, but I never could get the batteries fully charged back up.

I need to spend some time understanding/monitoring my battery setup. I replaced the group 24 (I think) marine deep cycle batteries when I bought the boat 5 years ago. The only monitoring I have is a voltage gauge. I don't have a selector switch. My batteries use this https://www.yandina.com/acrobats/C50Data.pdf West Marine Combiner 50. I'll provide another update when I can measure the amperage draw.

Below is an updated picture of my physical install:



It sticks up about 1.5 inches, but with the cushion on you really don't notice it.

Jeff

Hello Jeff...I'm exploring options for the installation a 12volt compressor type portable fridge specifically the Alpicool C20 for my . I was
considering the same install location as yours but after some research of the manufactures installation procedure (Massimo CX40 manual)
they require good ventilation for the compressor and to get the best air circulation they want at least 8" of space behind the back of the cooler and 4" of space on each side.

From your pic I'm not so sure you met those requirements or maybe you are close enough. Did you have any issues with your fridge in that location
with the seat cushion on? Overheating...error codes etc..? thanks

My cooler is open to the bilge around its vents. The only error code was when my batteries got low on day three of our off-grid trip. My two Costco deep cycle batteries were on their 6th season. So I expected that.

Jeff