fridge/ freezer and solar

[Wayne nicol]

am going to install a fridge.
any recommendations as to brand.
been looking at the edgestar and the waeco's

i dont know much about current draw etc
which is going to be the best unit,

am also looking at a solar panel install, i know they are not the best on a sailboat, but maybe it could help some- any suggestions in this regard. was maybe looking at installing on the sliding hatch .

[cptron]

I have the Edgestar I think 48 qt fridge with 100 watt solar panel mounted on the modified mast support. Man I have to learn how to resize pics so I can post them.
Anyway the 100 watt does a pretty good job of keeping up with the fridge however we run the fridge during the day and turn it off at night when its cooler. Spent 1 1/2 weeks on the hook in the Keys this summer and had plenty of power to spare. Of course we don't run stereo, tv or any other luxury amenity but had the VHF and lights on without worrying about consumption.

[RobertB]

I use the Waeco/Dometic CF50. I strap it down across from the head since no one is ever going to sit there anyhow. Overnight on one battery with anchor lights and a fan is a stretch but with two house batteries it works fine.

[Hamin' X]

What a great forum this is. If you use the search, or advanced search functions at the top-right of the page and enter a few key words (Edgestar, Engel, refrigerator come to mind), you will find a wealth of information. Try it, you'll like it!

~Rich

[RobertB]

If he does that, then we can not all tell him what we like on our boats (again)

[Wayne nicol]

Don't worry, I use the search function heaps , and it is extremely helpful, and I do search the web extensively too, but I also value opinion and judgement, so I like to ask questions, and get feed back.

I will be building my fridge freezer into a permanent locker on the bench opposite the head, as said above , no one uses that area at all, and it will fit there perfectly.
Just trying to get an idea on the best unit
I see some have compressors and some don't, which is better?????

What size of panel would fit on the sliding top? Power delivery wise

[bartmac]

Where to start....got a vitrifrigo fridge 45litre (Danfoss compressor...the best apparently) cw small built in freezer compartment...organised a complete set of plastic containers to fill the fridge and the lid rims leave space between the container so you still get airflow.Found as these fridge don't have a fan the airflow is not good...so installed a small computer fan and have made the whole thing more efficient.Prior to the fan it would take a long time for the thermostat to pick up on the temperature change after opening...ie its levelled out the temperature.Run time is of course down to ambient and fridge temp but found in our neck of the woods...sorry waters... that 30-35deg C ambient with a fridge temp of 6-9degC adds up to run times during the day of about 33%-50%...probably down to 25% at night...That adds up over 24 hours.We have 2 x 168 Geltech batteries fed by 180 watt of solar panels ( 6x20watt on rear tower and 60 watt on sliding hatch) but NO motor charging..thought that would be enough but alas its not if there's any adverse conditions

[Mac26Mpaul]

I have an Aussie brand fridge freezer and a 120 watt panel. In decent sun, the panel easily powers the fridge while still charging up the batteries. We generally turn the fridge to economy mode after sunset. I'm sure we would run it all night like that, but I turn it off at bedtime.

I have to say, it is a real luxury having a fridge on a trailer sailer. I hope I never go back to an Eski ( cooler )...

Personally I wouldnt mount the panel on the sliding hatch, thats valuable deck space to us, and it gets walked on all the time. We had some stainless brackets welded onto the mast carrier about 2 years back. I reckon it is the perfect place for a panel and it works quite very well there and even looks good there.

[kurz]

Hello
my setting is:
Waeco cf35 cooing box
2 solar panels at 50watts --> 100 watts solar panel
higt qualitiy regulator, so you get out 1amp loading also when the panels give less than 13 volts

The two panels are on the orig mast carrier, just put on (no extra reinforcements), very easy, can post pic later.

Just have one battery setup. I put a switch, that gives just power to the cooling box at 13Volts and higher. So the cooler just runs when there is solar power.

I put the cooler at 2degree Celsius. So it stops in the evening, gehts a little warmer in the night and starts in the morning when I am still sleeping.

I have this setting 3 years now. It works when its hot and also when its raining... In the cabin all the lights are LED.

Starting the outboard is no problem becouse of the 13Volt switch. The original waece switch is bad, becouse it switches at 12.8volt, and this weekens the battery.

[keith]

There's lots of choices in the portable fridge/freezer market and after owning several engels, borrowing a waeco for a while I bought a National Luna.
These are the most efficient units available and endorsed by the World Health Organization.
When I had the mac I fitted two 85watt panels for my power needs but this time a 2000watt inverter genny does the job.
A few hours in the evening to recharge the batteries and laptop while we watch movies and available for powertools if required.

[March]

Started with a Waeco 50 that worked fine for about 6 years, on a two battery system with a 75 W solar panel. Then something went bad with the compressor: the warning light statred flashing and the freezer froze. I switched to an Edgestar; the electrical system had been beefed up to three batteries and a total of 150 W solar panels. It held well in this configuration , but I must admit that I didn't like the Edgestar as much as the Waeco: it uses almost twice as much juice, it is noisier, bulkier, heavier, even though it has the same interior capacity as the waeco. We used to keep it under the table, whereas the Waeco fits neatly under the starboard settee (with a raised cushion). So I got another used waeco from e-bay and put the edgestar in storage:

Even when I keep it all night long, with the ancor light on, the house batteries go down to about 75% during the night. Two hours of direct sunshine the following morning and they are back full capacity. Motoring for half an hour would also do the job.

Wish I could find someone around here who can fix waecos, but no such luck. The Danfoss compressor is pretty amazing, but the fridge has a command pannel where you press the buttons to set the temp and stuff, that is rather flimsy: sometimes a button would stay pressed and the lights would cycle until you hit it on the side. It has nothing to do with elecronics; it's how the "soft touch" buttons carry the pressure to the module. Annoying at first, but no big deal once I figured out what it was

[SKIPPER2C]

I have the National Luna 90 litre TWIN compartment :
http://www.nationalluna.com/NLR90.htm
and I second Keith

these are the most efficient units available and endorsed by the World Health Organization.

The success on my boat is the CTEK smart switch D250S Dual :
http://www.cteknz.co.nz/tabid/319/Categ ... fault.aspx
The OB and Solar panel connect to it and it is every cent worth.

Renier

[RobertB]

Wish I could find someone around here who can fix waecos, but no such luck. The Danfoss compressor is pretty amazing, but the fridge has a command pannel where you press the buttons to set the temp and stuff, that is rather flimsy: sometimes a button would stay pressed and the lights would cycle until you hit it on the side. It has nothing to do with elecronics; it's how the "soft touch" buttons carry the pressure to the module. Annoying at first, but no big deal once I figured out what it was

Have you contacted Waeco/Dometic? I did this when I needed to get mine repaired (under warrantee still cost me $100 labor). The place actually about a mile away mainly worked on RVs (our Macs are kind of floating RVs )

[RobertB]

I have the National Luna 90 litre TWIN compartment :
http://www.nationalluna.com/NLR90.htm
and I second Keith

these are the most efficient units available and endorsed by the World Health Organization.

The success on my boat is the CTEK smart switch D250S Dual :
http://www.cteknz.co.nz/tabid/319/Categ ... fault.aspx
The OB and Solar panel connect to it and it is every cent worth.

Renier

Pretty awesome unit but only one distributer in the USA (Salt Lake City, UT) and over $2500. Nice but I could buy four Dometic CF50's for that price. I would use one for a refrigerator, one for a freezer, and keep two at home for spares

[SKIPPER2C]

Is gets build is South Africa , near me and i think its the exchange rate .
Renier