Refrigerator and Solar issues solved by hanging out by the campfire...

73IHC

73IHC

Adventurist
Thanks to Brett or actually his wife. I have "fixed" issues with my 12 volt solar and dual battery set up. At MRV on Saturday night Brett brought up that his wife said that most commercial establishments are running their fridges at 41 degrees. I do believe he runs his at that temp now.

I have been having issues with my set-up, was getting ready get a larger panel than my Renogy 100 watt or bigger battery. But after setting my ARB to 40 degrees up from 32 degrees, I was able to run my fridge for a week now, no issues with either battery, and my house battery is at 13 V+ every evening, 14.3 at idle.

Thanks Brett...
 
Keeping something at 32°F is an energy pit.

For a 1L bottle of water it takes 23.33 watt/hrs to cool it from 68°F to 32°F. It takes 92.5 watt/hrs to freeze it solid once it reaches 32°F.

That's just the raw energy calculation. It doesn't take into consideration the inefficiencies of the refrigeration system and insulation.
 
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When the schools had ice cream I kept all the freezers at -15F, now that there is no need for hard freeze I run them all at 15F. The energy savings are extreme and longevity of the units themselves are 10 fold.
 
73IHC said:
Thanks to Brett or actually his wife. I have "fixed" issues with my 12 volt solar and dual battery set up. At MRV on Saturday night Brett brought up that his wife said that most commercial establishments are running their fridges at 41 degrees. I do believe he runs his at that temp now.

I have been having issues with my set-up, was getting ready get a larger panel than my Renogy 100 watt or bigger battery. But after setting my ARB to 40 degrees up from 32 degrees, I was able to run my fridge for a week now, no issues with either battery, and my house battery is at 13 V+ every evening, 14.3 at idle.

Thanks Brett...
Click to expand...

That's funny did the exact same thing after being part of that conversation, 41 degrees, and didn't have to run my truck at all to top off the battery.
 
I put some warm beer in yesterday for the weekend trip, went up to 43 degrees but now at 40 in the morning. My ARB always stays about 1 degree under.
 
I just freeze my food before I start the trip and throw in a couple of frozen water jugs. I have my fridge set to 5 degrees Fahrenheit and it only runs when we're driving which is usually for about 4-6 hours a day.

This works fine on 9 day trips.

Here's the frozen food I usually carry:
  • Portioned Proteins (Steaks, Chicken Wings, Pork Chops, Fish, etc)
  • Potstickers
  • Prepared and Frozen Soups
  • Pasta
  • Prepped Bok Choi, Gai Lan Chopped Onions, Dill, Green Onions, Chopped Shallots, etc
Fruits, Carrots, Potatos I leave in bags outside since they don't need to be prepped or cooled until they're chopped. I can leave the skin on them so they're g2g until I'm ready to eat them.

If I am trying to defrost food then I'll set the fridge at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and at the end of the trip, all my food is defrosted, and the water jugs are nice and cold.
 
Been running my fridge at 34 forever. I like my beers cold.

This might be worth a try though, conserving energy is important.
 
I run my ARB a little on the cold side, but I don't think the internal temperature and the setting line up. I always feel like it's a few degrees warmer than what I set it at. I know a lot of that has to do with how it's loaded. I'm starting to learn how to cycle things to keep the temps a little more even.
 
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