I picked up this digital thermometer at Amazon and connected a used chest fridge I picked up for $25 from a coworker. LRA gives a very worst case reading of a motor's draw. IOW, the high draw lasts a very short time and most electrical systems and sources can provide and tolerate high draws for short periods. The high draw usually lasts about 1 second with the highest current being drawn in the first 200 milliseconds. Motors draw startup current which can be 3-5 times the normal operating current.
#Off grid refrigerator how to#
However, cruisers are one of the cheapest breeds out there and much of the discussion revolves around how to roll your own. That may have changed somewhat with new technology, but top access remains easily the best aids to efficiency when one factors in actually using the thing. They used cold plates which the compressor froze down once or twice a day and the cold mass kept the fridge at low temperatures. Replacing the fridge is a common issue with old boats and there will be discussions ongoing on all the cruising sites.ĭesigns usually revolved around very well insulated boxes with top access (as opposed to swing-open door(s)). When last I was studying it there were at least half dozen good DIY books on the topic I expect there are at least that many now. Cruising sailors favor reliability, also. Researching their solutions should be directly applicable to your situation. "In the Beginning" the compressor was driven by a belt off the engine technology has moved toward all-electric low voltage systems. Sailors have dealt with refrigeration vs. Our danby under counter fridge draws 65-75w running and 125 or so on startup per the inverter watt meter. I key people in to have the meter and use it at the store when shopping so you can exclude the ones that will not work out. It will show you the surge, it will also show min max.īob, 5-7 times surge is not always going to be the law. *Some decent inverter should have some huge electrolytic capacitor inside to handle such situations. I'd drop the manufacture of inverter* and fridge a note and ask. Thought I am not sure how well those meter can record/visualize the pretty short fraction of a second some motor begins turning and draws lots of power.
Thus one might get away with a smaller (cheaper) PV system. Before even thinking about some expensive PV system one should checkout what really sucks and replace it with something better, perhaps not electrical powered. Yep, those meters are very helpful with finding what really eats your power.
P3 P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor Plug the fridge into the sensor and it will give you a constant readout of the used wattage. The best thing you can probably do when planning any alt power system is to get a kill-a-watt sensor off of amazon. All that being said that the exact model and such are going to run totally different. The old fridge would make the lights flicker.
When the compressor kicks on it definately takes more power. We have a large fridge that is just a year or two old. Is yours a normal fridge, or a special one designed for solar? I dont know much about the solar ones, but do know they exist. Is there any one with some actual experience, either running a refrigerator with an inverter, or taking apart refrigerator motors that can tell me what's the real power draw I'm looking at. Now I was told by the salesman the refrigerator motors only draw1-2 amps, just a couple hundred watts, so I figured my inverter could still handle that, but in looking around it is difficult to find the actual draw listed, and the one refrigerator I was looking at was listed as 6 amps, and a google search for normal amps for the compressor motor came up with 6 as well.ħ20 watts times 5 exceeds my 2500 watt inverter. I started out good, bought a 2500 watt pure sine inverter, and have since come to find out that the 2500 watts does not apply to motors, and I need 5-7 times bigger inverter than the load. A recent windfall of panels and extra money have me wanting to cut the ties with the propane distributor, even though it is a relatively small monthly amount. I am thinking about making the transition from propane to an electric refrigerator.
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