12v Refrigeration Input Sought

[John Stone]

Today is 10 May 22. We are at 18°N. Summer is getting close. Air temp 86° and water temp about 82°. So pretty warm.

I have not hauled ice in 8 days. There is still maybe 20 lbs of cube ice left. Might go another day or day and a half before it's gone. Not sure. Melting accelerates as more air volume is created. But I think the icebox has proven to be well insulated. Now, it's true without Gayle on the boat the ice box does not get opened as much as when it is just me on the boat. She likes ice in her drink and like mine like I scooped it up from a muddy hoof print. So this is not exactly empirical data.

Anyway, this leads me to believe that maybe I could run that Isotherm 3251 SP--12v with through hull pump and holding plate on the 12v system I have. Perhaps. Maybe. Possibly.

I still plan to test the Engle MT 35 we have at home as a point of departure as to what is in the art of the possible.

[wikakaru]

Hey John,

Would you recommend the Engle? I'm considering buying a 12 volt portable fridge to take in the car when we drive to Maine. I want to "smuggle" a bunch of Publix fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt from Florida. No Publix in Maine, and no other yogurt is like it. Our current cheapo cooler is mostly filled with ice on the trip, so there's little room for "cargo".

I'd appreciate benefitting from your experience.

Smooth sailing,

Jim

[John Stone]

Hey John,

Would you recommend the Engle? I'm considering buying a 12 volt portable fridge to take in the car when we drive to Maine. I want to "smuggle" a bunch of Publix fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt from Florida. No Publix in Maine, and no other yogurt is like it. Our current cheapo cooler is mostly filled with ice on the trip, so there's little room for "cargo".

I'd appreciate benefitting from your experience.

Smooth sailing,

Jim

Short answer. Yes.

Longer answer. We have MTU 35. Love it. Does not have all the hi tech associated with dometic and other popular brands. I did not want blue tooth and power ports. Just the best most reliable 12 fridge I could get. Not cheap but about the same as other top brands. Engle is a well regarded in Australia where they spend a lot of time in the outback. Very tough and reliable is the reputation they have there.

Never seen a bad review. But most people these days want all the flashy accessories and Engle has so far resisted that trend.

Our Engle runs off 12v or 110. Also has a low battery cut off setting.
It does not use much power. Certainly less than 20 amps in 24 hours and I think prob 15-18 but just guessing. Will know more when I test it in the boat with hour amp meter.

Nothing impresses Gayle and she carries on about the Engle all the time.

[wikakaru]

Thanks! The Engle is quite an investment. I'm going to have to be really committed to my yogurt to shell out more than one boat unit for it.

--Jim

[John Stone]

Thanks! The Engle is quite an investment. I'm going to have to be really committed to my yogurt to shell out more than one boat unit for it.

--Jim

The Engle is expensive. I think the Dometic fridge is a little less expensive and are well regarded by a lot of overlanders who use them hard every day. As I said they have other features the Engle does not. But, it has a plastic outer shell. The Engle is metal--like a MacBook perhaps. Cost more. Perhaps tougher.

The nice think about the Dometic is the plastic does not rust so ideal for use on a boat. Engle makes a marine fridge that is plastic too. A 40L. But that's a different topic.

Anyway, lots of options out there. That could turn out to be some expensive fruit cups. LOL.

[Steve Laume]

You could just buy plain yogurt and add fresh crushed, Maine, blueberries.

It would be cheaper and much better.

[John Stone]

You could just buy plain yogurt and add fresh crushed, Maine, blueberries.

It would be cheaper and much better.

Haha. See, that's why I'm glad you're posting on the forum Steve L!!

[Jim Walsh]

You could just buy plain yogurt and add fresh crushed, Maine, blueberries.

It would be cheaper and much better.

My blueberry yogurt recipe;
Start with 1 cup of plain yogurt and one cup of fresh crushed Maine blueberries. Pour the blueberries and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar into a chilled container of your choice. Eat the blueberries and feed the yogurt to an unsuspecting cat, dog, or other livestock of your choice. Enjoy!

[wikakaru]

You could just buy plain yogurt and add fresh crushed, Maine, blueberries.

It would be cheaper and much better.

It's not the fruit that's the issue, it's the yogurt. When we are in Maine we add local berries picked on our property to help the taste of the so-called yogurt we buy up there, and while the berries are wonderful, adding our own fresh berries to any kind of yogurt other than Publix is like trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. You guys have obviously never had Publix yogurt. Next time you visit the east coast from Virginia southward, stop in a Publix and see for yourself.

Don't get me started on Publix Premium ice cream: Otter Paws and Moose Tracks. Oh man. I wonder if any of these small 12 volt fridges keep ice cream frozen? If they do, I'm going to weigh 400 lbs...

--Jim

(Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Publix, and have not received any kind of consideration for this. Apparently they own their own dairy and their products are just that good.)

[JD-MDR]

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I’m getting Shoulders replaced starting 6/2 so I will be disabled for a long time and living aboard I got this old refer cheap and installed it. I hate how much space it takes and it seems to use a lot of power How do I figure how much it uses? It kicked on every 7 min and stays on 2’10” the amp meter says 6 amps Please respond somebody. If I like having refer, Someday I will get a new energy efficient system I haven’t altered any of the original carpentry I can always toss this unit and only have about 8 screw holes to repair

[wikakaru]

How do I figure how much it uses? It kicked on every 7 min and stays on 2’10” the amp meter says 6 amps Please respond somebody.

If it is running 2 minutes and 10 seconds on and 7 minutes off, then it is running 31% of the time. If it is using 6 amps while running and zero while not running, then it is averaging about 1.9 amps. Over the course of a day that is about 44.4 amp hours. That sounds low to me, but maybe it's right.

Smooth sailing,

Jim

[JD-MDR]

Thank you Jim. Now I have something to compare it to. I turned the Charger and everything off except the refer yesterday. The voltage has only dropped from 13.2 to 12.2 in 24 hrs. I have two wet cell batteries on the house that I bought maybe a year ago

[Steve Laume]

I doubt your batteries were at 13.2 volts when at rest. A fully charged battery, should show about 12.8V when at rest. Voltage tells you very little about amperage use. I run a battery monitor on Raven and it will tell me much more about the state of my batteries. I can scroll through, voltage, percentage of charge in amps, amperage draw or input, and actual number of amps left in battery bank. It is the percentage of charge that I find most useful.

When you are charging your batteries, you will see much higher voltages in the 14V range. After you stop charging, the voltage will slowly drop to give you an at rest voltage, if nothing is drawing on the batteries, this will give you a vague idea of amp hrs in the battery. If you draw current out of the battery at any time, the voltage may drop, below the at rest state, temporarily. This is why a volt meter is not a god way to judge battery state.

With a battery monitor, you can see exactly what your percentage of charge is. I have a pretty good solar array that usually keeps my batteries well charged. If for some reason they do discharge to the point that I feel the need to run the engine, I can see exactly how many amps the batteries are accepting. In the bulk charge phase I might be adding 25 or 30 amps. At some point it will fall off to single digits and it doesn't really pay to keep running the engine. I can also figure out if I should add additional amps to my battery bank to get through the night, when there is no solar energy, input.

Good batteries are not cheap. A battery monitor is a very good investment in keeping them in good condition as well as not finding yourself in a situation where you have run the batteries down to the point that you might not be able to start the engine and recharge your bank.

I still have the original CD panel with a Blue Seas sub panel. The original battery meter was pretty worthless but my battery monitor fit in the original hole. All the readouts are digital, down the tenths, so there is no guessing about any of the numbers.

You can't manage your energy if you don't have any data, Steve.

[JD-MDR]

[quote="wikakaru"] it is averaging about 1.9 amps. Over the course of a day that is about 44.4 amp hours. That sounds low to me, but maybe it's right.

I see JS says his "Engle" uses less than 20 amp per day So it doesn't look low to me, Or Jim is just saying its seems low for my particular unit. Any way I'm getting some understanding of it.. I will try to figure out how to use a battery monitor and hook up the solar Panel .. A neighbor at La Paz gave me a 50 watt semi flexible panel. I set it up to test with clamps to the battery. It put out 14V. I havent used it yet.
Dang, I'm getting too much stuff (one of my worst nightmares)
Thanks for all the help.

[Steve Laume]

Be very careful with that solar panel. They typically put out 18 volts and however many amps the size of the panel and the amount of sun will provide. This is way too much for your battery to accept. This is especially true when it nears a full charge. You definitely need a charge controller. This is like a voltage regulator on your alternator. A good MPPT controller will optimize your panel output and is more cost effective than a PWM controller and a larger solar panel. This is especially true, since we only have limited space for panels.

There is a lot to learn in managing batteries and setting up a solar system, Steve.