Fridges and Thermometers

Submitted: Tuesday, May 25, 2004 at 18:54
ThreadID: 13154 Views:1853 Replies:7 FollowUps:8
This Thread has been Archived
Came home from shopping the other day and had too much gear to fit in the household freezers so decided to fire up the Engel in the garage. Turned the thermostat knob right around to freeze (setting 5) and the bloody thing seemed to be running evrytime I went out for a lungbuster. I then wound it back to 4 and put a thermometer inside the Engel, up the top, not down in the coldest spot and it was holding -16 C (for the last 24 hours), cycling 50% of the time (I timed how often it switched in and out).

I am not suggesting that a given setting on the thermostat will give the same temp in all fridges but I am saying that you need a thermometer to check the temp and adjust the thermostat to suit your needs. Keep in mind ICY cold beer will be at around -3 (it won't freeze due to the alcohol content), but your tomatoes and lettuce will freeze at this temp. If you are happy to run it at +2, you will have reasonably cold beer and fresh veg. Of course keeping the beer down the bottom and the veg up top will also help. This also makes me think that the "dairy" section in Waeco's is a bloody good idea; keeps the perishables that need to be cool but not cold, in good nick, whilst your lunatic soup is as cold as a mother-in-law's kiss.

Jim.
Back Expand Un-Read 0 Moderator

Reply By: Rosco - Bris. - Tuesday, May 25, 2004 at 19:19

Tuesday, May 25, 2004 at 19:19
Zacery so Jimbo

When we head up to FNQ soon I intend utilising the Waeco as a deep freeze for the first short while. Reckon the dairy compartment will do the trick for a few tinnies at the same time. But, as I commented in a recent post .... the wackers who designed same, made it about 1mm too short in width to fit in max number of cans.

I tell you what cobber ... it's bloody hard to get good help these days.

Cheers
AnswerID: 60118

Reply By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Tuesday, May 25, 2004 at 20:12

Tuesday, May 25, 2004 at 20:12
Jimbo,
I have one of those Jaycar indoor/outdoor thermometers with the remote sensor located in the ARB/Engel about 1/3 of the way down. The screen part sits on my dash so I can see what the temp is. I run the fridge on about one and a half and the temp shows about 2 degrees most of the time.
I also have a small basket which sits in the top of the fridge (it's an Engel basket and cost tooooo much but does a good job of holding things up high). You could probably fit 2 of those baskets and they are good for tomatoes etc.
Cheers,
AnswerID: 60132

Follow Up By: Crackles - Tuesday, May 25, 2004 at 21:46

Tuesday, May 25, 2004 at 21:46
Gaday Roachie. I too have just bought a Jacar thermometer. Did you add extra wire to the sensor to make it reach from the fridge to the dash & does that effect the temp reading? Cheers Craig...............
0
FollowupID: 321733

Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Tuesday, May 25, 2004 at 22:04

Tuesday, May 25, 2004 at 22:04
Craig,
Yeh mate, had to add extra wire but didn't seem to affect the reading.
However, it's a mongrel of a blasted thing and I think I'm gunna change it to a VDO digital one.
It would be good if it worked properly. It's supposed to do the following:
a) show volts to one decimal point....this is okay most of the time.
b) have a permanent blue back light.....works occasionally
c) have a readout of outside or inside or both. If you select both it should mean the battery voltage doesn't show. This part has a mind of it's own.
d) it had a mongrel beeper which sounded at all odd times and drove me mad real quick; so I opened up the back and cut the wires.....no more beeper.
I removed the cigi plug and wired it permanently to my 2nd battery, so the back-light should stay on all the time....but it comes and goes for no apparent reason.
Sometimes it just goes to all "8888888" across the screen.
e) it came with a battery operated digital clock too, but that didn't keep accurate time, so I've taken the batteries out.
All in all it's a piece of crud......but the temp of the fridge seems to be reasonably accurate, anyway.
Good luck with yours.
0
FollowupID: 321738

Follow Up By: Tuco69 - Wednesday, May 26, 2004 at 20:22

Wednesday, May 26, 2004 at 20:22
Hi Roachie - I had a similar experience with the first Jaycar unit that I had too. I sent it back and after a month it was replaced.
The replacement didn't seem much better - and I was somewhat disapointed with the whole issue. While not noticeable in the daytime - at night the backlight seemed to be pulsing. All the display info seemed correct though - as long as the vehicle wasn't running!
I ended up hard wiring it to the battery - FIXED!
It all works fine now - and all the available info - max/min etc work correctly.
0
FollowupID: 321846

Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Thursday, May 27, 2004 at 09:08

Thursday, May 27, 2004 at 09:08
G'day Tuco69
Yeh, I hardwired mine too. But I think I need to put a switch on it so I can switch it off to reset it when it goes funny on me. At the moment, to reset, I have to pull the fuse under the bonnet (it's wired up to a power wire that supplies power to an under-dash cigi socket and another one on the driver's "A" pillar which permanently powers the Etrex.
Cheers,
0
FollowupID: 321957

Reply By: ianmc - Tuesday, May 25, 2004 at 22:08

Tuesday, May 25, 2004 at 22:08
For two temp zones in your frig you can use a sheet of corrugated cardboard cut to size & laid on top of the colder stuff in the bottom of frig. Things above stay at a slightly higher temp, probably depending where the thermostat sensor is located.
AnswerID: 60168

Reply By: Member - JohnR (Vic) - Wednesday, May 26, 2004 at 06:31

Wednesday, May 26, 2004 at 06:31
Jimbo,

I made the point a few months back that the location of the sensor in the Engel provides a vast variation. We had ours stuck under the lid at one stage last December to have a reading of up to +12 degrees - it had been 9 earlier. Turned the fridge down for non performance and froze the beer!

The lid seems poorly insulated so keep your sensor away from that area too. Voxson had been doing some research too on the temperatures reflected from some colours. The dark paint colour of the lid may not help either as I found one day I rested my arm on it in the sun.

Jimbo I don't know that any other chest type fridges would be much different but we just need to be aware of the colder zones in the fridges.
AnswerID: 60188

Follow Up By: signman - Wednesday, May 26, 2004 at 09:34

Wednesday, May 26, 2004 at 09:34
The first thing I did when I purchased my Engel was to give the whole unit a good coat of white paint. It was obvious the colour-especially the lid- would be a good heat absorber.
0
FollowupID: 321774

Reply By: madcow - Wednesday, May 26, 2004 at 08:58

Wednesday, May 26, 2004 at 08:58
I put a dual thermometer ( lcd )from Dick Smith in to the Engel and sit on the console in full view. We can keep an eye on things from the cocokpit and have avoided freezing the vegies a couple of times.

Cheers
AnswerID: 60203

Reply By: bazza - Wednesday, May 26, 2004 at 21:29

Wednesday, May 26, 2004 at 21:29
hi peoples - off theme a bit but -- going west in july kal/pilbarras/pthedland -
was wondering ( under the horses 4 courses formula) how efficient are the coolers/warmers just for town-to-town travelling regarding just keeping milk/butter/meats(cold)/drinks etc at a reasonable temp.
thanking you people in advance...bazzaoz
(will have to amend to avoid confusion with original namesake)
AnswerID: 60325

Reply By: bazza - Wednesday, May 26, 2004 at 21:29

Wednesday, May 26, 2004 at 21:29
hi peoples - off theme a bit but -- going west in july kal/pilbarras/pthedland -
was wondering ( under the horses 4 courses formula) how efficient are the coolers/warmers just for town-to-town travelling regarding just keeping milk/butter/meats(cold)/drinks etc at a reasonable temp.
thanking you people in advance...bazzaoz
(will have to amend to avoid confusion with original namesake)
AnswerID: 60326

Follow Up By: Jimbo - Thursday, May 27, 2004 at 19:16

Thursday, May 27, 2004 at 19:16
They're Ok if you put cold stuff in them. Don't expect them to cool stuuf down, they simply won't do it. You also need to get them running in advance as they take a while to cool down. Also keep the cooling unit well ventilated, preferably with cool air blowing on them.

If you are stopping overnight where you get a chance to refreeze ice bricks, you'd do better with an Esky.

I own a Chescold, an Engel and a Cooler/warmer. Made the mistake of taking the cooler on a trip recently instead of the Engel to save space. Won't ever make that mistake again.

Jim.
0
FollowupID: 322076

Follow Up By: Flash - Friday, May 28, 2004 at 11:01

Friday, May 28, 2004 at 11:01
Agree,
They're close to useless, very very ordinary IMHO !
0
FollowupID: 322159

Follow Up By: Jimbo - Friday, May 28, 2004 at 20:13

Friday, May 28, 2004 at 20:13
Yeah, OK,

Let's call a spade a $&@%ing shovel.

They're FNU.

Jim.
0
FollowupID: 322261

Sponsored Links