Brass Monkey car fridge
Submitted: Sunday, Feb 06, 2022 at 13:03
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I have a 60 litre Brass Monkey car fridge. Im finding it has trouble handling Australian summer conditions. They don't appear designed to cope.
When I try to cool it down from ambient, on a warm day, in the shade,
well ventilated, it comes up with F4. I have to do this pre cool over night. The store just ran it for a week in their air cond store and said its fine. Once cool, it works okay but I suspect efficency is poor.
I took the cover off and found only a small low flow fan providing any air flow over the small condensor. So, I installed another 80mm fan on the outside blowing air in towards the condensor. I connected it in parallel with the existing fan. This solved all the issues but now I have a fan sticking out the side. There is no room inside rhe case. To replace the exiating fan with a high flow draws too much current. Has anyone else had these problems?
Reply By: Member - LeighW - Sunday, Feb 06, 2022 at 14:05
Sunday, Feb 06, 2022 at 14:05
If it can't manage on a warm day in the shade it is not fit for purpose, take it back. If you wish to perserve then a simple transitor switch or relay to control a bigger fan replacing the original.
AnswerID:
639357
Reply By: Kazza055 - Sunday, Feb 06, 2022 at 15:52
Sunday, Feb 06, 2022 at 15:52
I have both the 50L and 60L which go away with us in
the tub and have had no problems at all.
One of the good things about the Brass Monkeys is that they have a 3 year warranty and being sold by Jaycar and RTM plus others there is usually no question about warranty and most the time it will be swapped out for a new one.
From what I have seen they are an LG compressor.
AnswerID:
639359
Reply By: Ozhumvee - Monday, Feb 07, 2022 at 08:22
Monday, Feb 07, 2022 at 08:22
I've got one of the little 9l ones and it would sometimes do the same when sitting in the tray of the ute in the sun. The problem was the cigarette plug not making a very good contact under load, not enough to trigger low voltage but enough to cause the fault code. binned the fag plug and fitted a merit plug and socket and no problems since.
I have always avoided using fag plugs for anything as they always stuff up but as the plug on the lead was moulde etc and seemed of reasonable quality left it alone. Never again!
AnswerID:
639369
Follow Up By: Member - nickb boab - Monday, Feb 07, 2022 at 11:45
Monday, Feb 07, 2022 at 11:45
agree with the cig lighter connections , i had same problem with evacool fridge in the back of my car & since changing to an anderson plug connection haven't had any such problems even on hot days ..
But saying that you cant really expect these cheap type of fridges to preform like the more expensive big brand fridges .. I aslo have a primus and find if sitting around on hot days if i place it out in the open i find it works really
well even on a hot northern day . just saying ..
FollowupID:
918437
Follow Up By: Kazza055 - Monday, Feb 07, 2022 at 12:32
Monday, Feb 07, 2022 at 12:32
Well my 2 Brass Monkeys work just as good, if not better than my previous Engel and Waeco.
I can even monitor their performance using Bluetooth.
Just because they are cheaper does not make them cheap crap.
FollowupID:
918438
Reply By: Member - nickb boab - Monday, Feb 07, 2022 at 15:03
Monday, Feb 07, 2022 at 15:03
Off topic comment: further to my previous reply ..I tried a search for this brand as I have not heard of it before only a few results mainly from sellers one of those pic2 marked it as Australian made which I thought was interesting because I had a similar issue with a electric boat motor I have just recently purchased where search results claimed they also were Australian made , only to find when I purchased it and opened the box that it was made in you know where .. on the brass monkey website under "about us" there is no reference to the manufacturer for where it is made nor any reference to the manufacturer of the compressor that I could find easily . On other reviews and forums there was a mix of comments pros and cons on similar issues to the perps issues
Pic1
Pic2
Pic3
AnswerID:
639375
Follow Up By: Member - Dick L - Monday, Feb 07, 2022 at 17:05
Monday, Feb 07, 2022 at 17:05
It would appear that the LG fridge compressor in the Brass Monkey fridges is made in China
Where to buy LG refrigerator compressors from China?
Made-in-China.com is a B2B platform for global buyers to source Chinese Lg Refrigerator Compressor products and Chinese Lg Refrigerator Compressor manufacturers. You can send your questions like minimum quantity to our suppliers by clicking the red button “Contact Now”.
Lg Refrigerator Compressor manufacturers & suppliers
www.made-in-china.com/products-search/hot-china-prod…
FollowupID:
918444
Follow Up By: OzzieCruiser - Monday, Feb 07, 2022 at 19:34
Monday, Feb 07, 2022 at 19:34
Brass Monkey is sold by Jaycar and RTM so easy to find. The handbook downloaded from the Jaycar site does not indicate Aust made - indeed the last words in the document are "Made in China".
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member - nickb boab - Tuesday, Feb 08, 2022 at 10:23
Tuesday, Feb 08, 2022 at 10:23
AussieCruiser : pretty sure I did not mention Jaycar in my comment . Indeed, only that one of the results in my search suggested it was made in Australia similar to my search for boat motor ..the point i way making ! No reference to the fridge or manufacturer..
Hmm , yes last word in the document i.e
pic 1
FollowupID:
918456
Follow Up By: OzzieCruiser - Tuesday, Feb 08, 2022 at 10:39
Tuesday, Feb 08, 2022 at 10:39
Never said you did. :-)
My comments were in response to your comment "I tried a search for this brand as I have not heard of it before only a few results mainly from sellers" - just indicating it is available at Jaycar and RTM and that nothing in their documents indicate it is made in Aust.
FollowupID:
918458
Reply By: Batt's - Tuesday, Feb 08, 2022 at 10:07
Tuesday, Feb 08, 2022 at 10:07
If you think it just needs the fan replaced with a better quality one google mwave.com they sell Noctua fans I got the brown, cream coloured one for my Evakool. It's super quiet, very efficient pumps out more air than the factory fan. It comes with 3 adaptors cords which change the fan speed worth looking up.. My fridge is 47lts and has a 90mm fan fitted from the factory I replaced it with a 92mm as they didn't have a 90mm no issue. My fridge is 18yrs old and has never run better than it does now.
AnswerID:
639383