Power Supplies for fridges.
Submitted: Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 19:15
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Member - Jimbo (VIC)
My old 240 volt power supply died the other day so I read my Waeco manual and it recommended their 24 volt power supply which puts out 24 volts and costs $139. I thought how useless would that be? It would power the fridge (CF 80) but none of my other 12 volt needs (charging spotlight etc) that I ocassionally use it for at
home.
So I made further enquiries about getting an 8 amp or better transformer and the prices were $120 plus. So I said to myself, "self do you really need a power supply?", as I only ever use it to precool the fridge for a day before putting it in the car. As for charging the spotlight or similar I'll now do that off the second battery.
Then I thought, how about connecting my battery charger to an old half useful deep cycle battery I've got and then connecting the fridge to the battery. Rang Waeco and they said that would work fine, and it does. And it saved me some coin.
Cheers,
Jim.
Reply By: Muddy 'doe (SA) - Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 19:28
Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 19:28
Last time i looked Jimbo the Mobitronic that comes with the Weaco is just a 12 volt transformer. If it has gone psst and is not covered by warranty then probably any 12 volt transformer with a ciggy lighter outlet would do the job. Try Jaycar or Tricky's.
I remember reading in the Weaco sales literature somwehere that their 12 volt supply can be used for any 12 v appliance around the
home when 240 is available.
Of course if i am wrong I am sure that there will be those that will rush to give you the correct info!
Cheers
Muddy
AnswerID:
93433
Follow Up By: Brew69(SA) - Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 19:44
Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 19:44
Muddy, the 12v one is the one you have i think....to power the Danfoss 50 you need the MPS 050 which is a 24v power supply. Don't try and use any 12v appliances or they will go boom lol.
FollowupID:
352434
Follow Up By: Member - Jimbo (VIC) - Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 20:28
Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 20:28
Steve,
Like Stu said, the only Mobiltronics supply available for the CF 80 is a 24 volt job.
I've tried Tricky's, Jaycar and many others. I need an 8 amp transformer and they are big bucks for the limited use I will ever give them. That's why I tried the charger and battery option.
Stu, you're an amazing man. After all that polluted beer you drink your brain still works exceptionally
well LOL.
Cheers,
Jim.
FollowupID:
352440
Follow Up By: Brew69(SA) - Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 20:40
Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 20:40
Jimbo if u run out of options i know where to get the MPS 050 for under $100. MM me if u want me to let u know where. And as for the beer mate........its all good :).
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Jimbo (VIC) - Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 20:49
Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 20:49
Thanks Stu
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member - aussichef (SA) - Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 23:10
Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 23:10
Jimbo sbrew & Muddy
the Mobritronic MPS-50 automatically switches between 12v to 24v
well thats what my book sayes & i have the same fridge and power supply box as brew & jimbo
warren
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Lone Wolf - Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 20:58
Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 20:58
On second thoughts Jimbo........... can I take a rain
check on that camping trip?
AnswerID:
93457
Follow Up By: Member - Jimbo (VIC) - Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 21:29
Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 21:29
No way Biggles
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Noosa Bushtrackers - Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 21:17
Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 21:17
If you put a meter on the Waeco power supply you will find that it is actually 27 volts. The fridges are designed to run on either 12 or 24 volts so by having the power supply running on 27 volts, the fridge sees that as better than either 12 or 24 volts and automatically changes over to that.
I found with our 190lt fridge in the caravan that often when the battery had 12.2 volts in it, the fridge still wouldn't start and was told to
check the voltage at the compressor as it tried to start. I did that and found that the voltage drop for that short time of starting was down to about 10.5 volts and at that point the fridge low voltage cut-out came into play and prevented it starting. I solved the problem by turning on the inverter and running it through the power supply until I was able to get more power in the batteries.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Jimbo (VIC) - Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 21:31
Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 21:31
Thanks Brian
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 21:49
Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 21:49
Jimbo,
Dunno whether this will be of any value, but here goes for what it's worth.....
I recently bought a 15amp battery charger (240v input/12 v output) from www.hybralec.com.au
It cost $300- but has some great features.
You can switch between "flooded" and "gel" type batteries.
You can select between 3 options of float charge
It is a "true" 3 stage charger
But most of all, in relation to your current post, it has a small switch on the bottom to choose between "charge" and "Power supply".
Also, it has 3 output posts.............one is negative, the other 2 are separate positive outputs, so you can charge 2 batteries simultaneously which aren't "connected" at the time (eg: a dual battery system which has the 2 batteries isolated when truck is not running, but still have a common ground).
Probably too much to spend, but it has multiple uses etc.
AnswerID:
93473
Follow Up By: greghud - Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 22:57
Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 22:57
roachies got it
i was bout to ask if you could use the charger as a power supply and brush the battery? if you allredy got the charger.
i use to charge the kids remote control cars batterys off a 10 amp charger seemed to work ok? but the chargers for the cars were prity hitech little units. and they only took 30 mins to charge.
FollowupID:
352472
Reply By: Member - muzzgit - Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 23:06
Sunday, Jan 16, 2005 at 23:06
Jim, what I don't understand is, if the 80lt waeco will run on 12v in your car, why not just get a 12v power supply ?
Cheers,
Muzz
AnswerID:
93490
Follow Up By: Member - Jimbo (VIC) - Monday, Jan 17, 2005 at 08:03
Monday, Jan 17, 2005 at 08:03
Muzz,
I can't justify the $140 plus for something I will hardly use. The battery and charger is an effective method for my needs.
Cheers,
Jim.
FollowupID:
352500
Reply By: porlsprado - Monday, Jan 17, 2005 at 00:15
Monday, Jan 17, 2005 at 00:15
You've seen this before but my mobitronics Model EPS-816A does have a 12v output of max. 5amps ie 60 watts. This is about 3 years old but i bet there's still a few floating round the place. And yes i have run 12v lights off it, charged phones, and pre-cool my fridge from it.
And on a totally different but not unrelated subject but if you're reading this thread you might find it interesting, i was in an auto store the other day, not supercheap, and they had on sale an air compressor that was rated at 16amps off 12 volt and it was connected to a cigarette style plug. A bit of quick maths and i thought, people will buy this product cause its cheap and some will stick it in 120W plugs without thinking and worse some will stick in it in their cigarette lighter plugs. sizzle, flash, burn ... u wonder what is goin on out here sometimes.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member - muzzgit - Monday, Jan 17, 2005 at 01:04
Monday, Jan 17, 2005 at 01:04
EXACLTLY !!!!
I know of someone who's done it. After him telling me about the fire under his dash cos he couldn't disconect the battery in time and couldn't get a fire extinguisher up under the dash to stop it burning out all the wiring, I went straight to an Auto parts place and got two of those quick disconnect battery terminals, one for the + of each battery, just in case.
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Nudenut - Monday, Jan 17, 2005 at 08:34
Monday, Jan 17, 2005 at 08:34
Jimbo, Look in yellow pages for a tranformer manufacturer...they could knock you one up...
AnswerID:
93521
Reply By: Rod - Monday, Jan 17, 2005 at 10:00
Monday, Jan 17, 2005 at 10:00
The 240V powersupply for my EvaKool died a few months back. Replaced it with a 12V switchmode powersupply for a PC from Jaycar for ~ $70. Works fine.
AnswerID:
93537
Follow Up By: Member - Jeff M (WA) - Monday, Jan 17, 2005 at 14:35
Monday, Jan 17, 2005 at 14:35
Yup that would work fine, you can buy computer power supplies for as low as $30 from a computer
shop. I use a 4 amp switch mode from Jacar for
mine I think it was about $60 or somthing, the beaty about thatis it fits into the comparment of the cooler just like the factory one should.
FollowupID:
352587
Reply By: GaryInOz (Vic) - Monday, Jan 17, 2005 at 18:02
Monday, Jan 17, 2005 at 18:02
Got an old computer lying around somewhere?? They have a switchmode power supply that should have a 12 V/ 5 A output. With a bit of ingenuity and a great deal of care this could be put to use running a 12 V fridge.
AnswerID:
93637