WAECO Fridge Modifications

We have our 60lt on -10 and apart from a couple of weeks ago when it was 51deg and it went up to -2 and a few days ago it was over 42 it went up to -4 we havent had any probs either in the car or outside.

The 42 deg day it was back to -8 overnight and the weather changed the 51 deg day and it was only 17 the next morning so it pulled down ok.

We only open it about once a day, so may make a difference if you pull a can out every half hour

Cheers

Hi Dave,

I installed an 80mm PC fan inside the compressor/condenser compartment of my Waeco to supplement the existing fan. Can't tell if it's doing a lot of good but figured that it must help.

Interesting idea putting a CPU fan in the fridge. Turns it into a fan-forced model.
I'm not unhappy at having a "dairy section" in my fridge.

Hi Dave we have the CF50, when we did the high country a few years back we had high 30's and we used ours as a feezer, I had it set for -12 and it held it there the hole time running from the hilux battery. We were opening it heaps also adding warm cans to it for a few hours before putting them into the 90L evacool that contained block ice which lasted just on 7 days. Maybe get it checked out to make sure its operating properly. I know the thermisters go in them as mine did. We also use it at the farm which can get easily above 40 and it still holds the temp, we are also getting another one and then have the same set up as your self, with a little one now we dont have the room for the big esky any more......Regards Steve

One aspect that most people forget is that Waeco in the fine print state the cooling capabillity of their fridges , you cant expect better than the 50 degree maximum variation that the makers claim ,

I've reduced the current consumption of my early-model CF35 by installing a baffle around the fan in the compressor compartment.

The original installation just blows air around inside the compartment, without strongly sucking in cold air through the small vents.

The baffle prevents air bypassing the fan, so now air gets sucked in on one side, flows over the coils, through the fan, over the coils and out the vents on the other side. I know it works because the vents on one side are cool and those on the other side are hot.

Hi all, have had a look at 3 models of CF50 re installing bigger fans and have come to the conclusion that because of the different arrangement of the condenser coil in each model that the following is possible.

CF50-DC 120mm can be fitted to replace 90 mm original fan
CF50-AC Ver A can also be fitted with a 120mm fan
CF50-AC Ver B 90mm fan can only be replaced by a higher volume 90mm fan

So I have replaced the fan in the CF50 DC which is the older style fridge with the dots that show the temp setting. Took about 30 mins and a soldering iron, screw driver and a pair of pliers. The original fan was full of dust and is not IP rated as you can see the internal coils of the motor.
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Original fan was .280 amp draw and about 40 CFM. The new 120mm fan (cat no YX2522) is .380 amps and is 80 CFM based on info from Jaycar, . New fan also has a an IP rating of 55 and has a ball bearing instead of a sleeve and works fantastic. Downside is that the noise is increased but for my needs it would not bother me. You can actually feel the heat coming out the other side of the vents.
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Stay tuned for more pics of the finished product, hoping to get them up later today.

Cheers, Dave

It was all very easy, I started by taking the cover off and removing the fan, swapped over the rubber grommets and threaded inserts for screws, put the new fan in place and soldered the new wires to old. It really works well

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Hi all,

I have a Waeco 80 Ltr and thought it performed poorly mounted in an aluminium checker plate box on the draw bar of my trailer using 240V only as have not set up a 12V system as yet. I found there is a three way slide switch near the fridge plug in that has options for Economy/Normal/High. Mine was set to Economy and was struggling to stay cold, will see how it performs on Normal.

Does anyone have any ideas about this switch?

When do you need to use High?

I find my freezer section is freezing but fridge section does not get as cold as you would expect and I always set to -10.

Cheers Rob

Having added the extra fan I gave the project some more consideration.

The original single fan drew air in from one side, through the condenser, over the compressor, through the other side of the condenser, and out through the vents in the housing. A difficult task for the little fan and the second half of the condenser was receiving the hot air from the first half.

When I initially added the second fan on the opposite side of the condenser I had the choice of fan air direction. It could have simply continued the existing air direction but I didn't think that would help much so I arranged it to also draw air in on that side, over the condenser etc. but did not give much thought to where the hot air would exit the housing. So I took another look at it.

What I have now done is to drill a pattern of 12mm holes in the centre section of the plastic housing for the exit air. Air is now drawn in from each side and out the centre. The air flow has been very much improved as evidenced by a very scientific piece of paper dangled in front of the exit holes.


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It was necessary to be aware of the circuit board attached to the inside of the moulding shown in Image 2.


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With the circuit board removed the mounting posts can be seen in Image 3 and the holes were positioned to avoid these.


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Image 4 shows what lies behind the housing moulding in this area.



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It was a brave move to get stuck into drilling the housing and I would only recommend doing it if you are confident. Certainly remove the housing moulding from the fridge body and dismount the attached internal circuit board before proceeding.

Only field use under desert conditions will really tell if this has been a significant improvement but I am confident.

I have finally installed another fan mod to my CF50. The pic below is my test setup and eventually I will draw power from the light supply. It has really worked well and I have the headache to prove it. It is simply a small fan glued onto some pipe and draws air from coldest part of the fridge compartment and directs it into the dairy compartment. It will then flow back over the top of basket and circulating through the rest of the fridge contents. It allows me to have access to drinks without having to rumage around. If you do want to utilise the dairy compartment for its intended use then I suppose you could spin it around so it redirects to the fridge only. Fan is 40mm and pipe is made from bits from a 40mm S+P trap and a 40mm adjustable cap and lining, both from bunnings. Cheers, Dave

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Hi trackker
I have fitted the same as you i.e. 40mm fan from fridge side to dairy compartment. I decided that the light could go and removed the bulb and in the lens fitted a double pole double throw switch from jaycar. One side of the switch is fed from the two light spade connections and the other I installed two wires + and - dropped down thru the same hole that the light wires use and connected in parallel with the condensor fan. the output side of the switch (middle set of terminals) to a audio plug base mounted in the light lens. The fan has a male plug to suit. This way I now Have the options of fan on/off with the condensor fan (only on while running) or on all the time (via the light power) and can be unplugged to remove the unit from the fridge with the basket. Hope this makes sense

Grennant