power consumtion upright fridge/freezer

I have a 5 amp fuse on this fridge and has never blown.
It does not run all the time.....generally a maximum of 30% running time over an hour on your average day. That's less than 2 amps on hour. On a very hot day it goes as high as 50% of the time, but that's parked in direct sunlight. I have now insulation bag either.
Fridge has lasted up to 5 days before low battery cut out kicked in. 100 amp battery.

We have the CR1110 version of your fridge, and are NOT happy with it's performance at all. It is very power hungery, difficult to stabilise a temperature, and not at all efficient in hot weather (even with the optional 'tropical' fan operating. !!!
Just over 12 mths old , and the voltage module has shat itself- works OK on 12v- but no go on 240v.

All sounds about right from experience with my (other brand) fridges and from what I've read here and elsewhere - as fridges get larger, after a certain point the motor/compressor units jump to a larger size (and take more power). Insulation efficiency may be less than you hoped for (depends on design and materials used - one custom fridge maker will use insulation 100mm+ thick, if you need it for super efficiency). Opening the large door lets a lot of warm air in (but one guru has suggested that this is not a huge factor in fridge efficiency, seeing that the actual heated mass in that air is not great - suggesting that the fridge can easily account for that in a short time - this may be true :-o). Seems you'll have to 'up' your energy supply levels to match your new consumption levels. !

Hi
Re :"I had to replace a Japan imported fridge in my camper""

Was it just the fridge that was imported or the whole camper?

If it was the whole camper, you could have other serious compliance problems
ALL of the electrics !
ALL of the gas !!
& RTA problems

Various authorities have now WOKEN up to what has been going on with noncompliance to Aus Standards

Peter

we all have to remember the words of Scotty..." ya can'a change the laws of physics jim".

All too often people get far too optomistic with their curreent drain expectations and beliefs associated with fridges.

AND the manufacturers specifications don't help..they too are always optomistic.

What Ya have there is a full blown household fridge running on 12 volts, though it may be small.

To my knoweledge none of the currently available 12 volt fridges have inverter bassed motor drives and thus they draw a fixed current when the motor is running.

This is a fridge / FREEZER..as soon as you say the F word the energy required bumps up.

the manufacturer quotes the average current draw as being arround 1.8 amps at 25C and 2.1 amps at 35C.........these will be figures derived with the door closed and the unit in free air...and who knows what else to make the figures look good....those figures will be optomostic and can never be relied upon.

If the fridge is empty, it has little thermal mass and the motor will cycle excessively.......every time a motor starts it draws many times its running current.

On those manufacturers figures alone to run 24 hours you will need at least 100 AH of battery so as not to over cycle the battery.
With 200Ah of battery ( in good helath) the best you can hope reliably is 2 days...go 3 days and you are probably pushing your batteries too far...and that is all theoretical fugures.
In reality you have a 24 hour package there.


The fridge in question also has interior lighting and an auto defrost function......they all cost energy.

and as mentioned when you open that big vertical door all the cold air falls out.

There is also 1 thing that knobbles 90% of refrigerators even at home......is they are generally not run in free air......the get built in or jammed between stuff and this very badly effects their efficiency.


Is there forced ventilation in the cavity the fridge is built into.

Another thing that badly effects efficiency of 12 volt fridges is voltage drop...we only have 12 volts and if one goes missing that is near 10% loss...and the motor efficiency will drop...if there is one thing in a caravan that should be wired heavily to the point of excess that is the fridge.

now to the bloke running a 6 amp fridge on a 5 amp fuse....of course it will run...most standard fuses will hold twice their rated current for 60 seconds and 1.5 times their rated current continuously for a hour....6 amp will run thru a 5 amps fuse almost indefinitely..definitely not good practice for a number of reasons but it will go.

Remember fuses in installations are designed to protect wiring, if the current drawn by the device is 6 amps the minimum fuse size should be 7.5 amps.

Remember caravans even the expensive ones are built to a price point and "most people" only expect their batteries to hold up their fridge while they travel between locations.

to install a battery / power system that will hold up for a week will cost considerably more than most caravan salesmen have the balls to pitch and more than most people want to pay.

cheers

CR80 uses 2.0Ah at 25°C temperature and 2.4Ah+ at 32°C temperature with 5°C cabinet temperature.

If you are attempting to recharge your batteries with the alternator they will never get fully charged. You may get to 60% charge with a direct alternator charging. Use a Ctek D250S Dual DC/DC charger with a Ctek Smartpass if necessary to fully charge your battery bank from the alternator. While some here have miracle fridges that use miracle never flattening batteries and can supposedly fully charge an auxiliary battery sadly they are technically deluded and they also experience dream time fairy fantasies.

My altenator charges my aux 200ah batteries with up to 13.2V,
thats all what we need inorder to get enough currend flow into them.
how do you get that high voltage at the end of the cable?
Choose a big diameter, 6mm will do, that's what I had to choose to make the Waeco even start. With the old 1,5 mm cables it didn't had it's 12V when it pulled it's 6 and more ampere during startup.
I have news about the CR1080
It is rusting, unbelievable. When I installed a relais at the back, that makes it easier to switch it off every night and when I need power for something else, I found surface rost spots on several areas of the piping in the back, around the fan.
That is after 3 month, how does that look in 3 years, after more humidity and salty air has been blown in by the fan?
To the power consumption. Waeco support on the phone said it would have an average 5a/h consumption, which would be low, he said.
Engel support for their 80 liter model, which is much larger, because it is obviously made with insulation, say, it would take an average of 2,5a/h.
The Waeco support on the phone said it would have insulation of 35mm, I just measured 26mm, and that is the hole wall thickness left and right at the front.

The fridge I replaced, an 1996 60 liter electrolux, was covered on the side with salty corrosion from Japanese winters, but it was nowhere rusted, just in great shape.
Man, I should have kept it!!!

hi, did anybody had a rust problem with them and a proper solution to solve it by Waeco? I found posts that even after replacement they keep rusting again

my question to Waeco in USA waeco.com
16.04.2012

Dear support,

I am considering a Waeco cr1080 upright fridge as replacement for a 3way fridge that sits in the bench at the back of my Motorhome, gets outside ventilated. I know there is air pressure in the back while driving and also the fan will pull air in, so that humidity and salt might come to the back of the fridge.
Would you say a Waeco CR1080 can handle it in regards to rust?

Thanks
Cheers
---------------------------
and here their answer
18.04.2012
Dear

The unit is not designed to be exposed to the outside like you are talking about.

It normally uses inside air to cool the coils.


We appreciate this opportunity to address your situation, and hope all your future travels are trouble free. Please do not hesitate to contact us any time, to order parts or if  we can be of assistance.

Customer Support Center
800 544 4881
RV.Com / DometicUSA.com
Dometic LLC

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