R23 AC/DC Fridge - Not on AC?

[RT23 Kingfisher]

Greetings.

It seems that the last couple of times I got to my boat, kept in a slip and on shore power (yes the power is on), the fridge was warm but the light was on. After disconnecting shore power, turning on the house bank and using the boat the fridge gets cold.

I leave the fridge on 4.5 at all times. I thought that fridge was on all the time even without the house power turned on and automatically switches from AC to DC.

I'll try and get to/inspect the wiring near behind the fridge through the adjacent under-sink cabinet but is there something obvious I am overlooking or should check? The DC fuse is accessed behind the dash from the head and it looks good. Are there seperate AC and DC fuses?

Thanks.

 

[Submariner]

Greetings.

It seems that the last couple of times I got to my boat, kept in a slip and on shore power (yes the power is on), the fridge was warm but the light was on. After disconnecting shore power, turning on the house bank and using the boat the fridge gets cold.

I leave the fridge on 4.5 at all times. I thought that fridge was on all the time even without the house power turned on and automatically switches from AC to DC.

I'll try and get to/inspect the wiring near behind the fridge through the adjacent under-sink cabinet but is there something obvious I am overlooking or should check? The DC fuse is accessed behind the dash from the head and it looks good. Are there seperate AC and DC fuses?

Thanks.

The fridge is 12volt DC only. When connected to shorepower, the battery charger provides power to the refer. Shut off the DC house switch and the refer loses power.

 

[RT23 Kingfisher]

Thank you Martin. That would explain it and probably told to me by Fluid Motion but forgot. On the boat now and light IS NOT on when on shore power. I assumed it operated like a fridge I had in a camper (AC/DC) in a past life. Thanks again.

 

[Submariner]

Thank you Martin. That would explain it and probably told to me by Fluid Motion but forgot. On the boat now and light IS NOT on when on shore power. I assumed it operated like a fridge I had in a camper (AC/DC) in a past life. Thanks again.

I asked the factory awhile back about this, as the question gets asked often. They do make a refrigerator module that works on AC and DC. The factory doesn't install those as they apparently draw more power on DC compared to the refrigerator module that only support DC is more energy efficient.

We leave our boat connected to shore power, battery charger on, and leave both our refrigerators running year round.

 

[venajeff]

I asked the factory awhile back about this, as the question gets asked often. They do make a refrigerator module that works on AC and DC. The factory doesn't install those as they apparently draw more power on DC compared to the refrigerator module that only support DC is more energy efficient.

We leave our boat connected to shore power, battery charger on, and leave both our refrigerators running year round.

Just a question about that Martin. What is your feeling about keeping LIFEPO4 batteries at a 100% state of charge for extended periods when not in use? I have been going out of my way to try to keep mine between 50% and 70% charge in storage. It is surprisingly difficult, and I kind of want to just give up and leave them fully charged.

 

[SeaCabin]

I typically only use the fridge when out on extended trips.

Having it endlessly cycle for a 2 hour outing can’t be healthy for the compressor. Also if you forget to shut off the house bank, the batteries will be dead within 48 hours - assuming no solar, or shore power. My fridge draws about 65 watts and once cool, cycles about 30 minutes per hour.

As a solution i wired the fridge to a separate fused toggle switch which i located behind the pilot seat, and which bypasses the main battery switch.

Another issue I had with the fridge is the fragility of the white liner. If you leave soda cans in the door or allow stuff to roll around in there, over time these surfaces will be destroyed. I now have plastic trays for everything in that goes in the fridge.

Keep cool all.

 

[RT23 Kingfisher]

Thats interesting SeaCabin. I have 400 watts of solar and a smart shunt so I will monitor the fridge's power consumption during use while off grid.

 

[Submariner]

Thats interesting SeaCabin. I have 400 watts of solar and a smart shunt so I will monitor the fridge's power consumption during use while off grid.

The cabin refer will use about 45amp-hours a day, more in the summer, less in the winter. When it's hot outsdie, the refer's consume a lot more power. The cockpit refer will consume about 25amp-hours a day. I've measured them using the battery monitor and solar controller, connected to a cerbogx with Internet connectivity to VRM, Victron's cloud portal.

If both refer's are running I'll be just over 100 watts... with one or the other running, I'll see between 50 and 70 watts... with neither running I'm at 27 watts, flat.
To measure the refer's, I would turn everything off at sunset, and let VRM monitor it through sunrise, and then average the consumption over time as the refer's turn on and off, cycling, throughout the day.