12v fridge conversion

mikewroe

Full Member

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Have been given the contact for a fridge conversion company, "Inlanderlowvoltage.com"
They take domestic units and remove the 240v compressor, replacing it with a 12volt version.
This caught my eye as a way of not needing an expensive inverter.
Power drain is quoted as just over 1amp/hour, does this sound good?
Has any one else gone down this route?
 
My small 230v uses 250ma through a 600w smart inverter, so prob not much more than what you are thinking of, remember you will require a few good batteries to run it of grid, and some solar to refill the batts next day.
 
mikewroe said:
Have been given the contact for a fridge conversion company, "Inlanderlowvoltage.com"
They take domestic units and remove the 240v compressor, replacing it with a 12volt version.
This caught my eye as a way of not needing an expensive inverter.
Power drain is quoted as just over 1amp/hour, does this sound good?
Has any one else gone down this route?
Click to expand...
A 12V Compressor Fridge is no more economical than a 240V Compressor Fridge, so as an incentive to save power, there is little motivation.

So down to how much they charge to do the conversion compared to how much you would pay for an inverter.
Where do you get the idea that you need an expensive Inverter? The inverter I would choose to get now for a 240V Fridge would be the Victron 12/800 - these can be bought for £150 now. And that is probably the most expensive option you could chose with many more a lot less.
I suspect they will charge more than that? (I wouldn't be surprises if a new Danfloss compressor costs more than that before you get into the costs of doing the actual swapover work).

Benefits of getting - and sticking to - a 240V model ....
You end up with an Inverter which you can use for other purposes - it does not have to be dedicated to the fridge alone.
If the fridge fails for any reason, you can get another one from Currys or whatever very easily. If your converted fridge fails, you will have to buy a new fridge AND pay for another conversion.
 
Thanks David, very valid points. I am now looking into the specs and cost of the suggested 12/800 inverter. Victron have the peak load as 1500w and the continuous as 650w.
Would I be able to use a 1kw kettle at the same time as the inverter is running the new "mains fridge" not sure how long peak load could be used for.
PS the Air suspension kit is still working well.
thanks, Mike
 
mikewroe said:
Thanks David, very valid points. I am now looking into the specs and cost of the suggested 12/800 inverter. Victron have the peak load as 1500w and the continuous as 650w.
Would I be able to use a 1kw kettle at the same time as the inverter is running the new "mains fridge" not sure how long peak load could be used for.
PS the Air suspension kit is still working well.
thanks, Mike
Click to expand...
You couldn't use a 1kW kettle with a 650W Inverter. The Peak is really designed to accomodate in-rush surges, such as a Fridge Compressor in fact. I used to use the Victron 12/500 Inverter with my 240V Fridge and just accepted it would "overload" on each start-up (which is what they call the difference between normal and peak levels). I chose the 12/500 as it would run the fridge and the 12/800 at the time was well over £300! Right now that 12/800 is a great deal and would have gone for that at the current price (and they have a 5 year warranty so that is a worry free time for the owner).
The allowable peak for the Victron Inverters is usually 30 seconds, which is why you can't run a 1kW kettle on the 650W unit. I can use my Victron 12/1600 Inverter (1350W) with my Coffee Machine for example however as while it goes to 2000W, it only stays at that level for a few seconds.

Good news on the Air (y)
 
Been thinking about all the options for this conversion, having found all the costs. Looks good to go. One final question. If the fridge is wired/plugged into the invertor, is there a way I can connect/use EHU when on a campsite rather than physically unplug and reconnect back into the motorhomes mains system?
EG would the invertor withstand 240v being fed into its outlet, should I dual wire the fridge?
Hope I am making sense.
 
Just found my own answer. I see the Renegy inverters come with a UPS function. Will have to check the Victron spec more carefully.
 
mikewroe said:
Been thinking about all the options for this conversion, having found all the costs. Looks good to go. One final question. If the fridge is wired/plugged into the invertor, is there a way I can connect/use EHU when on a campsite rather than physically unplug and reconnect back into the motorhomes mains system?
Click to expand...

mikewroe said:
EG would the invertor withstand 240v being fed into its outlet,
Click to expand...
The answer to this is simple ..... BANG!

mikewroe said:
should I dual wire the fridge?
Hope I am making sense.
Click to expand...

What you need to look at is a Transfer Switch. This is basically a device that has two inputs - so EHU and Inverter for example - and one Output - so your fridge.
Some inverters have this feature built in, such as the Victron Multipluses or a couple of the Renogy Inverters. Or you may need to get a seperate device. They can be Automatic (an "ATS") or Manual.
This is probably the cheapest example of a Manual Transfer Switch


But remember, the Output of an Inverter must NEVER be connected to the EHU.
 
wildebus said:
What you need to look at is a Transfer Switch. This is basically a device that has two inputs - so EHU and Inverter for example - and one Output - so your fridge.
Some inverters have this feature built in, such as the Victron Multipluses or a couple of the Renogy Inverters. Or you may need to get a seperate device. They can be Automatic (an "ATS") or Manual.
This is probably the cheapest example of a Manual Transfer Switch
https://amzn.to/49M84fD
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. I was wondering what to do with my inverter and the EHU. The manual Transfer Switch sounds perfect. Having read some of the other posts about fridges, I have decided to go 240V AC running off my 1300W inverter (apparently 2600W peak). Hopefully the inrush will not trip the inverter.
 
mikewroe said:
Have been given the contact for a fridge conversion company, "Inlanderlowvoltage.com"
They take domestic units and remove the 240v compressor, replacing it with a 12volt version.
This caught my eye as a way of not needing an expensive inverter.
Power drain is quoted as just over 1amp/hour, does this sound good?
Has any one else gone down this route?
Click to expand...
24Amps in 24 Hours is good, solar should be able to replace that in an hour or two depending on your size of panel.
 
Peregrinator said:
24Amps in 24 Hours is good, solar should be able to replace that in an hour or two depending on your size of panel.
Click to expand...
24Amps in 24 Hours is not good, it is not actually realistic. A compressor fridge in use i.e. switched on and also with occasional door opening to get food in and out will take at least 50Ah - or around 600Wh - a day.
It is surprising just how much 'cool' is lost each time the door is opened - this is why the drawer-type Freezers are so much more potentially efficient than the door versions (I say potentially as if it takes 5 minutes of rummaging with the drawer open to find what you want, the advantage is wiped out).

That 600Wh is significantly better though than a 3-way on Electric - that is around 4,000Wh a day ;)
 
wildebus said:
24Amps in 24 Hours is not good, it is not actually realistic. A compressor fridge in use i.e. switched on and also with occasional door opening to get food in and out will take at least 50Ah - or around 600Wh - a day.
It is surprising just how much 'cool' is lost each time the door is opened - this is why the drawer-type Freezers are so much more potentially efficient than the door versions (I say potentially as if it takes 5 minutes of rummaging with the drawer open to find what you want, the advantage is wiped out).

That 600Wh is significantly better though than a 3-way on Electric - that is around 4,000Wh a day ;)
Click to expand...
I quoted his reference of 24Amps in 24 hours, which would make it very good indeed, but 50Ah is also very good, and to retrieve that by solar would be easily accomplished, and that would be the way to go if wild camping.
 
mikewroe said:
Have been given the contact for a fridge conversion company, "Inlanderlowvoltage.com"
They take domestic units and remove the 240v compressor, replacing it with a 12volt version.
This caught my eye as a way of not needing an expensive inverter.
Power drain is quoted as just over 1amp/hour, does this sound good?
Has any one else gone down this route?
Click to expand...
What would be more helpful if going that route, is to get two 200Ah or more leisure batteries, or even two 100Ah lithium batteries. any way good luck on what ever you decide.
 
Peregrinator said:
I quoted his reference of 24Amps in 24 hours, which would make it very good indeed, but 50Ah is also very good, and to retrieve that by solar would be easily accomplished, and that would be the way to go if wild camping.
Click to expand...
Easy for 7 months of the year but not for the other 5 in the UK
 
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