Old vs new fridges

[WestcoastPete]

I've got an old Engel 39L and a newer Bushman 35-52. The Bushman has a significantly lower current draw (apparently, but I haven't used it in anger. It came with my car). Neither of them fit in my new Camprite. There's an old Evakool 75L fridge locally that will fit and I know they're great fridges, but will it draw way more current than a newer one? I get the sense that technology jumped a bit in the last few years and newer fridges are quite a bit more efficient. They're expensive though!

Does it even matter though if you're running 2x decent batteries and 160w+ solar charging?

Ta

[GBC]

You'll need to say if it's an RF series fridge or not. ( RF - retrofit - engine hanging off the back of a fibreglass box). As far as I know if the sticker says evakool it will be a BD35 danfoss compressor in that sized fridge and as efficient as anything else. If it is proper old, and badged supakool, it will be the old micro-refrigeration compressor and fan core unit setup which used a bit more power but I'd doubt any of those are still running (I have one that I turned into a 60 litre esky a long while back).
I have a 20+ Y.O. RF60 with a danfoss compressor and a 10 YO RF110 with a secop compressor. When they are running on eco they both draw approx the same 3 odd amps. They are both analogue control and compete on power usage with most things. I'm not 100% but I think the latest digital controlled versions can automatically vary the compressor speed and are more efficient again, but I'll wait until one of mine dies before a go looking - not expecting them to any time soon. The 20+ yo one has hardly ever been shut down and has never faulted or been serviced.

[WestcoastPete]

Yeah it's one of the old yellow fibreglass boxes with the motor hanging off the side. For the price I don't think I see a great advantage in a newer one to save on current draw when it'll last at least a day as it is, possibly/probably a lot longer than that.

Can digital controllers be retrofitted to these older fridges? Pretty sure they can be to coffee machines 

[GBC]

Everything can be retrofitted to them. A friend got the digital control put on his not long ago. I believe the yellow ones are plastic rather than fibreglass? I’ve never had one, the mechanicals are all the same though.

[lloydus67]

I’m pretty sure nearly every fridge pulls 5 amps at full load, duty cycle (the time the compressor actually is running) will vary around the country depending on ambient temperature and load in the fridge.
But at the end of the day most fridges work out to around 3 amps per hour. If you don’t have smart controllers and separate fan control, it may be 3.1 amps if you have the fanciest controller that varies motor speed ect, you may only draw 2.89 amps
All made up figures btw, but ultimately the difference on a fridge that only runs while you are on holidays will make little difference when you are only talked 0.2 amp per hour, unless you system was woefully inadequate in the first place.
A brand new flashiest every fridge will be about $2000. You can improve your battery capacity by a huge amount for much less, if you are really worried.
Lloyd


Sent from me

[GBC]

I’m pretty sure nearly every fridge pulls 5 amps at full load, duty cycle (the time the compressor actually is running) will vary around the country depending on ambient temperature and load in the fridge.
But at the end of the day most fridges work out to around 3 amps per hour. If you don’t have smart controllers and separate fan control, it may be 3.1 amps if you have the fanciest controller that varies motor speed ect, you may only draw 2.89 amps
All made up figures btw, but ultimately the difference on a fridge that only runs while you are on holidays will make little difference when you are only talked 0.2 amp per hour, unless you system was woefully inadequate in the first place.
A brand new flashiest every fridge will be about $2000. You can improve your battery capacity by a huge amount for much less, if you are really worried.
Lloyd


Sent from me

Figures quoted are while the fridges are running, not averaged. Even in turbo mode they only draw 4.5a odd but I’ve never needed it. If any fridge I owned drew 5a constant it would be binned very quickly.

Consumption figures in the link.

https://www.caravanrvcamping.com.au/evakool-60l-infinity-fibreglass-fridge-freezer

[sharkcaver]

Just a bit confused on your description and not sure if you mean an RF or an FM model. So here goes a mouthful:

If it's an FM70, yellow poly plastic case, nearly a meter long and not very high, I can tell you mine uses a whopping 50+ Ah per day. Compared to my now sold engel mt-45 at 20Ah per day and my waeco cf50 at 15Ah per day (all figures with internals set to aprox 2 degree's). The FM70 had the BD35 and its power consumption as can be seen above is very high. They changed to a grey poly coloured unit and moved away from the BD35 to use their own, no doubt chinlese version of compressor. I cant answer the power consumption on the grey unit, but suspect similar. 2 x 100ah batteries and a 120w solar panel in good sunshine only just managed to keep up with the days draw.

If the one you are looking at is the white fiberglass unit, I believe they made an 80 and a 60L version, then that is a different proposition and I suspect will be nearer the engel I quoted above. I am of the opinion the high consumption of the FM70 is due to its limited depth, but long length. I am also led to believe the similar yellow poly units, the fm50 and fm95 dont chew electrons like the fm70. Again, I reckon its because these have high depth, low length.

While we are on it, the first gen engels were high in current draw (2 fold) compared to the new gen ones. But don't get confused with amperage and power. Power is the amount of amperage drawn over a period of time (hence I used the unit of Ah and 24 hours). If a fridge draws 5 amps but only runs for half the time as one drawing 2.5A, the power consumption will be the same.

2 x 100 Ah bats and a 160W panel in good sunshine should replenish any fridges power needs easily. When the sun don't shine, that's when the problems arise.

[GBC]

I thought in your ‘articles’ which you published here and everywhere you had the internal temp set at something like -16 deg and the flow on into the fridge was 2? Not correct? The figures from the manufacturer in my post above agree with you that they will use 2a/H in that circumstance, freezing 30 odd litres of air to domestic freezer temps. There goes your 50ah a day or thereabouts no argument. In the real world when trying to provide meaningful data against 2 fridges remove the freezer divider and turn it back into a large fridge and use less than 1/3 of that power, or keep the freezer full at around -10 and use 1/2. I also keep data logs and I also have a waeco (cf35) and also had an engel (combi 60),just couldn’t be bothered posting files on this site nor blogging. My RF110 set up as a fridge freezer runs anywhere from 18-22 ah/day in the camper per the renogy logger, depending on how it is loaded. It is the only thing running in the trailer when i am home so not hard to track.

[WestcoastPete]

Thanks for the input so far

I reckon it is the FM70 you mention Sharkcaver, and what you mention of the current draw is quite a concern. I'll attach a picture.

There's an Evakool ED70 locally that's about the same price and similar dimensions. It's white fibreglass model with the compressor built into the box rather than hanging off the size. Still an old model. Doesn't look as cool! I like the yellow. I need one this sort of 430mm height to fit into the Camprite

[sharkcaver]

Thanks for the input so far

I reckon it is the FM70 you mention Sharkcaver, and what you mention of the current draw is quite a concern. I'll attach a picture.

There's an Evakool ED70 locally that's about the same price and similar dimensions. It's white fibreglass model with the compressor built into the box rather than hanging off the size. Still an old model. Doesn't look as cool! I like the yellow. I need one this sort of 430mm height to fit into the Camprite

That's it, it's an FM70. height is my issue too in my ulti, hence that's what I have. It works ok, just consumes some go juice. A small fan on the evaporator plate towards the other side also helps to keep temps uniform. And if you plan to use as half freezer/half fridge, playing with the divider height helps to get the temp difference between sides that you need. If it's the right price, and you have plenty of sun with your 160W panel, then go for it. I survive (just) with a 120W panel (on twin 100ah agm's. I can offer no comment on the ed70. Oh, and they do have an issue where the lid warps. Most people live with that and if needed, just add some extra, thin self adhesive foam to the fridge to compensate for the bend.

[sharkcaver]

I thought in your ‘articles’ which you published here and everywhere you had the internal temp set at something like -16 deg and the flow on into the fridge was 2? Not correct? The figures from the manufacturer in my post above agree with you that they will use 2a/H in that circumstance, freezing 30 odd litres of air to domestic freezer temps. There goes your 50ah a day or thereabouts no argument. In the real world when trying to provide meaningful data against 2 fridges remove the freezer divider and turn it back into a large fridge and use less than 1/3 of that power, or keep the freezer full at around -10 and use 1/2. I also keep data logs and I also have a waeco (cf35) and also had an engel (combi 60),just couldn’t be bothered posting files on this site nor blogging. My RF110 set up as a fridge freezer runs anywhere from 18-22 ah/day in the camper per the renogy logger, depending on how it is loaded. It is the only thing running in the trailer when i am home so not hard to track.

Was this comment for me?

You remember incorrectly. I've not tested any as a freezer as a comparison. I did test the FM70 alone in freeze mode, but not to compare with any others. The only power consumption tests I've run was as a fridge, set to aprox 2 degrees. That fm70 solo test was more so to get the temp differential between both sides where I wanted it to be.

http://sharkcaver.blogspot.com/2012/03/evakool-fm70-review.html

and my fridge power tests:
http://sharkcaver.blogspot.com/2012/05/generation-of-engels.html

Bear in mind, these tests are over 10 years old now, tech has moved on, and to be honest I have too. Hence they haven't been updated in years.

[Troopy_03]

A/hour Ah/h

[Beachman]

I run 2 x 40L Engels with one being 20 years old and the other 12 years old and have had a hard life vibrating’s over thousands of Kilometers of rough roads. I’m sure the newer ones use less battery power,  but seeing both still work fine I can’t justify the cost of replacing them just to save a little battery consumption.

Off memory the old Evakools were a fantastic unit, so if it fits and the price is right then get it.

[WestcoastPete]

Well we took the new (to us) Evakool FM70 out for a couple of nights at our mates bush block. It kept a pretty consistent 1C in the freezer part and 7C in the other part, +/- a degree or 2. That was with the dial set between 2 and 3. The 160w solar panel kept up fine with a fair bit of sun, but not constant. I'm really happy with it. I think they originally came with baskets though and this one doesn't have any. I might see if I can get some.

Thanks for your input on this