DC Fridge or AC fridge with inverter?

The experts don’t agree with you......I’m a beta tester for the most established off grid manufacturer. I have a lab with lab grade equipment

Tecnodave said:

The experts don’t agree with you......I’m a beta tester for the most established off grid manufacturer. I have a lab with lab grade equipment

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That was a question. Don't agree with what?

Renogy publicly posts it's idle draw at LESS THAN 1 amp

You can find it at their web site. My meters concur. It's 400mA at idle.

If you want to believe that then you deserve it, Renology,s website does not say that.....believe whatever you want, I don’t want to be bothered with you

Tecnodave said:

If you want to believe that then you deserve it, Renology,s website does not say that.....believe whatever you want, I don’t want to be bothered with you

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Sure it does.

It's on their website.
Seems much of what you say and claim is made up randomly.
I posted the screen shot evidence of the draw using a well known and widely accepted monitor.

Bye

I'm curious how many of the pro 12v posters actually live off grid full time without a shore power safety net. Also curious about the people running an inverter and an AC powered fridge full time off grid.

Ive been totally off grid for just under 3 years. I used coolers and ice at first but eventually was given a 20 yr old dorm fridge. I replaced it with a 3.2cu ft ac fridge and freezer for a bigger freezer last month. I couldnt find a 12v unit anywhere near the capacity without spending a lot more money I dont have to throw away. I notice people who live completely off grid tend to have a different experience and expectations than solar hobbiest who live on the grid. Ive also noticed the hobbiest spend waaaay more money on thier hobby than the people who use the solar becuase its thier only option for power.

My wife was using the Dremel to make a kyex holster, the new fridge/freezer was running and my laptop was in use, all 3 were plugged into a heavy duty socket extension on my killawatt. The killawatt was plugged into the 1000w victron psw inverter. The wattage use never spiked above 71 watts in the 3 hours I monitored. It. Running the grinder or heat gun pushed it to 350w. Point being we run a knife shop, holster and sheath shop and live completely off grid with 400w of panels, 215ah of lead acid batteries. No generator, no shore power. We haul water in and go to town once a week. The AC fridge freezer keeps a week of food easy, I couldn't afford a 12v unit that would hold that much food. I know about a dozen other full time off gridders, none of them have a dc freezer or fridge, they all have an AC unit and inverter.

I’m a serious off gridder, born in the backwoods of Alaska, my place there is 25 miles from the grid, here on the left coast I’m not more than a few miles away. I don’t have a POCO, I make all my electricity with the sun. Never had a power outage or system shutdown in 25 years. I have two Grape Solar 5 cu.ft. fridge/freezers and one 3 cu ft Volvo badged unit removed from a tractor trailer. All my referigerator’s are DC direct using super efficient Danfoss compressors and electronic drivers. ALL I MEAN ALL of my gear is made in America.......MidNite, MagnaSine, Exeltech Rolls-Surette etc. I don’t just talk Solar, I did commercially in the very high end “mission critical” environment for government agencies communication sites and satellites now in orbit. retired now so I just tinker and consult professionally with off gridders and state licensed contractors. I’m a federally licensed electrical engineer since 1965. I refuse to argue with someone who obviously lack experience in the field.

OnTheRoadAgain said:

OH! The irony!

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The examples given are irrelevant. They do that stuff for $5 items like phone cases.
"This video capture card boasts 4.8 stars after 3,531 @amazon ratings. Only 2 reviews from the US and the rest are international reviews for DIFFERENT PRODUCTS. It's 2021, how are we still seeing blatant fraud on this TRILLION dollar company?"
Most of these 600+ reviews are from the US, ALL are of this product.

It is not clear what the debate is about here. Should consumers completely ignore testimonials from other consumers? Including his?

There are literally dozens of internet reviews and ratings for about anything.
look at ALL, Then use your common sense.
not what billy bob, Luke, Herman of Fred told you.

WHY do some of you depend 99% of the time, and swear by
“Amazon reviews” ? ️
Research research research research research? ????‍????

MrNatural22 said:

There are literally dozens of internet reviews and ratings for about anything.
look at ALL, Then use your common sense.
not what billy bob, Luke, Herman of Fred told you.

WHY do some of you depend 99% of the time, and swear by
“Amazon reviews” ? ️
Research research research research research? ????‍????

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Who is arguing otherwise? Are you saying amazon reviews should be ignored?

Here's how I test my fridges.

First, I record the air temperature (indoors or outdoors)
Next, using a fridge thermometer, I note the fridge temp/settings.
For power measurement, I use a Kill-a-watt for AC, and a DC power meter/data logger for DC.
I record the the start time, and begin, I want the duration to be at least 24 hours. (more data = better)

During the test, I note any significant changes in air temperature, and check the fridge's temp at least once, to see it it is realistic. (under 40f)

At the end of the test, I record the stop time, OAT, fridge temp ,and total power consumed.

I am trying to be at least semi-scientific. Anything I am missing?

AstroBob said:

...I am trying to be at least semi-scientific. Anything I am missing?...

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You're not missing it, but I'd add that you need to test freezers over a longish period to ensure any defrost power is recorded in the cycle.

AstroBob said:

Here's how I test my fridges.

First, I record the air temperature (indoors or outdoors)
Next, using a fridge thermometer, I note the fridge temp/settings.
For power measurement, I use a Kill-a-watt for AC, and a DC power meter/data logger for DC.
I record the the start time, and begin, I want the duration to be at least 24 hours. (more data = better)

During the test, I note any significant changes in air temperature, and check the fridge's temp at least once, to see it it is realistic. (under 40f)

At the end of the test, I record the stop time, OAT, fridge temp ,and total power consumed.

I am trying to be at least semi-scientific. Anything I am missing?

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Analog or digital/wireless refrigerator thermometer? I started using a wireless thermometer so I don't open the door to check. I may be a bit OCD and that doesn't work out well for the refrigerator.

svetz said:

You're not missing it, but I'd add that you need to test freezers over a longish period to ensure any defrost power is recorded in the cycle.

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Agreed, how long do you think is realistic and useful?

HRTKD said:

Analog or digital/wireless refrigerator thermometer? I started using a wireless thermometer so I don't open the door to check. I may be a bit OCD and that doesn't work out well for the refrigerator.

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I do have a wireless. Good point, opening the door does skew the results, I think.

AstroBob said:

Agreed, how long do you think is realistic and useful?

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No clue, at least one defrost cycle I guess. It'll be interesting to hear what others do.

AstroBob said:

...opening the door does skew the results, I think.

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Or makes it more accurate if you have teenagers
But, that's probably one of the better arguments for a chest-style vs. standup

svetz said:

Or makes it more accurate if you have teenagers

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I was thinking the same thing.

If everyone started with a couple gallon jugs of room temperature water in the fridge that would be more real world.

HRTKD said:

I was thinking the same thing.

If everyone started with a couple gallon jugs of room temperature water in the fridge that would be more real world.

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Sounds like a winner to me. A standard thermal mass. But why the room temperature water? If we are going that route, should we then start the test with the fridge at room temperature?

At least in the RV world, time to operating temperature is important. How many hours ahead of time do I need to fire up the refrigerator so that it's ready to be stocked?

I think one thing to take in consideration is the insulation or thickness of a fridge. Some DC ones I've had noticed a big difference here. I guess in mild climates its not much of an issue but in the South when it gets really hot this causes one to run alot!

HRTKD said:

At least in the RV world, time to operating temperature is important. How many hours ahead of time do I need to fire up the refrigerator so that it's ready to be stocked?

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Ok, just attempting to come up with a standard set of rules. So, we should then place two ambient temperature gallon water jugs in the fridge at start, and we expect the fridge will also be at ambient temperature. Sound about right? Or, should the time-to-operating temperature a separate test? sounds like it might be.

Now that I think about it, I never put anything into the refrigerator until it gets to operating temperature. The exception to that is that when I'm in a hurry I put a frozen gallon of water in the refrigerator to help it cool faster.

AstroBob said:

Here is another bit of chicanery that has been going on. Trusting amazon reviews is not good advice.

Six people indicted in Amazon Marketplace bribery scheme to help third-party sellers

The group also paid to have fake negative reviews posted on competitors’ product pages

www.theverge.com

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Well I guess I was wrong about that, you CAN document negative reviews being faked. Thank you for educating me about that. The fact Amazon caught them and is prosecuting might also be an affirmation of the integrity of the system.

Batvette said:

Well I guess I was wrong about that, you CAN document negative reviews being faked. Thank you for educating me about that. The fact Amazon caught them and is prosecuting might also be an affirmation of the integrity of the system.

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Yes, all is fair in love, war, and business. There is far more of this going on than you would expect. Especially between Chinese companies, but also the US. Companies pay people to post disparaging reviews and comments on forums just like this one. It's almost impossible to stop when so much money is involved. I could cite a lengthy example about the skullduggery 2 scientific camera manufacturers are employing against each other.

HRTKD said:

Now that I think about it, I never put anything into the refrigerator until it gets to operating temperature. The exception to that is that when I'm in a hurry I put a frozen gallon of water in the refrigerator to help it cool faster.

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Yep I remember when we had absorption gas/electric fridges in our camp trailers we would always start the boxes 24hrs
in advance or at least over night with frozen gallon jugs before stocking the chow in them. Never did an actual scientific
test just always used this basic method.
The DC compressor boxes we use now cool much quicker with the frozen jug method but if using room temp jugs it usually takes at least 10hrs to bring fridge and jugs down to the desired temps. We run them at 33-35deg F and it keeps the eats happy.