DC Fridge or AC fridge with inverter?

[Batvette]

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.

For DC fridges keeping a gallon of water in the freezer side, if you can spare the room, helps a lot with maintaining cold temps when voltage protection shuts it down.
So your practice is win-win on a number of fronts.
Im not sure if this also means more energy expended keeping it frozen in the long run, but for the aforementioned reasons I do it too.

 

[AstroBob]

Okie-dokie, Standard thermal mass for hypothetical fridge test is 2 gallon jugs of water, frozen. Seems it is agreed that follows real life usage.
You can kind of cheat with portable DC fridges, though. Because most DC fridges can freeze as well, I have found in my testing that if I set the fridge to freezer levels and wait till it reaches those levels, and THEN start the test with the thermal mass (of course raising the temp to fridge level before starting the test), you can see some freaky low power levels for the first 12 hours or so. With the 23 quart bougerv, I have recorded as little as 50wh for 1day (24hrs). Not a real life scenario, though.

 

[Roswell Bob]

Hi!
I have a small off grid (very) house (16’x20’) and am getting ready to purchase a refrigerator. Originally I was going to use a propane fridge but would rather not have the monthly bill of propane.

As of the other day I was dead set on a DC Unique fridge (6 cubic foot) and still may go that way but...

I’m wondering now if I would be better off (spending about the same amount of $$) buying a much cheaper small AC fridge and putting more money into panels, batteries, inverter etc. My house is wired with AC outlets so going this route could also allow me to start using my outlets for other things such as vacuuming, charging my laptop etc.

I was looking at probably spending around $1,500 for the DC fridge, battery, panel, charge controller etc.

Would I be able to spend about the same amount if I went with an AC fridge and inverter but also be able to have some more power to power other things as well ??

Thanks!

Danfoss makes 24v and 48v compressors. I have no idea what would be involved in changing one out. I suppose if I was going to retrofit a refer I would get hold of Danfoss and ask them a few questions. I would be curious if it might be easy to swap out a dc unit in a refer that uses a Danfoss AC compressor. Any refer technicians on this board? I mean refridgerator - not the other kind of refer

 

[Roswell Bob]

I was about to buy one of those Alpicool DC refrigerators but then I went to the Alpicool website and actually tried their email addresses and phone numbers...ALL WERE BOGUS and out of service.

Next I looked at mid range DC refrigerators. They started at $500 and went up from there.

I ended up buying a 1.7 cubic foot Galanz AC compressor fridge for $80 (brand new) from Walmart.
According to my Jackery 500, it uses 44watts when the compressor is running and 3 watts when in idle.

Overnight (10 hours) it uses 300 watt hours. It doesn't even deplete my Jackery 500 overnight.
During the day it runs fine on one, 100watt solar panel.

I'm not sure why so many people are having bad experiences with AC compressor refrigerators ?

For me I wouldn't even consider an Alpicool or ANY DC refrigerator. Solar panels and inverters are so cheap and
the Walmart mini AC refrigerators are so energy efficient it just makes sense.

HOWEVER..if I did decide to go DC...I would buy a DC compressor off of ebay or AliExpress and just change out the compressor
myself before I would invest in a Chinese DC fridge.

easy to change out a compressor?

 

[Roswell Bob]

You could grab any second hand good fridge to start and put in enough panels to run it. Later, upgrade to a more efficient fridge and you'll free up the power for other uses.

A large modern home fridge will have power usage label in the 500 kWh/year range, 1400 Wh/day. Assuming 5.5 effective hours of sun, 250 W ptc, 300 W stc. That's one panel for about $100. You can probably buy a used fridge for $100 vs. new for $600 to $1000. The math has changed since a decade ago on cost of running a fridge with solar power.

Then there is the cost of batteries. Running the fridge 12 hours on a battery would be 700 Wh, 60 Ah at 12V. That would be one, 100 Ah lead-acid AGM battery at 60% DoD, about $200 and worn out in 3 years. Lithium can cost more, but guys here are getting DIY lithium for the same price and longer cycle life, perhaps 10 years.

If you want enough battery for 3 days without sun, then it would be 6x the price, $1200. That's where a more efficient fridge or a backup generator could be more economical .

You could keep blue ice or salt water ice in the freezer, and have a relay disconnect power to the fridge when the sun goes down. PV panels are cheap and long-lived, batteries are expensive. I put PV power at $0.05/kWh, battery storage at $0.40/kWh

Given the (un-) reliability of new refrigerators (like 5% to 15% of new refrigerators of all brands fail within 5 years) I'm trying to get an old one with electromechanical thermostat for my grid-tie house. I have two that still work great, but one old freezer that doesn't get cold enough any more which I want to replace.

Get a second fridge (maybe chest deep-freeze) as backup in case the main one fails.

Sweet analysis. You sound like an EE

 

[AstroBob]

Danfoss makes 24v and 48v compressors. I have no idea what would be involved in changing one out. I suppose if I was going to retrofit a refer I would get hold of Danfoss and ask them a few questions. I would be curious if it might be easy to swap out a dc unit in a refer that uses a Danfoss AC compressor. Any refer technicians on this board? I mean refridgerator - not the other kind of refer

I used to work for a large, national trucking company. We were forbidden to use the word refer. Lol. I think it's spelled reafer, anyways. I wonder if it would be worthwhile to do that swap, sounds interesting.

 

[Partimewages]

Speaking from experience it is not an "easy" job to change out the compressor. Not only does the compressor need to be changed but all the controls will need to be done also.

 

[12VoltInstalls]

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!

Considering one can buy a .8A fridge 4.3 or 4.6cf for $165 delivered to your door I’d like some company chinese or not to make the same stankin’ fridge but with 2 or 2-1/2” thick walls.
The ammonia / emulsion 120/gas AEG RV refrigerator I just sold for $200 had ~2.25” thick walls. The current/temporary 120V compressor 30” tall fridge I’m running until the .8A one gets delivered runs for a minute or so every 5(?) minutes or so. It says 140W on the back. When it starts, the inverter fan kicks on for 2-seconds (giandel’s default seems to be fan runs if temperature rises in the inverter, or immediately comes on 750W or above) and the watts flash down from 500ish, 300ish, to stabilize at 130-160W. It’s walls are barely an inch thick.

It would be super cool (haha) to have a .8A fridge with 2-1/2” walls. I’d gladly pay $200 for the same fridge with super thick walls.

 

[12VoltInstalls]

I used to work for a large, national trucking company. We were forbidden to use the word refer. Lol. I think it's spelled reafer, anyways. I wonder if it would be worthwhile to do that swap, sounds interesting.

 

[AstroBob]

View attachment 50715

Yep, you correct, reefer. I meant this (in jest):

Urban Dictionary: reafer

slang term used in the reference of marijuana. a.k.a. pot, weed, grass, ganja, and many others too bountiful to name them all.

www.urbandictionary.com

Edit, on further research, the former is the primary usage. lol.

 

[tim0shel]

Considering one can buy a .8A fridge 4.3 or 4.6cf for $165 delivered to your door I’d like some company chinese or not to make the same stankin’ fridge but with 2 or 2-1/2” thick walls.
The ammonia / emulsion 120/gas AEG RV refrigerator I just sold for $200 had ~2.25” thick walls. The current/temporary 120V compressor 30” tall fridge I’m running until the .8A one gets delivered runs for a minute or so every 5(?) minutes or so. It says 140W on the back. When it starts, the inverter fan kicks on for 2-seconds (giandel’s default seems to be fan runs if temperature rises in the inverter, or immediately comes on 750W or above) and the watts flash down from 500ish, 300ish, to stabilize at 130-160W. It’s walls are barely an inch thick.

It would be super cool (haha) to have a .8A fridge with 2-1/2” walls. I’d gladly pay $200 for the same fridge with super thick walls.

Absolutely I think mine has close to 2.25" walls not sure. I had one that was under ish 2" and the efficiency was not that good at all. I live in the heat too so that doesnt help much either.

 

[svetz]

...I had one that was under ish 2" and the efficiency was not that good at all...

Rather than fancier compressors, more insulation, or other tech... I wonder how much difference WE can make in terms of minimizing vampire power costs based on setup?

For example, does it make a difference if you pull the fridge an inch forward so there's more space between the coils & the wall?

Would you see any significant savings by building an R-13 shell for your refrigerator to sit in (somehow still allowing the coils to vent heat)?

Is there something you can do on a standup refrigerator so the cold air doesn't spill out? (e.g., get the efficiency of a chest style).

 

[12VoltInstalls]

I think two of those are minimal gains. The biggest thing for me on a top-load is convenience.
Insulation of the shell would be great except I haven’t seen a small low-amp fridge in a while that doesn’t use the carcass to dissipate the higher temperature heat it needs to waste off making low-temperature heat.

 

[tim0shel]

Rather than fancier compressors, more insulation, or other tech... I wonder how much difference WE can make in terms of minimizing vampire power costs based on setup?

For example, does it make a difference if you pull the fridge an inch forward so there's more space between the coils & the wall?

Would you see any significant savings by building an R-13 shell for your refrigerator to sit in (somehow still allowing the coils to vent heat)?

Is there something you can do on a standup refrigerator so the cold air doesn't spill out? (e.g., get the efficiency of a chest style).

Lot of things to consider and I would think putting some insulation around one would make a difference. But I think you have to be careful here as how its executed with insulation. I had a smaller fridge tried to use a foam insulation around it and the original foam formed piece that it was cradled in from shipping. I did not see much of a difference yet never scientifically measured or tested in anyway.

 

[efficientPV]

Ever notice how hot the compressor gets? In days of old they put fins on the compressor body to get rid of heat. I have a fridge that only runs in the day and I put a small computer fan on the compressor. Each morning it runs for an extended time and gets really hot. Normally the fridge would only operate for short periods of time expecting the thermal mass of the compressor to act as a heat sink and cool between cycles. Bottom line, the cooler the compressor the more efficient.

Be aware as a cost savings many outside skins of fridges act as the heat exchange coil. Putting extra insulation on them won't work.

 

[HammerToe]

Just had some time on my hands contribute my ‘2 cents’ to this thread: for some time been becoming increasingly interested in this assembly of neat new technology - using solar panels to generate some electricity for various purposes, the rapid development of new devices based on ‘lithium’ and, as a consequence, exploration of what that might in turn ‘make possible’ permanent or mobile off grid living. About a month ago I reached the point where I finally decided to place an order for 4 280Ah LiFePo4 cells from China (currently in shipping) and am currently shopping around for a BMS - leaning towards the ‘Overkill’ 4S BMS BUT they really seem to be hard to write at the moment – nobody seems to have ‘stock’. To the point – I was intrigued about the possibility using the system I intended to create to power a 12 V DC Compressor Refrigerator (which seem to be very appealing as an alternative to a cooler which would require ice) but I didn’t really want to spend a lot of money initially so I just wound up ‘picking up’ on November 26 last year during ‘Black Friday Week’ a ‘JoyTutus 20 quart 12v/24v DC Refrigerator’ for a really low price which I figured was going to be good enough for my purposes in terms of size and allow me to gain some experience with 12 V DC refrigerators before I decided IF I wanted to spend MORE MONEY on something bigger or arguably better. When I got the fridge, I proceeded to run some tests on it to determine its power consumption. VERY EXTENSIVE TESTS IN FACT. I ran the fridge off its AC adapter for several days at constant ambient temperature of about 72°F. The results: on average, every 24 hours, the refrigerator ‘consumed’ 166 Watts. Now this is ‘AC watts’. I used a Kilowatt Hour Meter to do the measurements. The Duty Cycle worked out at around 20%. NOW, how might this compare to running the refrigerant ‘straight off of’ ‘DC’. Well, it would probably be certainly no higher than 166 W every 24 hours, which would translate into roughly 13 amp hours. Since I purchased the fridge, I also wound up purchasing to Jackery’s - 1 kW model and a a really nice, ‘sweet’ 300 W model (the one with two AC outlets) so I ran some tests again just to see how long the 1 kW Jackery could power the fridge. The results: a fully charged Jackery could run the fridge for approximately 4 ½ days. (Which would imply that the 300 Ah Jackery would be able to power it for roughly a day and ½). Roughly speaking, every 24 hours the Jackery 1000 would be ‘down’ 22%. I think that the bottom line is that – roughly speaking – trying to use an AC refrigerator ‘off of DC’ using an inverter would result in power consumption roughly 17.5% to 25% higher (the ratio of 100÷85 or 100÷80 respectively where the denominator in each case is the assumed efficiency of the inverter… AND/BUT - the percentages I quoted DO NOT TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THE POWER CONSUMPTION OF THE INVERTER WHILE THE REFRIGERATOR IS NOT CURRENTLY OPERATING IN THE ‘ON PHASE’ OF ITS ‘DUTY CYCLE’ at a minimum, you would have to add in additional power consumption for the 80% fraction of every single day that the inverter was simply ‘sitting there idling’, as well as (perhaps?) The same amount again (of power consumption) even while the refrigerator was ‘on’ in terms of ‘duty cycle’.

From a power consumption standpoint, all other things equal, I think it is almost certainly a ‘no-brainer’ that if you’re going to want a refrigerator AND you’re going to run it off of a 12 V power supply ‘at source’, you really don’t want to run it through an inverter. You can do it of course, which are going to need more battery and more solar to make up for the losses.

At some point if I ever get around to getting all the necessary bits and pieces together – set up something to measure the actual DC power consumed – I will repeat the experiments I did with the Jackery 1000 with a suitable measuring device in series with the refrigerator so that I can get more precise readings.

One final thing I thought I might add before I close is that one might find it EXTREMELY WORTHWHILE in terms of the effect on reducing electrical power consumption if one could find a way to enclose these refrigerators in a tightly (as possible) ‘insulated box’ (allowing, of course, heat extracted by the cooling system to be vented outside/through the case andby providing for/allowing cool air to be drawn in by the fridge is fan. Many years ago I ran an experiment to see what effect it might have in terms of extending the longevity of ice (frozen 2 L pop bottles) in ‘passive, traditional coolers’. All I did was find an old quilt/comforter and ‘throw it over’ and completely cover the cooler. THE RESULTS WERE ASTONISHING – ICE THINK I CAN SAFELY SAY THAT THE ICE LASTED APPROXIMATELY THREE TIMES AS LONG COMPARED TO THE COOLER BEING LEFT UNCOVERED. Repeat: THREE TIMES AS LONG! I ran the test using two small coolers stuffed into the back of a C5 Corvette while I bombed around on a grand tour of the Canadian central and northwest and I still ‘had ice’ keeping things cool on Day 4, where as I am quite certain that without the cover, the ice would have been gone before the end of the second day.

I’ve got some old 1 inch pink solid insulation lying around which – when I get around to it – I think I’m going to try to slice up and make a fairly decent and tight/custom fit box and lid (again, allowing for necessary airflow) and rerun the test again. My bet is that that would probably reduce power consumption by at least 50% meaning that a Jackery 1000 would be able to power (at an average ambient temperature around 72°F) my fridge for 8 to 10 days!

If I ever get around to doing those experiments, I will post the results.

My bottom line is that I really like these little 12 V DC fridges, at least mine (so far). No problems whatsoever; it’s very quiet (cannot hear it at all when it is cycling), and, consumes less than two cents worth of electricity every day to run it. It is in constant use at home - they are great for storing beer and dairy products and add a very nice and useful (albeit small) amount of additional refrigeration capacity to my house.

I think I will probably buy another one during the upcoming Black Friday sales this November. Perhaps another one the same size/perhaps the very same brand and model or perhaps something bigger. We shall see.

One final thing which just occurred to me – I did run some comparable tests with the temperature turned way down as low as it would go and – roughly speaking – power consumption essentially doubled. But, that was with the device achieving a temperature of approximately -8°F (as cold as it would go) and really, one could have probably said it to only attain and hold temperature of +5°F to even +10°F and that would’ve probably been good enough, even and perhaps especially for ice cream which you don’t want to ‘get too hard’.

Hope people find my ramblings here interesting and useful.

 

[12VoltInstalls]

It was interesting but you still can’t insulate these new fridges that offload heat through their skin instead of rear coils.

And who cares about inverter “losses” when in essence -unless solar is a merely a hobby- an ‘extra’ 100Watts is $80?

In my case, solar enables me to live comfortably in such a low cost manner on a per-month basis it’s really irrelevant, imho.
Maybe a few percent ‘loss’ at the inverter per day, per month; BUT it ain’t real money that’s “lost” just efficiency. Nothing is wasted and the environment isn’t harmed due to my frivolous use of lossy power inverting.

Solar enablement means monthly life costs me around 10% of what renting someplace would be. The extra panel was therefore “paid for” in like a few days... (I’ve been putting the difference of what rent would be in the bank and that adds up faster than you’d imagine)

 

[AstroBob]

Considering offgridsteve's original post:

"
Hi!
I have a small off grid (very) house (16’x20’) and am getting ready to purchase a refrigerator. Originally I was going to use a propane fridge but would rather not have the monthly bill of propane.

As of the other day I was dead set on a DC Unique fridge (6 cubic foot) and still may go that way but...

I’m wondering now if I would be better off (spending about the same amount of $$) buying a much cheaper small AC fridge and putting more money into panels, batteries, inverter etc. My house is wired with AC outlets so going this route could also allow me to start using my outlets for other things such as vacuuming, charging my laptop etc.

I was looking at probably spending around $1,500 for the DC fridge, battery, panel, charge controller etc.

Would I be able to spend about the same amount if I went with an AC fridge and inverter but also be able to have some more power to power other things as well ??

Thanks!"

Given his stated budget, $1500, is this thread still relevant?

 

[HammerToe]

Hi, ‘12VoltInstalls’ - just that I’d reply and say that I appreciate your thoughts on the matter.

I ‘didn’t mention it’ in my original post because it that was getting pretty darn long already, but I had considered the factors and arguments that you presented previously.

I WAS aware that ‘to some degree or other’, ‘some fridges’ do not specifically have ‘evaporator coils’ exposed to the air possibly with a fan blowing air through them to encourage the refrigerant to ‘change state’ between gaseous and liquid; and that instead they did simply depend on the escape of heat ‘through their skin’/’side panels’ instead. I was aware of it because I happen to own and use a small (probably about 35-year-old) ‘genuine compressor type’ ‘bar fridge’ in my fifth wheel which I have located in my bedroom (slide out) closet. It does not have any such coils and I knew from experience that the way it radiated heat was out through the skin, BUT ONLY IN CERTAIN SPECIFIC, ‘SUBSET AREAS’ of the skin.

I had not bothered to check yet to try to determine ‘reasonably precisely’ exactly where on the (side) panels/skin the heat was ‘escaping’ but that was something I plan to investigate before I constructed any sort of ‘insulating box’ to try to reduce the overall electricity consumption of anything I might create. I plan to leave such areas – AREAS – open/exposed to the outside air. At this point – as I mentioned – I don’t know where such areas might be located and/or how big they might be and perhaps in the end it might turn out to be ‘not too feasible or effective’ to try to make and use such a ‘carefully planned’ insulating box to reduce electricity consumption, BUT – then again – I suspect it would probably ‘achieve SOMETHING’ in terms of electricity consumption.

Anyway, in this regard, “we shall see” (if and when I ultimately get around to carry out the experiment). (One ‘gadget’ which I do not own and wish I did but I’m not prepared to pay the currently ‘too steep price’ for would be something like a FLIR ‘Thermal Imaging Camera’ which if I did have, would be very useful to try to locate such points on the external case. I really like to own one of these things but there’s still far beyond what I’m willing to pay for one given the probably quite limited use it would wind up ‘seeing’. What I had planned to do in this vein was to – using something like a dry erasable marker – ‘paint dots’ approximately (say) 1 ½ inches apart or so on the plastic sides of the case and then use one of ‘them’ pretty darn cheap and readily available ‘infrared thermometers’ – the kind that generally come with a laser beam which allows you to aim it precisely at some point – and simply create in a spreadsheet a ‘map’ – a temperature map – of the sides of the case so that I could see where the hotspots and their boundaries were. And then, ‘if it looks promising’ (and I think it probably would still be looking possibly worthwhile), I would use the map to help me construct ‘an insulating box’ with openings as I thought appropriate. One thing I think is pretty safe to assume is that there are very likely no ‘radiating surfaces’ on the bottom of the refrigerator and DEFINITELY not in the lid, and I think the lid in and of itself is probably not very well insulated either (although, and again, one might note that the cold inside the refrigerator will tend to sink to the bottom and higher temperatures – internal temperatures – will rise to the top…

In any event, as I mentioned, I didn’t include these thoughts in my original post because it was already getting pretty long but all this was something I intended to do in the planning and design process should I ever get around to trying to make such an insulating box to improve the efficiency of a/my 12 old refrigerator.

With regards to the other points you made about “Why not just compensate for the inefficiency with more solar panels?”.

This is something had also considered and did not attempt to include in the original post for the same reason – it was getting pretty long already – but I will explain here.

I absolutely agree with you – that – assuming I had sufficient ‘space’ to accommodate an additional (likely ‘single’) solar panel, that is quite possibly/probably the way I might decide to go unless there were other reasons I wanted to use a 12 V DC fridge. However, the situation – ‘my situation’ – and quite possibly other people situations – such as – full-time van dwellers –, you might not have the luxury/availability of such additional space.

, And, another point – one can sure pack a hell of a lot of amp hours into very small and light packages even inside converted cargo vans today, in the end – all of the electricity that you suck out of (say) your ‘lithium iron phosphate’ (most likely) ‘pack’ has got to be – one where another – ‘put back in’/replaced and taking into consideration possible space limitations and/or the fact that – depending where one might be/living at any particular point in time in the year and the amount of sunlight that might likely to be available and so on and so forth,, it might turn out to be even not a strictly necessary, ‘prudent’ to try to conserve electricity by going the ‘DC Route’ if possible.

However, alternatively, if I happen to be living – say off grid – in a cottage or something, I think I probably would simply decide to ‘go with’ a 120 V AC fridge ‘directly’ powered off an inverter. In such situations, it would be likely that for other reasons the inverter would probably wind up being ‘on’ all the time anyway for one reason or another (though not necessarily!) In which case – if the inverter has to be on for any reason whatsoever –, well, “you might as well benefit from that fact and just go straight to an AC fridge anyway”.

“The devil is in the details!”

Hope that clears up everything. I still think I will sooner or later get around to trying to construct a box and see if it makes any difference, and how much difference. “Something tells me” it will still turn out to be ‘worthwhile’ - might not cut the consumption in half - perhaps only down to as little as two thirds, but “Every little bit helps” in some cases.

Appreciate your comments, I think our dialogue might wind up helping others.

HT

PS: I used to work in IT as a data analyst and database designer and wrote software and everything and I also used to negotiate contracts… ‘Precision’ and ‘Completeness’ can be SO IMPORTANT… And yet that takes time and space and can make for ‘long reading’, so we tend to kind of ‘Sluff it’ and try to keep things short but in the end, we wind up causing not just ourselves but readers to waste a lot of their time by not including things we should have in the first place. I’ve seen this so often, so darned often…

That’s why, for example, Steve? At Overkill Solar Really Does Deserve ‘Kudos’ for the quality of the documentation that he produced – for example – specifically in support of his/their 4S 120A BMS… IT IS ‘BEAUTIFUL’… ‘Crystal clear’. Short, sharp and to the point… Very few if any ‘extra/unnecessary words’. If you read it carefully, there is a very high probability it will answer all your questions!

I really appreciate documentation like that…

 

[12VoltInstalls]

Considering offgridsteve's original post:

"
Hi!
I have a small off grid (very) house (16’x20’) and am getting ready to purchase a refrigerator. Originally I was going to use a propane fridge but would rather not have the monthly bill of propane.

As of the other day I was dead set on a DC Unique fridge (6 cubic foot) and still may go that way but...

I’m wondering now if I would be better off (spending about the same amount of $$) buying a much cheaper small AC fridge and putting more money into panels, batteries, inverter etc. My house is wired with AC outlets so going this route could also allow me to start using my outlets for other things such as vacuuming, charging my laptop etc.

I was looking at probably spending around $1,500 for the DC fridge, battery, panel, charge controller etc.

Would I be able to spend about the same amount if I went with an AC fridge and inverter but also be able to have some more power to power other things as well ??

Thanks!"

Given his stated budget, $1500, is this thread still relevant?

Yes -still quite relevant.
I certainly could replace all the “essentials” of what I’m running including a carefully selected low amp 120V small fridge for that $1500 and gain 200W of solar to boot.
I DO have some small things here and there I’ve added or changed (8ga solar wire, some other wiring tweaks like 2/0 inverter cables along the way for example) but with smart shopping $1500 should get you 800W solar, mppt, and four fla batteries along with a 1200W true sine inverter.

FWIW I started out with two junk Grp31s and a 200W windyNation kit. And then went forward from there.
That would run the minifridge but just barely and NOT recommended FYI