Leeds
Solar Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2022
- Messages
- 179
Hello everyone, Western Pennsylvanian here, I just stumbled upon this site and it seems there are a lot of solar enthusiasts out there! Thanks for letting me join, I'm sure I still have a lot to learn and I look forward to every minute of it.
As the title suggests, I have a 7 cubic foot chest freezer that I run as a refrigerator. I first designed and built the system over the winter of 2016-2017 and it's been running out in the field ever since.
Originally I had the system tethered to a shed with the solar panel on the roof, the electronics inside and the cooler outside on the North side of the shed for shade. That worked very well but the rain did take its toll on the cooler and it collected some on the inside after every large storm and it began to rust up a bit after 6 years of sitting outside.
This year I finally completed my vision of tying the whole system into a stand-alone structure. The fridge is now on its own platform blocked from 99% of the rain and always in the shade. The solar panel itself is the roof and the electronics are all squirreled away in the bottom right corner of the structure. It's been running in its new form for the past few months but there are always improvements to make (like a winterization package).
Specs- (I'm kind of a nut for efficiency so in a lot of ways this was my attempt to make the most efficient solar-powered refrigerator I could.)
160W Solar Panel
20A MPPT Charge Controller
100AH 12V LiFePo4 Battery
7 cubic foot 110V Fridge
12V Inkbird Thermostat to drive the AC
1.5KW Square wave inverter from Harbor Freight
The system has a common negative ground and that is attached to a grounding rod driven into the ground (the only not easily moved part of the system). All grounds are directly connected but all other wiring is fused, both power and signal wiring. Breakers exist on the main feeds including the positive from the solar panel and the positive running to the battery.
The fridge is un-modified but there are wires that run over the back of it, under the hinged top and then into the cooler itself. The package inside the cooler contains the fan apparatus as well as the inkbird thermistor which is bonded to an aluminum heatsink with fins.
The cooler is set to keep vegetables in good shape before they're sent to the food bank so I allow a fairly wide deadband in the control. I cannot allow the bottom to get below 32°F or the bottom layer of produce will be damaged. I also cannot allow the top of the cooler to get about about 50° or it won't be doing its job taking the field heat out of the veggies. As I mentioned, I've recently added the interior circulator fan but I'm still experimenting with that (thus the tiny additional panel you see in the second photo).
Anyway, I could talk on this topic for hours, I look forward to better exploring this site and all the knowledge you folks have cataloged here!
-Leeds

As the title suggests, I have a 7 cubic foot chest freezer that I run as a refrigerator. I first designed and built the system over the winter of 2016-2017 and it's been running out in the field ever since.
Originally I had the system tethered to a shed with the solar panel on the roof, the electronics inside and the cooler outside on the North side of the shed for shade. That worked very well but the rain did take its toll on the cooler and it collected some on the inside after every large storm and it began to rust up a bit after 6 years of sitting outside.
This year I finally completed my vision of tying the whole system into a stand-alone structure. The fridge is now on its own platform blocked from 99% of the rain and always in the shade. The solar panel itself is the roof and the electronics are all squirreled away in the bottom right corner of the structure. It's been running in its new form for the past few months but there are always improvements to make (like a winterization package).
Specs- (I'm kind of a nut for efficiency so in a lot of ways this was my attempt to make the most efficient solar-powered refrigerator I could.)
160W Solar Panel
20A MPPT Charge Controller
100AH 12V LiFePo4 Battery
7 cubic foot 110V Fridge
12V Inkbird Thermostat to drive the AC
1.5KW Square wave inverter from Harbor Freight
The system has a common negative ground and that is attached to a grounding rod driven into the ground (the only not easily moved part of the system). All grounds are directly connected but all other wiring is fused, both power and signal wiring. Breakers exist on the main feeds including the positive from the solar panel and the positive running to the battery.
The fridge is un-modified but there are wires that run over the back of it, under the hinged top and then into the cooler itself. The package inside the cooler contains the fan apparatus as well as the inkbird thermistor which is bonded to an aluminum heatsink with fins.
The cooler is set to keep vegetables in good shape before they're sent to the food bank so I allow a fairly wide deadband in the control. I cannot allow the bottom to get below 32°F or the bottom layer of produce will be damaged. I also cannot allow the top of the cooler to get about about 50° or it won't be doing its job taking the field heat out of the veggies. As I mentioned, I've recently added the interior circulator fan but I'm still experimenting with that (thus the tiny additional panel you see in the second photo).
Anyway, I could talk on this topic for hours, I look forward to better exploring this site and all the knowledge you folks have cataloged here!
-Leeds