I just bought my first DC home appliance (GE 9.8 Cu. Ft. 12 Volt DC Power Top-Freezer Refrigerator 12 volt only model GPV10FGNBB) in an attempt to go grid free when I get my solar up. What ac to dc inverter would be the best (temporarily) to use to plug into my home ac and power my new dc fridge that is listed as having a 15 amp draw? I am going to use this for awhile till I get sorted out how i'm going to proceed with the rest of my energy needs. I do realize this setup is not the most ideal but powering an ac fridge in a grid down situation with an ecoflow delta just isn't realistic so thats why i opted to get this dc fridge and jumpstart my move from the grid eventually. Thanks!
Need advice for home DC fridge
- Thread starter Keith M
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I would think any standard AC to DC converter would work. Something like the power cord for a laptop computer. It has a "brick" in the middle of the cord. You plug it into the wall socket and you get DC on the other end. Find one that puts out 12VDC at 15A (180W). You can find generic ones on Amazon. You will probably have to cut off whatever connector is on the DC end so you get a pair of positive and negative wires you can connect to the refrigerator. Use a voltmeter/multimeter to figure out which is the positive wire and which is the negative wire.
John Frum
Tell me your problems
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An old RV style ac/dc converter should be more than capable.
Should also be cheap as folks are upgrading away from them towards inverter/chargers.
If an inverter/charger is in your future you could use that to run your fridge.
Should also be cheap as folks are upgrading away from them towards inverter/chargers.
If an inverter/charger is in your future you could use that to run your fridge.
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That is also what I thought. I emailed EVGA about one of their inverters that seemed to have the specs I needed. Their response: "As our power supplies are designed and tested to be used in consumer gaming PC systems, we cannot say for certain if the PSU would be able to run your refrigerator safely. Most likely it would not as the pinout configuration is not designed for such a use case." I don't even know what a *pinout configuration* is, LOL..
Any recommendation of brand or Rv store to find one at?
John Frum
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Whatever is cheap and used.
I would not buy a new one.
A deck mount wfco would be fine.
My guess is any outfit that does RV upgrades is probably getting a collection of them.
I'm not talking about an inverter. Inverters go from DC to AC. You need a converter which is AC to DC.
Here's an example of what I mean (I'm not in any way endorsing this specific item, just using it as an example of what I meant):
Just cut off the DC plug and connect the wires to the fridge (after figuring out which is the positive and negative).
Thanks for the extra clarification. It is appreciated. Nice looking rig you got there. Thanks again!
Rednecktek
Solar Wizard
You're going to need to find something that gives you 200w, you never want to run converters/inverters at 100% load all the time.
A workaround might be a small battery (AGM or FLA, whatever) to take the startup surge and a high amperage car charger. I've got a couple of Ampeak 25a chargers that I've been really happy with for higher amperage charging, battery repair, and trickle charging. That particular one doesn't have settings for Lith but since everything I do is FLA or AGM it's been a handy little unit.
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Thanks for the compliment.
It just occurred to me that my recommendation may be a bad one. The fridge may have a startup surge and I'm not sure how well one of those little converters I suggested will handle that. You may want to verify with GE if something like that will be safe.
It just occurred to me that my recommendation may be a bad one. The fridge may have a startup surge and I'm not sure how well one of those little converters I suggested will handle that. You may want to verify with GE if something like that will be safe.
T-486 Ashepoo
New Member
I think some Victron battery chargers can be used as a power supply.
3.7 Can be used as a power supply The charger will supply DC loads when no battery is connected
3.7 Can be used as a power supply The charger will supply DC loads when no battery is connected
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Meanwell manufacturers very good AC to DC converters, this one can be used as a 12 volt power supply to run 12 volt devices, rated at 350 watts continuous
My DC fridge draws only 41 watts at 12 volts or 24 volts. It is of the Danfoss compressor type, DC permanent magnet motor, I do not know what GE is doing to make that referigerator operate on DC
most of the Danfoss compressor types can run on one 12 volt 100 a.h. battery and one 100 watt solar panel
250 watts seems like a lot of power at 12 volts for referigeration , most units are in the 40ish watts
My DC fridge draws only 41 watts at 12 volts or 24 volts. It is of the Danfoss compressor type, DC permanent magnet motor, I do not know what GE is doing to make that referigerator operate on DC
most of the Danfoss compressor types can run on one 12 volt 100 a.h. battery and one 100 watt solar panel
250 watts seems like a lot of power at 12 volts for referigeration , most units are in the 40ish watts
The only specs GE has for the model GPV10FGNBB DC fridge on their site is it's 12 volt 13.5 amps. I just wanted to get a 15 so i'm not maxing out the convertor all the time. Thanks!
I'll look into that. Thanks!
Converting a frig from AC to DC, the compressor (and interior lighting) is changed. Can a 600a refrigerator be powered by a 134a compressor? The frig piping is sized for 600a but how about the compressor? It seems a compressor compresses. Thank you.
