reduced voltage starter for fridge

[DPC]

Giving some thought to things.
I have not posted a while but a question has been in my head for a while.

Has anyone tried a soft start on a conventional fridge compressor and had good results?
I have not heard much good said about it....

Next question do I need a soft start?
Any thoughts on much simpler single or double step primary resistor or transformer start?

I've never seen it done or even thought about it before.

But these Chinese soft starts are really cheap why make something more expensive ?
Well don't trust Chinese electronics?

Example of such a soft start

Russian the translation is not bad if you turn it on

 

[hwy17]

This is not that helpful of an answer but:

1. Get an inverter that can start stuff and forget about the soft starts I say.

2. New fridges with variable speed compressors are all naturally soft start.

 

[DPC]

Actually not a bad reply

There are reasons I want to go with a direct cool dumb as a stone fridge like this

General PDP Template

www.canadiantire.ca

Cheap no automatic defrost not electronics at all.
Later its a pretty easy conversion to a 6cc DC compressor and charge with easy to get R600 if I go a different path

My back up generator might go with Kohler EL-8 controller from an old 4AM-21 plant I have adapted to modernized 3 kW unit powered by a modern Honda engine ( mad mixture of parts but all very dead reliable stuff )

My Camp is hours and hours from home in a remote area with no cell service so things need to be simple and able to look after themselves if there is a power problem
An EL-8 AM controller will automatically start and stop as it sees a load demand from something like a switch but wont work if it sees phantom loads form electronics and will run in a erratic way with a Defrost cycle.

 

[MrThisIsME]

Never seen a convitential household fridge or one of those efficient cooler fridge ever have a high startup.
Do you currently see such? Or just creating (read complicating) a solution for a problem that does not exist.

 

[DPC]

That is an excellent comment I don't know what the inrush is but I like to consider the possibility my system is too small.

I have not chosen a new inverter

My solar system is creaking and old some parts installed in the 90s.
A major upgrade is required because parts are ending there design life and family members argue about where to spend money on the cabin
Sections will have top be added in ways that are cheap and don't overload things.
I also have a washing machine I might have trouble with.

First get rid of that stupid propane fridge go

 

[MrThisIsME]

Below is a similar cheapy 8 cu ft fridge running on AC. After 11pm or midnight the majority of the short spikes are the fridge and the few taller ones are the RV heater.

Not really much of a bump from the compressor and constant 90 watts or so from startup to off cycle.

 

[MrThisIsME]

First get rid of that stupid propane fridge go

I tore out a propane / AC fridge to replace it with this one. For boondocking off solar, best decision ever.

 

[DPC]

I'm not boon docking
But way out in the sticks where 100 pound profane bottles needed to be loaded in boats

OLD PEOPLE !
Its amazing how much gas they can burn

About 12 years the discussion to upgrade the solar began and replacing the profane fridge
It was poo-pood because some people are just stubborn.
This solar system was grafted in a DC lighting and power system that dates to the mid 60s

a Home brew Delco style system.
The Solar ended most of the use of the gasoline charging, it even extended battery life by taking batteries right up to a float where in the oild days they may not have been completely charged all the time

looking at the graph you posted Mrthisisme...
Are all those tiny spike start stop cycles?
Looks odd.
Between 11 and midnight there are three easily identifiable spikes that look like what I expect the power consumption, run and cycle time for a small fridge might look like

Does this fridge have a defrost cycle?
More information please on your fridge, please.
I'm game to hear as much advice as you have to offer

 

[dopeassjackson]

I tore out a propane / AC fridge to replace it with this one. For boondocking off solar, best decision ever.

I have family that has a prety expensive and new RV and we also found that the gas/ac fridge draws more power than my normal sized double door fridge with ice maker.

I run a standard 4.3cuft fridge with separate top freezer on my solar. The most it draws is 120w or so. It's also a cheap $200 fridge.

 

[DPC]

Imagine the logistics of loading 100 pound propane bottles in and out of the bush involving a 14 foot aluminum boat dirt roads and trucks.
On the surface the gas is cheap, but the back pain lasts all weekend.

 

[wpns]

I'm not boon docking
But way out in the sticks where 100 pound profane bottles needed to be loaded in boats

OLD PEOPLE !
Its amazing how much gas they can burn

About 12 years the discussion to upgrade the solar began and replacing the profane fridge
It was poo-pood because some people are just stubborn.
This solar system was grafted in a DC lighting and power system that dates to the mid 60s

a Home brew Delco style system.
The Solar ended most of the use of the gasoline charging, it even extended battery life by taking batteries right up to a float where in the oild days they may not have been completely charged all the time

looking at the graph you posted Mrthisisme...
Are all those tiny spike start stop cycles?
Looks odd.
Between 11 and midnight there are three easily identifiable spikes that look like what I expect the power consumption, run and cycle time for a small fridge might look like

Does this fridge have a defrost cycle?
More information please on your fridge, please.
I'm game to hear as much advice as you have to offer

Sounds like you have some serious technical debt built up there, you can either continue to patch it piecemeal (always a solution, I frequently kick the can down the road myself), or you can start to chip away at it. Yes, throwing it all out and re-engineering it from scratch is a long, involved and expensive process, converting your existing solar system to something that will handle your loads today and into the future will save you a lot of time, aggravation, and money in the future.

 

[DPC]

I want to build a new cottage and run away screaming from the old stuff and old people that use it ( I'm in my 50s and have been hobbling junk together since my teens to keep the lights on water hot and roof from leaking )

 

[wpns]

I want to build a new cottage and run away screaming from the old stuff and old people that use it ( I'm in my 50s and have been hobbling junk together since my teens to keep the lights on water hot and roof from leaking )

So the current situation works perfectly.

For them.

 

[DPC]

Why some people would prefer to crap in a rotten...un-vented wooden structure... onto a pile of decomposing crap that as accumulated for 50 years rather than a clean modern composting toilet.
Well it just boggles the mind....

Nothing we do here for off grid is all the new at all.
The technology has simply improved.

For your consideration a Delco plant and lighting system, pump, washing machine all run off a 36 volt delco system
When I was a kid there were still a few systems like this that went form farms to cottages and ran into the 80s.
Some used Kohler lighting plants, some were home made systems with automotive generators and small engines but this was common in of grid cottage country.

The addition of early solar WOW huge difference especially on systems that were not automatic..
batteries stayed charged and full topped up, the plants moved to more of a equalization charge roll or for extra power in hunting season.

Now however these are pretty much all gone.
Real stand alone solar has taken over.
But what are you going to do when confronted with old ideas and old people that don't want to change.
You have to add stuff slowly I guess

Even I still lke a Delco plant

 

[MrThisIsME]

looking at the graph you posted Mrthisisme...
Are all those tiny spike start stop cycles?
Looks odd.
Between 11 and midnight there are three easily identifiable spikes that look like what I expect the power consumption, run and cycle time for a small fridge might look like

Does this fridge have a defrost cycle?
More information please on your fridge, please.
I'm game to hear as much advice as you have to offer

The graph is perfectly normal. Yes the start stop cycles are the fridge that you are seeing.
No defrost cycle on the unit. It has some fancy "no frost" technology that does not require such. Never ever had ice build up.

I was wrong, it is 10 cu ft. Old one was 8. Both same size, gas asburtion just takes up more space I guess.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Vissani...gerator-in-Stainless-Steel-MDTF10SS/317371471

 

[DPC]

Not much dead band in that thermostat