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What are the best options for powering small fridge from Solar? Battery amp hours? Minimum solar wattage?

Eclipse11

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Sep 26, 2019
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Right now, I have 420 watts of solar power with about 200 amp hours in the battery bank. I want to remove the existing fridge from my RV and install a compact fridge that will be fully powered by the solar panels. Other than powering the fridge, I would be using the solar power for 1 or 2 lights with minimal use, charging cell phone and laptop as well. Any advice on what would be the best fridge to purchase that could be installed as is right now, or should would I need to upgrade the solar or battery bank? I preferably want a fridge that has a freezer but doesn't matter how small it can be. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
 
420w of solar with 200Ah of battery should power a 12V refrigerator for days on end. I'm using 120W of solar with 100Ah AGM and i can get three of four days out of it. Try not to open it often, keep refrigerator in a cool place....you should be good to go.

I did a review on my website on the electrical demands on the refrigerator I'm using.

RVBPrecision.com
 
I did a review on my website on the electrical demands on the refrigerator I'm using.
After a lot of research I bought an ICECO VL45 too.
Running on 120 volts continuously for 5 months I like it.
Set at 34F It runs for 14 minutes then is off for 40 minutes then back on for 14, etc

I bought a battle born 100Ah to run it on camping trips hoping to get 5 days combined
with car charging when driving.
 
420w of solar with 200Ah of battery should power a 12V refrigerator for days on end. I'm using 120W of solar with 100Ah AGM and i can get three of four days out of it. Try not to open it often, keep refrigerator in a cool place....you should be good to go.

I did a review on my website on the electrical demands on the refrigerator I'm using.

RVBPrecision.com
Great job on your refrigerator aquistion and review. Thank you, I've been without a fridge for six years but hope to have one in spring of 2021!
 
I think I will try to by a dorm fridge, and install a small inverter for it. Then add more solar later.

That's what I have... A small fridge / separate freezer that runs 0.8 amps 110V. I use a modified sign wave 750W inverter.... (Not Amazon junk) ... The inverter says I am using 80-90 W of power, add 24W for the inverter loss and that's the draw. I have 8× 120amp deep cycle marine batts and 500W of solar. This works in Mexico. It did not work in the Pacific northwest in winter were cloud cover lowered the solar output to 1.5 amps an hour 6 hoars a day.
 
That's what I have... A small fridge / separate freezer that runs 0.8 amps 110V. I use a modified sign wave 750W inverter.... (Not Amazon junk) ... The inverter says I am using 80-90 W of power, add 24W for the inverter loss and that's the draw. I have 8× 120amp deep cycle marine batts and 500W of solar. This works in Mexico. It did not work in the Pacific northwest in winter were cloud cover lowered the solar output to 1.5 amps an hour 6 hoars a day.
modified sign wave is junk. not amazon junk.
 
Just replaced an 18 cu ft Samsung Energy Star fridge rated at 565 kWh/year and 18 cu ft Frigidaire commercial freezer using ~ 550 kWh/year with two 7 cu ft Midea Energy Star chest freezers rated at 225 kWh/year. Thus saving almost 2 kWh/day. But my Outback Flexpower One seems to use an inexplicable amount of energy. Or I have another unseen energy hog lurking somewhere.

Chest freezers run with an external thermostat controller are far and away the most efficient way to get refrigeration. The small fridges are energy hogs given their tiny size. Now on day 4 of the 7 cu ft chest freezer to fridge operation - it has consumed 1/2 kWh of energy. By comparison the full sized Energy Star Samsung would have consumed 6 kWh of energy in four days.

Freezers offer twice as much insulation - 2" vs. 1". Plus the cold, dense air doesn't "fall out" each time the door is opened.

But living out of a small to medium sized chest freezer would likely get onerous for more than two people.

BTW I am running the Frigidaire commercial freezer as a fridge by using a timer giving it four 15 minute energy cycles every 24 hours. Much to be said for 2" of insulation and a compressor that is not the toy found in tiny fridges. Giving it a lot more time threatened to freeze my beer bottles. Can't have that - I enjoy a cold beer every week or so.

If you really need to save power you can put a chest freezer on a timer that only supplies it power during the day. That is what I am doing with one conversion.

If you have a more luxurious amount of power consider an upright freezer conversion or a small Energy Star fridge in the 10 cu ft range - or so. But the 3 cu ft dorm fridges are both tiny and energy hogs given their size. I thought about trying one but they don't even accommodate gallons of milk - for another thing.

Sailboats use smallish chests for refrigeration needs. If you need efficiency in space and energy - look at what the sailing community is doing. They can usually only hang a few solar panels off the stern.
 
For powersaving, whichever fridge you pick, fill as much unused space as possible with water bottles / bags. If you get a freezer, consider getting blue ice or another ice substitute.
 
Last week I went camping in New Hampshire from Tuesday AM until Monday AM....Nearly a week. .Had my ICECO refrigerator hooked up to one 110ah AGM battery with 20 (twenty) watts of truck cap, roof top solar, charging the battery. The panels are flat, not facing the sun.We had two days of clouds and rain. On Monday when I returned home the battery was still at 85%!! 12.5V.....
 
Last week I went camping in New Hampshire from Tuesday AM until Monday AM....Nearly a week. .Had my ICECO refrigerator hooked up
Iceco makes great fridges but they have horrible customer service.
I have two Iceco fridges.
Hope that you never need to contact them as they will ignore you.
 
Thank you...I've contacted them as my frig came with a damaged corner. They were incredibly responsive. Sent me the part and followed up to be sure I was satisfied. Not sure why they don't like you......:giggle:
 
Here's a typical comment from Iceco's Indiegogo campaign for their new 3 in 1 fridge.
All kinds of people unhappy with Iceco these days.

Richard14 days ago
This is the biggest piece of garbage I ever paid money for. Never gets below 40 degrees, starts to make a lot of noise then heats up. I have sent multiple emails to try and get this resolved and trying to contact these people is an even bigger joke than the cooler itself.

David Darter-Saunders 1 day ago
I emailed customer service a month a go with a video of the sound of metallic grating when the cooler runs. I still have not heard back from them. I’m not sure what to do next.
 
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