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New Fridge (probably 12V)


Richard10002

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4 hours ago, Richard10002 said:

 

 

They have now had it for over a week, and just keep telling me they will let me know their findings once they have tested it. When that might be is anybodys guess - so I probably need a new controller in order for anyone to diagnose and fix.

 

 


Having posted this I sent a gentle nudge email and I’ve just had the call to say that the controller is working perfectly. So it’s something else which is causing the three flashes of the red light.

 

Still inclined to buy a new one, rather than throw more money at diagnosis, and am wondering how a question about 3 fridges, or alternatives, became a discussion about solar powered dildos?

 

BTW: Getting gas to the fridge position isn’t an option, interesting as the discussion is :) 

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15 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:


Having posted this I sent a gentle nudge email and I’ve just had the call to say that the controller is working perfectly. So it’s something else which is causing the three flashes of the red light.

 

Still inclined to buy a new one, rather than throw more money at diagnosis, and am wondering how a question about 3 fridges, or alternatives, became a discussion about solar powered dildos?

 

BTW: Getting gas to the fridge position isn’t an option, interesting as the discussion is :) 

Are you quite sure it's not knackered batteries.  What's the voltage at the batteries when the compressor kicks in?

12 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

I dunno, most things recharge from USB nowadays, I have a small 12v solar panel that charges stuff directly.

Overcast days could be frustrating I suppose 

 

I bow to your superior knowledge of such things.

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47 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

Are you quite sure it's not knackered batteries.  What's the voltage at the batteries when the compressor kicks in?

I bow to your superior knowledge of such things.

He has LifePo4 batteries all quite new and a good charging regime

1 hour ago, Richard10002 said:


Having posted this I sent a gentle nudge email and I’ve just had the call to say that the controller is working perfectly. So it’s something else which is causing the three flashes of the red light.

 

Still inclined to buy a new one, rather than throw more money at diagnosis, and am wondering how a question about 3 fridges, or alternatives, became a discussion about solar powered dildos?

 

BTW: Getting gas to the fridge position isn’t an option, interesting as the discussion is :) 

Have you tried powering up the motor direct?

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1 hour ago, peterboat said:

He has LifePo4 batteries all quite new and a good charging regime

Have you tried powering up the motor direct?

Don't even think about it. its not  a conventional motor. It is more like a stepper motor and needs an electric driver to pulse its coils in turn. on the other hand do try and then probably need a new motor and thus fridge.

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29 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

Don't even think about it. its not  a conventional motor. It is more like a stepper motor and needs an electric driver to pulse its coils in turn. on the other hand do try and then probably need a new motor and thus fridge.

No what I mean is Tony wiring a battery direct to the fridge input missing out the boat wiring, on the penguin videos it says the 3 flashing lights are cured by turning off the fridge for 20 mins as Dorothytheexplorer says or by interference on the wiring. Wiring the fridge motor panel direct removes that issue or problems with say the fuse panel? I am now thinking of building my own compressor fridge to dump my old plate one in the campervan 

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Just now, peterboat said:

No what I mean is Tony wiring a battery direct to the fridge input missing out the boat wiring, on the penguin videos it says the 3 flashing lights are cured by turning off the fridge for 20 mins as Dorothytheexplorer says or by interference on the wiring. Wiring the fridge motor panel direct removes that issue or problems with say the fuse panel? I am now thinking of building my own compressor fridge to dump my old plate one in the campervan 

I agree with that, especially if the new wiring is at 1sq mm CCSA per metre or the batteries or thicker.

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1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

Don't even think about it. its not  a conventional motor. It is more like a stepper motor and needs an electric driver to pulse its coils in turn. on the other hand do try and then probably need a new motor and thus fridge.

That's answered a question that has been on my mind..... could I connect something up to power the compressor and see if it fires up, but seemingly not a goer. There are 3 pins in the plug connection from controller to compressor, and I'd guess the controller does the pulsing.

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3 hours ago, doratheexplorer said:

Are you quite sure it's not knackered batteries.  What's the voltage at the batteries when the compressor kicks in?

As certain as I can be. It's a Lithium bank so always a much higher voltage than a Lead Acid bank. Measuring the voltage at the fridge input I get 13.3V. Pressing the on/off button, which you would expect to start the compressor, I see no change in the voltage.

 

I'm not actually sensing the compressor trying to start up, although I'm no expert. I even tried putting a screwdriver on the compressor, and listening at the other end. I would expect some kind of click, short lived hum and/or vibration, if the compressor was trying to kick in.

 

Some of the diagnostic info does suggest that a digital multimeter might not be quick enough to catch the drop in voltage that might be happening. So I suppose, when I get the controller back, I could see if it's drawing some amps when it tries to kick in.

 

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2 hours ago, peterboat said:

He has LifePo4 batteries all quite new and a good charging regime

:) 

2 hours ago, peterboat said:

Have you tried powering up the motor direct?

No. I suppose I could faff about disconnecting a battery and moving it to the fridge, and see if anything changes - got to be worth trying anything reasonable before spending the 500 quids :( 

 

I think my decision is going to be between:

 

1) getting someone who knows to take a look, which could cost me anything from £50 to £100 to be told I need a new fridge, (or might fix it for £50 to £100). If it needs a new condenser, they seem to be around £300 or so, plus fitting so, if that was the case, I'd buy a new fridge.

 

2) Stop throwing time and money at it and get a new fridge.

 

In an ideal world, having been turned off and rested for a couple of weeks, I would fit the controller, and it would fire up as though nothing had been wrong :) 

 

We'll see next week.

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36 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

:) 

No. I suppose I could faff about disconnecting a battery and moving it to the fridge, and see if anything changes - got to be worth trying anything reasonable before spending the 500 quids :( 

 

I think my decision is going to be between:

 

1) getting someone who knows to take a look, which could cost me anything from £50 to £100 to be told I need a new fridge, (or might fix it for £50 to £100). If it needs a new condenser, they seem to be around £300 or so, plus fitting so, if that was the case, I'd buy a new fridge.

 

2) Stop throwing time and money at it and get a new fridge.

 

In an ideal world, having been turned off and rested for a couple of weeks, I would fit the controller, and it would fire up as though nothing had been wrong :) 

 

We'll see next week.

Its pulse wave modulation from the videos I have watched it seems that something in the panels increases voltage? Anyway post the results Richard because I really want to know now

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Have a chat with Daventry Refrigeration at Braunston.  They are reported as being willing to tackle 12 V fridges.

 

Trouble is there are no serviceable parts in the works of a BD 35.   If the electronics are OK and the compressor don't go it is new machine time.  Replacing the compressor will have costs on top of buying it as the fridge will need to be regassed.

It is usually cheaper to buy a new one.

N

 

PS.  A When you next try to start up, give the BD 35 electronics a little while.  Mine (new this year) takes about 5 seconds from switch on to running motor noises and about another 10 s  before the fans start up.

N

Edited by BEngo
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18 minutes ago, BEngo said:

Have a chat with Daventry Refrigeration at Braunston.  They are reported as being willing to tackle 12 V fridges.

 

Trouble is there are no serviceable parts in the works of a BD 35.   If the electronics are OK and the compressor don't go it is new machine time.  Replacing the compressor will have costs on top of buying it as the fridge will need to be regassed.

It is usually cheaper to buy a new one.

N

 

PS.  A When you next try to start up, give the BD 35 electronics a little while.  Mine (new this year) takes about 5 seconds from switch on to running motor noises and about another 10 s  before the fans start up.

N

I should have the electronics controller back on the boat by Monday/Tuesday next week, so I'm going to give it a go.

 

Having said that, I'm pretty sure I gave it minutes, rather than seconds, during my own simple tests prior to sending the controller off. Also pretty sure the fan ran fine, but no compressor noises.

 

I'll see what happens next week. If nothing, I'm probably buying the Waeco CRE50 which, at about £490, is about £60 less than the CRX50, for much the same thing.

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Got the controller back and nothing has changed, refitted it, turned the fridge on, and got the three flashes fault. Connected it directly to the batteries, no change. Plenty of voltage, (13+ volts), and gave it "ages" in both situations.

 

So I've bought the Dometic/Waeco CRE50. £489 from Jacksons Leisure on The Wirral, and all is well with the world :) .

 

Overall it doesn't have quite the quality of old CRX50. The compressor is much smaller and Waeco branded. The controller is different and smaller, (so cant use it to test on the old fridge :( ). The door catch is simple, and probably better than the old one. Whatever the case, it's cooling away pretty much silently and, if it lasts 5 years, it will have proved to be better than the more expensive one.

 

Now what to do with the old fridge - it seems a waste to just take it to the tip. A fridge engineer with a working compressor could have it up and running for almost nothing.

 

 

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8 hours ago, Richard10002 said:

Got the controller back and nothing has changed, refitted it, turned the fridge on, and got the three flashes fault. Connected it directly to the batteries, no change. Plenty of voltage, (13+ volts), and gave it "ages" in both situations.

 

So I've bought the Dometic/Waeco CRE50. £489 from Jacksons Leisure on The Wirral, and all is well with the world :) .

 

Overall it doesn't have quite the quality of old CRX50. The compressor is much smaller and Waeco branded. The controller is different and smaller, (so cant use it to test on the old fridge :( ). The door catch is simple, and probably better than the old one. Whatever the case, it's cooling away pretty much silently and, if it lasts 5 years, it will have proved to be better than the more expensive one.

 

Now what to do with the old fridge - it seems a waste to just take it to the tip. A fridge engineer with a working compressor could have it up and running for almost nothing.

 

 

Put it up for sale Richard it might make some money 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I used a 240 v freezer and it was fine on shore power but blew its circuit board twice on the travel pack alt while cruising so stay away from household domestic fridge freezer it was a beco and I got short shift from them also when I spoke to them about it. Just got a shoreline chest freezer yesterday so my camping freezer goes on gumtree tomorrow. it’s a 55 lt need something bigger because of Christmas and lock down as we are cc’s

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