Nova Kool RFU 8320 Refrigerator Installation

[Klem]

Originally Posted by hotfishtacos

The installation is now complete! ; .

Stay tuned!

Steve

CONGRATS !! Wish we had sunshine ... not an option in my backyard.

Mel

[PGDriver]

Originally Posted by Klem

Read this, by a pro refrig guy.

This is an interesting read, especially liked this quote.

"So…if you don’t know what you are doing, PLEASE don’t do it!!"

Truer words have never been spoken.

Doug

[Jubal]

Originally Posted by Klem

Read this, by a pro refrig guy.

I believe that Reace's comment was in reference to adding a baffle did not help these Dometic refers which have inadequate cooling capavity.

[Klem]

Originally Posted by Jubal

I believe that Reace's comment was in reference to adding a baffle did not help these Dometic refers which have inadequate cooling capavity.

Oh yes, I agree that is what he meant.

I posted the document because it's an interesting 'pro' viewpoint and stresses the importance of proper installation. Good 'food for thought'.

Personally I feel my refrigerator will work a lot better with the mods I have made. Not sure how much better but there is no doubt in my mind it will be better. It's wimpy in our NW marine environment ... I'm sure it performed better when properly mounted and vented at the factory test facility.

Interesting point in the document is that a fan is not a guarantee of improvement. If you don't have the proper chimney the fan pulls air through the wrong place (where it's easier) and not cooling the condenser.

Keeping that in mind I have worked today on smoother air flow and any fan(s) will be mounted in a location that cannot disturb airflow around the condenser when it's turned off.

The condenser cooling is the key, I'll be posting some great descriptive pix I found.

Mel

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by Klem

The condenser cooling is the key,
Mel

Couldn't agree more. As soon as I saw that Dometic actually has flue extensions to duct burner heat to the exterior I knew that was a mod that I wanted to do.

It just doesn't make sense to dump waste burner heat out right by the condenser.

Ron

[donnadee2]

Hi everyone,
I had a small Nova Kool ref put in my 13 foot Boler trailer last year and love it! Super extends my boon docking time! I also have a flexible solar panel on the roof and love it too. I would highly recommend the flexible solar panels they are very light and lay flat and curve with the curve of the roof and have 25 year warranty.

[cpaharley2008]

Welcome Donna, to our little Escape world. Please introduce yourself over in the introduction section.

[Klem]

Originally Posted by donnadee2

Hi everyone,
I had a small Nova Kool ref put in my 13 foot Boler trailer last year and love it! Super extends my boon docking time! I also have a flexible solar panel on the roof and love it too. I would highly recommend the flexible solar panels they are very light and lay flat and curve with the curve of the roof and have 25 year warranty.

Hi,

Could you pass on the make and model of the flexible panel?

Mel

[hotfishtacos]

Here are some pictures of the load in the New Nova Kool refrigerator I just installed. I put 9 bottles of wine and 3 liters of water in the refrigerator and a 16.3 lb turkey in the freezer.



...and the turkey!..Happy Thanksgiving! BTW, Greggo supplied the trim piece on the bottom of this picture...Thanks Greg!



So far I've run the refer overnight and all day today on the two 6 volt batteries supplied by two roof-mounted 95 watt solar panels. This first day was a sort of seat-of-the-pants test just watching battery voltages. Last night before bed at 10:00 PM the batteries were at 12.4 volts when the refer was running. The turkey was frozen when I put it in but all that wine was at room temperature so the refer had to really work to get it all cold. This morning at 6:30 AM they were still at 12.4 volts and the unit temps were measuring 3 & 33 degrees F. Now at 5:59 PM the batteries are at 12.2 volts with the refer running.

To make this more scientific, this evening I installed an amp and watts totaling meter on the refer supply line to measure the actual draw over 24 hours. I also reset the totaling on my programmable solar controller so tomorrow evening I will know how much is going in and how much is going out. My gut feel is that the battery capacity will be fine but I could use a little more solar...so this weekend I will tie in my new 160 watt panel, taking the total up to 350...adding that to the mix...

Stay tuned! Steve

[Donna D.]

How's the sunlight for the solar? Only asking because we get a whole bunch of gray days here in Oregon (Pacific NorthWET).

[hotfishtacos]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

How's the sunlight for the solar? Only asking because we get a whole bunch of gray days here in Oregon (Pacific NorthWET).

Donna, the sun is a little low this time of year but it is clear and bright almost every day. However, I don't plan to camp in my driveway and really love the northern areas....so the new stuff I have must perform up to the Pouline Border and then some distance beyond that into the heavy gravy areas! Of course a good shower IN THE TRAILER is necessary afterwards. I work with a friend who owns a thriving solar business and he told me that on overcast days I will average 35 % of normal output from the panels here and I will get 25% when it is raining. Traveling North is a different story. I would like to have maybe 300% of the solar I need on a good day so I can go where I want and have plenty of sun-supplied power.

[rbryan4]

Oh dear Lord no Steve! You did such a fine job installing the fridge -- don't hijack your own thread with Poutine and showers!....lol

[hotfishtacos]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

Oh dear Lord no Steve! You did such a fine job installing the fridge -- don't hijack your own thread with Poutine and showers!....lol

...no guarantees on my behavior...I just live too close to Lopoc where I am getting my questionable behavior from!!...

[hotfishtacos]

First bits of date are available now for the new refrigerator project. After it cooled down to set points and stabilized the first day I have the following 24 hour readings on the 12 volt supply line. When I first tested this refer on the bench over 24 hours in my 75 - 80 degrees F garage a few weeks ago I measured 84.6 total amps at a 75% duty cycle. Now, installed and outside in our 83 degree weather today, after 24 hours, it pulled 59.4 amps and ran for 12.22 hours, a 51% duty cycle. That heavily insulated cavity it is installed in may be helping isolate it from the heat. My goal was a 50% duty cycle so this is perfect. The rest of the numbers were: 741watt hours, 6.07 peak amps and 72.1 peak watts. The refer was running when I recorded the data and it was then pulling 4.5 amps and 59.6 watts. I plan to leave it running for several days and average the draw over time and watch how the ambient temperature affects the duty cycle and total draw.

My two installed 95 watt panels were shaded part of the day and contributed only 28 amp hours of battery charging. I need to move the trailer into a better location to get some real data on the panels...probably this long weekend.

Stay tuned!

Steve

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by hotfishtacos

First bits of date are available now for the new refrigerator project. After it cooled down to set points and stabilized the first day I have the following 24 hour readings on the 12 volt supply line. When I first tested this refer on the bench over 24 hours in my 75 - 80 degrees F garage a few weeks ago I measured 84.6 total amps at a 75% duty cycle. Now, installed and outside in our 83 degree weather today, after 24 hours, it pulled 59.4 amps and ran for 12.22 hours, a 51% duty cycle. That heavily insulated cavity it is installed in may be helping isolate it from the heat. My goal was a 50% duty cycle so this is perfect. The rest of the numbers were: 741watt hours, 6.07 peak amps and 72.1 peak watts. The refer was running when I recorded the data and it was then pulling 4.5 amps and 59.6 watts. I plan to leave it running for several days and average the draw over time and watch how the ambient temperature affects the duty cycle and total draw.

My two installed 95 watt panels were shaded part of the day and contributed only 28 amp hours of battery charging. I need to move the trailer into a better location to get some real data on the panels...probably this long weekend.

Stay tuned!

Steve

Great data and I'm sure it will show that a DC fridge with adequate solar is a very viable option.

Seems like you might have to put in a compensating factor though. As those nicely chilled bottles of wine disappear the data might be compromised

Ron

[hotfishtacos]

I made a very small adjustment yesterday to the refer setpoint from 4.5 to 4 because the temp in the refer was down too low to 28 F with the freezer at 7 while it was 83 degrees F outside again. As a result, over the last 24 hours, the refer duty cycle dropped from 51% to 46%, running just 11.07 hours out of 24 available and the total amps drawn moved down from 59.4 amp hrs to 50.4. All great! While running, the refer was pulling 4.5 amps or 56 watts.

Tomorrow starts my solar adventure where I will start prototyping adjustable mounts for my two 95 watt roof-mounted panels and Sunday I will throw a new 160 watt panel into the mix. I will be looking at the voltage output of each panel installed flat and tilted toward the sun and measuring the total output of the three panels running together. Stay tuned!

Steve

[Klem]

Originally Posted by hotfishtacos

Tomorrow starts my solar adventure where I will start prototyping adjustable mounts for my two 95 watt roof-mounted panels and Sunday I will throw a new 160 watt panel into the mix. I will be looking at the voltage output of each panel installed flat and tilted toward the sun and measuring the total output of the three panels running together. Stay tuned!
Steve

Hi Steve,
Have you heard the easy angle setting rule. Use the latitude of the place you are rounded up/down to the nearest whole number. Add 15 for winter and subtract 15 in the summer if you want to fine tune them by season.

It gives you a point of reference and if you are traveling it can help you to set them, or not, depending how far north/south you have traveled.

Mel

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by Klem

Hi Steve,
Have you heard the easy angle setting rule. Use the latitude of the place you are rounded up/down to the nearest whole number. Add 15 for winter and subtract 15 in the summer if you want to fine tune them by season.

It gives you a point of reference and if you are traveling it can help you to set them, or not, depending how far north/south you have traveled.

Mel

A very good rule of thumb and easy to remember.

[hotfishtacos]

Originally Posted by Klem

Hi Steve,
Have you heard the easy angle setting rule. Use the latitude of the place you are rounded up/down to the nearest whole number. Add 15 for winter and subtract 15 in the summer if you want to fine tune them by season.

It gives you a point of reference and if you are traveling it can help you to set them, or not, depending how far north/south you have traveled.

Mel

Good rule of thumb! I am going to eventually do something simple like that.

[padlin]

Here's a link to a mount I saved off for future use, I like the way it'll go either direction.

Dual Tilt RV Solar Panel Mounts - Tilting Solar Module Angle Mounts - RV Solar Connection, llc - Denver, Colorado