Shake-down cruise with a Norcold compressor fridge

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

At this point I think the B2B charger is charging the batteries intermittently. I have a trip coming up. On the first day of that trip I'll leave the laptop running in the trailer to record the charging activity.

if your monitoring device is a Victron SmartShunt or BVW, be sure to use Victron Connect to update the firmware to the latest, and they will store something like 3-5 days of activity that can be graphed on the 'trends' screen

[CE Vogel]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

At this point I think the B2B charger is charging the batteries intermittently. I have a trip coming up. On the first day of that trip I'll leave the laptop running in the trailer to record the charging activity.

I think you are on to something here. I have a RedArc B2B (and Norcold 8 CF compressor refrigerator) with 300AH Lithium batteries. I also did not get the calculated charge during a day's driving. The problem was the current protection in the truck charge line. The 30-amp self-resetting circuit breaker was cycling on and off all day. Once I discovered this, I could see it on the truck amp meter. This cycling is hard on the breaker, mine failed after a few weeks. Now I carry spare breakers.
Another possibility is your B2B is not providing 14.4 - 14.6 volts to your batteries. This should be an option in the B2B configuration. Should it be providing a lower voltage, your Lithium batteries will never fully charge. This can be checked with a voltmeter on your batteries while your truck is charging and the batteries are already near full charge.
I love my Norcold compressor refrigerator. It draws about 6.5 amps but runs less than half the time even on the hottest days. It maintains 35 degrees in the refrigerator and 0 to -5 degrees in the freezer. I have 200 watts solar and that is just barely adequate under ideal conditions. You will love your setup when you get your B2B dialed in.

[Mike Lewis]

I just completed a week stay in Rio Grande Village campground in Big Bend National Park, Texas. I had much better results this time. I deployed the portable solar panels for the entire stay. Every sunny day the rooftop and portable panels charged the batteries to to 100%; on the two cloudy days I had they charged the panels to 98%. So things are looking up. The fridge continues to work fine.

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by CE Vogel

I think you are on to something here. I have a RedArc B2B (and Norcold 8 CF compressor refrigerator) with 300AH Lithium batteries. I also did not get the calculated charge during a day's driving. The problem was the current protection in the truck charge line. The 30-amp self-resetting circuit breaker was cycling on and off all day. Once I discovered this, I could see it on the truck amp meter. This cycling is hard on the breaker, mine failed after a few weeks. Now I carry spare breakers.

The symptoms seem to match a cycling circuit breaker. I'd better research this before I burn one out. Thanks for the tip.

[Mike Lewis]

I'm wrapping up a week-long stay in Organ Pipe. The campground is at 31.94 degrees latitude, it was sunny and cold for most of the week, though there were a couple of days that were cloudy or partly cloudy. The furnace ran a lot. To summarize:

- the fridge continues to work fine
- the 355W of rooftop panels + 200W of portable panels will charge the batteries to 100% on a sunny day. They will charge the panels to 98% on a cloudy day
- the rooftop panels alone will not charge the batteries to 100% on a sunny day. I tried this and got to 93% on a sunny day, 86% on a cloudy day. Keep in mind this is late January; the sun is still low in the sky and the days are short.

[Mike Lewis]

I left home on January 8 and have been wandering around the Southwest since then. I've been without hookups for all but a couple of days.

- the Norcold compressor fridge continues to work fine
- I still need rooftop (355W) + portable (200W) panels to fully charge the batteries (400 Ah)
- the lowest charge for the batteries was 53% at one point
- I had a string of cloudy days and bad weather (snow!) in Tucson, which was a good test. I couldn't use the portable panels during the precip but still did okay
- the weather has been consistently cool/cold, which doesn't put a stress on the fridge.

At this point the sun is higher in the sky and the days longer, which will help charge the batteries. But the ambient temperature is climbing, which should make the fridge work harder. It will be interesting to see who wins this race.

[BobG]

And the Race is on!!!
My bet is on the solar system winning.

[alanerickson]

Originally Posted by BobG

I don't carry a generator. The batteries charge fast at 24volts 70 amps so I figure if I the worse happened and I needed to recharge the batteries, I would have to find a place to plug in for a couple hours or move to where there is more solar. The batteries can be charged from nearly empty to full charge in a few hours.

Curious how you are able to charge at 24V 70A?

Edit. Nevermind. I found the thread here.

https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f...0-a-22568.html

[oldwave]

6 gauge will carry the load at that distance
Refer to the blue seas wire gauge utility

[Centex]

Originally Posted by oldwave

....Refer to the blue seas wire gauge utility

AKA Circuit Wizard - Blue Sea Systems, a great bookmark for the computer and smartphone

[BobG]

Originally Posted by Centex

AKA Circuit Wizard - Blue Sea Systems, a great bookmark for the computer and smartphone

You can also download the app to smartphone.

[oldwave]

They also have a pdf chart for those who don’t have smartphones

[Mike Lewis]

Fridge-- The Norcold compressor fridge still works fine. I've noticed that it is a bit too easy to not latch the fridge door and twice I've spilled food on the floor when towing. So I've resumed using a bungee to secure the door as I did with the Dometic fridge.

Charging system-- I haven't used the portable solar panels in the last month or so. The 355W of rooftop panels have kept the batteries charged. They don't charge up to 100% every day due to variable weather, but they did not go below about 60% over the last month. I have 400 Ah of lithium batteries.

Caveats-- Temps were below normal, so lots of furnace use and no high ambient temperatures yet.

In Albuquerque, headed to Moab tomorrow.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

- the Norcold compressor fridge continues to work fine
- I still need rooftop (355W) + portable (200W) panels to fully charge the batteries (400 Ah)
- the lowest charge for the batteries was 53% at one point

I have 412AH of LFP, and a 360W solar rooftop, so pretty similar to you minus the portable (I Have a 100W portable but haven't used it hardly ever since getting the escape). My usual daily usage is around 700WH and the solar has the batteries totally charged by noon most days I'm not under dense trees. I camped a week in heavy shade (under a giant oak surrounded by more giant oaks) so had effectively zero sun, this brought my battery down to about 50%, then we drove a few hours to a sunny spot, and by the next day it was 100% again. If I shut the solar off to run the battery down a few days, and turn it on, I generally get 2000-2400 watt*hours a day from the 360W panel with a SmartSolar 100/30 MPPT controller, and that was under imperfect conditions (hazy days in mid winter in Death Valley).

basically, the solar works so well, I usually shut the PD4655L off as I don't like its constant 14.6V when the batts are at 100%. I'll turn it on if I need to fast charge the batts before traveling to where sunshine may be scarce.

[Mike Lewis]

Fridge -- The Norcold continues to work fine. It occasionally makes a gurgling sound (but then so do I). In the past month I have finally had 2-3 weeks of warmer weather, with highs in the 80s.

Charging system-- I have not needed portable panels since mid-March; I just rely on the 355W of rooftop panels. My batteries have not dropped below 60% charge for a long time. On some days my batteries do not charge to 100%. This may be due to the fridge running longer. I don't really know how to tell.

Conclusions so far:
- 355W of rooftop solar are enough for the summer (with 400Ah of batteries)
- 700W of rooftop solar might be needed for year-round camping without having to deal with portable solar panels (again, with 400 Ah of batteries)
- You can probably get by with 200 Ah of lithium batteries, but carry along a generator for deep-woods camping

[Ron in BC]

Good update Mike especially since more and more folks are going in that direction.

Gotta laugh at your warmer weather. Around here we'd say blistering hot.

Ron

[Mike Lewis]

I recently returned home from a nearly eight-month trip in my Escape; I left home on January 8. This has given me a long test of my Norcold compressor refrigerator.


Performance -- it's great! The fridge seems to be unaffected by ambient outside temperature. At one point during my dash home I spent the night near Wichita Falls, TX, where it was 111 degrees! I've never been in temps that hot. As I recall, the fridge was at around 35 degrees and the freezer well below freezing.

Although outside temperatures don't seem to affect the fridge, altitude does. On the two times I camped at over 7000 feet I had to increase the cooling from "4" to "5". This worked.

Power consumption -- I can't tell how much power the fridge uses because I don't know how to isolate its consumption from the rest of the trailer (hints anyone?). I have 355 watts of rooftop solar, a 200W portable panel, and 400 Ah of lithium batteries. I had to use the portable panel before the vernal equinox in March, but afterward I didn't need it. During the last month or so of my trip I had an electrical hookup for the A/C.

If you buy a compressor fridge, at some point you will be in a situation where you won't have enough sun to keep your batteries charged. This happened to me in Lassen National Forest in California, where I was assigned a shady campsite. I had to run the generator I bought for this purpose to charge my batteries. (Later when I moved to a sunny spot I had to run the generator to run the A/C.)

My conclusion is that I am very happy I bought the Norcold. I no longer have to worry about my refrigerator failing at random times. This had been a big problem in using my Escape; now I have no major problems and can enjoy my trips.

[Ron in BC]

Good summery report Mike. Also a pretty good guideline for amounts of solar and batteries needed to make the compressor fridge viable.

Ron

[Ops]

If there's a time down the road where our rigs refrigerator gives out, I'll be swapping it for a compressor unit rather than replace with another absorption setup.

I purchased a Dometic CFX3 75DZ about 5 years ago when I contemplated building a slide in camper. When I realized I'd bitten off more than I wanted, we ordered/bought our 21NE.

Now I had this expensive cooler - still in the box - unused. What to do?

We kept it and we're very happy we did. Our dogs are on raw food diets, so travelling with frozen food certainly can be a challenge with the small freezer space in the fridge that came with our rig. The freezer capacity and the fact that it's 12volt allows us to keep all of the doggo's meals frozen for our travels without stressing the twin 6volt batteries that came with our rig.

Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't hesitate in ordering a compressor fridge if I were getting a new trailer.

[TTMartin]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

I recently returned home from a nearly eight-month trip in my Escape; I left home on January 8. This has given me a long test of my Norcold compressor refrigerator.


Performance -- it's great! The fridge seems to be unaffected by ambient outside temperature. At one point during my dash home I spent the night near Wichita Falls, TX, where it was 111 degrees! I've never been in temps that hot. As I recall, the fridge was at around 35 degrees and the freezer well below freezing.

Although outside temperatures don't seem to affect the fridge, altitude does. On the two times I camped at over 7000 feet I had to increase the cooling from "4" to "5". This worked.

Power consumption -- I can't tell how much power the fridge uses because I don't know how to isolate its consumption from the rest of the trailer (hints anyone?). I have 355 watts of rooftop solar, a 200W portable panel, and 400 Ah of lithium batteries. I had to use the portable panel before the vernal equinox in March, but afterward I didn't need it. During the last month or so of my trip I had an electrical hookup for the A/C.

If you buy a compressor fridge, at some point you will be in a situation where you won't have enough sun to keep your batteries charged. This happened to me in Lassen National Forest in California, where I was assigned a shady campsite. I had to run the generator I bought for this purpose to charge my batteries. (Later when I moved to a sunny spot I had to run the generator to run the A/C.)

My conclusion is that I am very happy I bought the Norcold. I no longer have to worry about my refrigerator failing at random times. This had been a big problem in using my Escape; now I have no major problems and can enjoy my trips.

That seems spot on. You will need a generator at some point if you have a compressor refrigerator. Using both a dual zone 12 volt chest style compressor refrigerator / freezer in my Sprinter and the 6 cu ft absorption refrigerator in my Escape, I'm well aware of the the pluses and negatives of both. Compressor refrigerators certainly have advantages, but, people need to be aware that when temperatures rise they can use a lot more electricity than some people seem to believe. I do know in those same high temperatures are where absorption refrigerators can struggle. Especially, if the refrigerator side of the trailer is to the south.

Thank you for your honest and accurate update.