DrJ
Senior Member
15% less amps used
That's the amount I used less in power once I added my fan system to my dometic 110 litter compressor fridge. I think you could do even better in a hotter environment.
I ran an experiment in a controlled temperature shop over several days with and without my fan system.
Here's what I did:
This is the top vented area. I have removed the prewired fan wiring on the left. You can also see a temperature sensor on the left as well. More on that later.
Another view of it
Then I secured 3 computer fans to a metal trim that would be added at the top of the fridge compartment.
Here are the fans installed before the cover is back on:
I added a temperature sensor to turn on off it gets to 80 degrees and turns off at 65 degrees. So it doesn't run all of the time.
I had to add the switch to my bank inside the camper.
Finished outside:
Over several days I had the fridge on 110 volt power overnight to cool the fridge. It was never opened and was empty during the week. It is challenging for a fridge to keep constant cool with nothing in it so it runs a lot under these times.
The first 24 hours with no fans, I used 66.5 amps of power to run just the fridge. It got up to 91 degrees in the back of the fridge compartment despite only 69 degrees in the shop.
The second day of experiment I used only 55 amp hours with the fans running essentially the entire day. They do not shut off until 65 degrees. The shop stayed at 69 degrees. The fridge compartment also only reached 71 degrees with the fans.
A few things I learned:
The dometic fridge can use a lot of juice. 66.5 amp hours over 24 hours in a 69 degree shop is a lot.
Hard to run that thing without lots of solar and batteries.
Fans makes difference. Hot air is trapped in the top compartment that needs to be removed to increase efficiency. It can be 20-30 degrees warmer in that area.
I noticed similar if not better efficiency in my prior hawk with the old fan system. I think warmer weather would make the fans even better.
The fans only draw 0.3 amps per hour. I really like having them run only when it's too hot in there. The temperature sensor is a nice way to use the power only when you need it.
I am still doing my experiments to verify the data and will post updates as I get more data.
Sent from my iPhone using Wander The West
That's the amount I used less in power once I added my fan system to my dometic 110 litter compressor fridge. I think you could do even better in a hotter environment.
I ran an experiment in a controlled temperature shop over several days with and without my fan system.
Here's what I did:
This is the top vented area. I have removed the prewired fan wiring on the left. You can also see a temperature sensor on the left as well. More on that later.
Another view of it
Then I secured 3 computer fans to a metal trim that would be added at the top of the fridge compartment.
Here are the fans installed before the cover is back on:
I added a temperature sensor to turn on off it gets to 80 degrees and turns off at 65 degrees. So it doesn't run all of the time.
I had to add the switch to my bank inside the camper.
Finished outside:
Over several days I had the fridge on 110 volt power overnight to cool the fridge. It was never opened and was empty during the week. It is challenging for a fridge to keep constant cool with nothing in it so it runs a lot under these times.
The first 24 hours with no fans, I used 66.5 amps of power to run just the fridge. It got up to 91 degrees in the back of the fridge compartment despite only 69 degrees in the shop.
The second day of experiment I used only 55 amp hours with the fans running essentially the entire day. They do not shut off until 65 degrees. The shop stayed at 69 degrees. The fridge compartment also only reached 71 degrees with the fans.
A few things I learned:
The dometic fridge can use a lot of juice. 66.5 amp hours over 24 hours in a 69 degree shop is a lot.
Hard to run that thing without lots of solar and batteries.
Fans makes difference. Hot air is trapped in the top compartment that needs to be removed to increase efficiency. It can be 20-30 degrees warmer in that area.
I noticed similar if not better efficiency in my prior hawk with the old fan system. I think warmer weather would make the fans even better.
The fans only draw 0.3 amps per hour. I really like having them run only when it's too hot in there. The temperature sensor is a nice way to use the power only when you need it.
I am still doing my experiments to verify the data and will post updates as I get more data.
Sent from my iPhone using Wander The West