*Indel-B Fridge/Freezer GROUP BUY AND BS THREAD!!!**CLOSED

I'm getting the same readings as yours. 5~6 amps on Max, about 3~3.5 on Eco.
It's a digital circuit breaker with volt and amp readout, and selectable 30/40/50/60-amp cutout. Made in USA.

 

Fridge and power center had their first run this weekend for the Anti-Dark-sponsored TW trip out to Death Valley. Both worked flawlessly.

However, I have now learned my BlueTop is done. I get about three hours out of it, tops. So I just ordered a pair of Northstars to replace both my Optimas (yes, I know there's a GB going on now, but Max has been a real asset on the BookFace side of TW, answering all kinds of questions, so I decided to reward him by buying from him instead of his Boss's GB).

 

Interesting.

I'm going to do a test run metering the amp draw once I get my auxiliary battery system back together. Hopefully I'll have the time to do that this weekend.

 

Oh, and in case anyone thinks it's a too-small gauge of wire I'm running, I ALWAYS go overboard on wire gauge for any electrical I do. Running from the battery to the rear power panel is 1-0 cable. Inside the panel is 4-gauge, with 10-gauge for each branch circuit. I doubt I have any real powerline loss with that setup.

 

Is your setup always hot or did you keep it where it's only hot if the car is running? Curious since I just received my Indel fridge today and I'm trying to install some 12v sockets in the bed similar to what you did but not nearly as fancy! I really like your setup but since I have just the small cubby next to the AC plug I'm going to just run some cable from the Switch Pro to the bed and install a couple of outlets. Looking forward to testing the fridge out on a camping trip.

 

Constant hot.
I had the same (AC outlet with small cubby). I ripped it out so I could put this in. Now I have two AC plugs and all the rest!

 

So does anyone know the exact amp hours the fridge puts out?

Im trying to figure out how long my battery/solar panel setup can support my fridge (if indefinitely)

amp hours, watts, voltage and all that stuff is sorta foreign to meh.

 

I am looking for the same info. I figure it will vary depending on conditions but I am looking for a ball park so I can use a removable battery to drop the fridge and battery in a base camp for a couple of days.

 

my current battery has like 98 Amp hours.

My solar panel is like 20W.

Ive ran the fridge for about 24 hours until it threw the e1 code... somethings up i think. Maybe. The solar panel isnt restoring the battery quick enough or something

 

I have not ordered a solar set up yet so I am going to try to get a large enough battery to run for 24 hours in 80-90degree weather during the day and I can charge it back up with the truck or a small generator at night. Hopefully for the next trip I will have a solar set up. I think I am going to bring my Bison cooler for drinks so they only time we are opening the fridge is for food.

 

I want to just be able to recharge the battery in the time it takes for the sun to come up and go back down again

 

Yea that would be ideal to be able to put more charge in then the fridge uses, but solar has it limitations at times. I was looking at a 100w or a 125w set up from this group by but I don't think it will in by the Lonestar Jamboree.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/renogy-solar-group-buy-sign-up-ends-05-15-2016.428196/

 

You'll need enough solar to put in as much as the fridge takes out. Probably somewhere in the 100-150 watt range

 

... I really wish i had known that. my 20w aint gonna do shit in the long run.. need to try and send it back.

 

I still need to double check the fridge amp draw, but until I do or until someone proves my numbers wrong lets all assume the fridge draws around 3.5 amps while the compressor is running in Eco mode.

Most 12v solar panels put out around 17v. So with a 20W panel your max output is around 1.17 amps (20W / 17v = 1.17amps) This is the most your panel will ever put out under the most ideal situations. The angle and direction of your panel plays a huge role in the output of your solar panel. Look online for the correct angle depending on your location and you may also want to consider making a mount for your panel that allows you to track the sun.

It is extremely difficult to calculate the amp/hour draw on a 12v fridge because there are too many varying factors that come into play such as ambient temperature and how many times it's opened and closed and for how long.

 

With the fridge running?

 

Most the tests I've seen on these show right around that: 3.5 amps in Eco and 5.7 amps in Max

 

I'm by no means an expert on this but hopefully this allows some or you to better understand the calculations involved in sizing a battery and or solar for this fridge.

There are a few educated guesses and assumptions in this due to varying factors but let's try and do some math.

If the fridge runs at a duty cycle of 50% (runs 30 mins out of every hour) then the amp hour draw on the fridge would be roughly 1.75Ah. This number may be more or less, but not more than 3.5Ah if the fridge is set on Eco mode.

If you had a 100Ah battery. That would give you roughly 50Ah - 70Ah of useable capacity without throwing an E1 code (low voltage cutoff) or overdischarging your battery. With this size battery and duty cycle you should get roughly 28 hours (based on a safe level of 50% battery depletion) of runtime before your battery needs to be recharged (50Ah/1.75A= 28.57 hours)

In order to size a solar panel large enough to keep up with the fridge indefinitely then it needs to put back more than what the fridge consumes in a 24 hour period. If we go with a 50% duty cycle again then the fridge is going to consume 42Ah in a 24 hour period. (1.75a x 24 hours = 42Ah). So you would need a panel large enough to put back 42A during daylight. Let's say you have 14 hours of daylight (this number will vary depending on location and time of year) then you would need a panel that gives you at least 3Ah (42A / 14 hours = 3Ah)

Let's take 3Ah and times it by 17v which is the average voltage output of a 12v panel. That would give you 51W.

You would need a panel of at least 50W with the most ideal situations/solar regulator/weather/angle/tracking to keep up with this fridge indefinitely. The actual number is probably 2-3 times that because a panel will not put out its peak output for the entire day and fluctuates to much because of cloud cover, panel temperature, panel angle and angle of the sun . There are also some losses from the solar regulator.

Keeping that in mind a panel sized 2-3 times larger than this calculated number (100-150w) should be enough to keep up with the fridge if it was running at 50% duty cycle.

 

So what is the E1 code?

 

I believe E1 is the low voltage cutoff code.