Is this the END of Camper Van Fridges???
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ต.ค. 2024
- Is this the end of expensive camper van and RV fridges? I'm going to install a domestic fridge in our camper van. The need for expensive 3 way and 12v compressor fridges is questionable. I look at the practical challenges to using a mains powered fridge in our camper van build. Initial research seems to point to it being unnecessary to spend a fortune to get good results.
link to the exact fridge powercity.ie/p...
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UK/EU High spec inverter ebay.to/2Si5nNd
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fuse box from ebay ebay.to/2RTv9XO
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Thank you for this video. It's surprisingly difficult to find detailed information on this topic, which should be common knowledge about people converting vans and the like.
When the 3way fridge in my motorhome (in the UK) died in 2019 I looked into the 3 options (2019 prices):
1. New 3way £1000-1200 as it had to be done by a qualified tech due to the gas.
2. 12 volt compressor £800 plus needs more solar, B2B charger, better battery.
3. Mains fridge £200, plus inverter £175 more solar, B2B charger, battery.
I chose 3 as it was the cheapest option (would have been if I had used the vans original leisure system). If by chance the fridge ever dies (it hasn't after two 4 month 10,000km summer trips in temps up to 40C) it's a cheap replacement.
The 3way was never very good in the summer in France, which could get over 40C. Once over 25 it started to lose interior temperature and at 30 was barely coping. This is an upright 100 litre one. I didn't fancy spending £1200 for a fridge that couldn't even handle heat.
12 volt compressor was by far the most expensive option. Expensive fridge and all that power stuff to run it. The only saving is I could DIY install it.
I bought a high efficiency, quiet (38dB) Beko TSE 1284 from Germany as it had the correct dimensions to go where the 3way was. Didn't need space on the sides or top for venting. Has an old style grid on the rear for cooling which suited the rear vented installation space the 3way had been in. Victron Phoenix 12/800 inverter (just for the fridge) runs it. I leave it on all the time so there's a fridge light. It didn't seem to use much extra power doing that over eco mode.
I have kept the fridge vent fans in the van wall I had with the 3way and they're more audible (when it's hot) than the fridge. The inverter fan comes on for about 1 second when the compressor starts. Otherwise almost silent.
I wasn't sure how much power it would use so I installed a completely separate leisure power system for it so as not to affect the original van system. As it happens I overdid it, but that just means I have excess to run other things which is handy. 100Ah lithium battery, 30A B2B charger, 300 watts solar.
I have 200 watts solar and a 110 Ah lead carbon battery on the original leisure system. I reckon if I'd added the B2B charger and maybe 200 watts solar to that I could have run the fridge on that system.
Just had to work out a way to lock the shelves in place and a bar across the front of each one to retain food, then a simple lock for the door (all turned out to be easy and neat).
Best of all it works properly in any temperature. Frozen stuff stays frozen. It's great.
The only feature I would like is one with electronic thermostat and separate temperature controls for fridge and freezer like a big more expensive fridge has, but I don't think any small fridges have that.
This is absolutely fantastic. Thank you for answering such an obvious yet untouched subject with van conversions. Much appreciation Champ. Switched on paddys, Kudos to you 🍀💪
Really appreciate the the super comment, trying to think outside the box and inside the Budget🇨🇮🇨🇮
@@campervancreations7656 🤣 hero keep at it cheif. Legendary!
Hi. I have an under counter domestic fridge freezer running via my inverter on my Narrowboat, it has worked happily for over 3 years. I modified the thermostat by fitting a digital temp controller which comes with a probe on the end of a 2 m wire, it’s just a case of disconnecting the original thermostat wires from the compressor and replacing with the wires from the digital controller, I can now set the “exact” temp I want and choose how many degrees either side of that before it switches on or off again again. Mine draws approx 60w when running and was £147 from Curry’s as opposed to £560 in 12v from a chandlers 🤷🏻♂️
Very interesting video, will be interesting to see the results of the power consumption. One other item to check is noise, domestic fridges can be a bit noisy, might be annoying to try and sleep with it buzzing. I have no idea of the noise from camper van fridges would be interesting to do a comparison? Keep the videos coming, very enjoyable
Martin, I address the noise in the next video, should be out tmw. Thanks for commenting, appreciate it. Jamie
Interesting for sure, Wish i had seen this a bit earlier and the out come ( That i will be waiting for ) I could have used this for my Truck Camper build that i am almost done, If it works out in the end for you I may just have to do some changes in my build, Thank you for sharing 👍Thumbs up Sir
Thanks camping with clammie, really appreciate the comment, The whole aim was to give people an affordable alternative to some time's very expensive and potentially troublesome camper/RV specific fridges
Great video and very interesting, defo something to consider for myself , Thanks a mill and keep up the awesome work
Thanks Diarmuid, really appreciate the positive comments!!
Very good Jamie. I sometimes put a large tub of ice in ours the night before to bring the temp down. Jump start it if you will. You gave some great information in this video and I'm looking forward to your update.
MB BAR RANCH
Martin, thanks for the comment, glad you found it useful. Up coming soon.
powercity.ie/product/0BCD96
Hope this helps, I'll update the description now.
@JP So, the cheaper price probably mean they use more electricity and a less efficient motor. Just working on a basic principle, my fridge states it's a 75w but actually uses 100w when running the compressor and 15w when on standby so the average consumption is taken by the manufacturer and averaged out to 75w. The ones your looking at are probably similar but as long as its A+ rated they will use a slightly amount of power.
I've had mine on test off the solar panels empty as it's as it worst when empty. Very dull weather for 5 days and it's fine. Plenty of battery available. So trick is, keep fridge full as possible and it uses less energy!!!
You have more than enough to run it. Buy the secondhand one on ebay, even if it only lasts a year or two,its still a long way to £500. You could get 5-10 years out of it and that would be a result!!!
Away to get around the inefficiency of the inverter is to install a relay between the inverter positive and the fridge thermostat. You can run the thermostat as a 12v trigger wire. So the relay will trigger the inverter when the fridge needs power. The only down side is you will have to have an inverter just for the fridge but I think the costs for 12v fridges and rv fridges are way over priced for what you get and I think efficient fridges these days are better
I think this is an excellent idea and I hope it works out👍👏🏽
John, thanks for the comment, appreciate it very much. Should have the conclusion video up in a day or two. Jamie
Next up a side by side American fridge installed with an ice maker in the back of a van 😆
Hardly Bob, going to try a jacuzzi and wet bar in the shower room, in the basement of the van.🤣🤣
Great vids.
Is the fidge still running in the van?
I wonder how domestic fridges hold up to vibration?
And is a smart pure sine wave inverter really needed so it only draws when the fridge demands?
Or do regular inverters work well with it?
Thanks
One of the reasons cited for ‘proper’ Campervan fridges is that they’re more robust, would be interesting to find out
We've had this fridge in the back of the camper and in a small van, it's been moved about, taken in and out of vehicles, turned off, on ,left off and left closed. Bumpy back roads and fast motorway driving. No issue at all. All I will say at this point, I personally feel that this fridge/Freezer has done everything we asked of it and it's stillworking perfectly. If I had endless money and wanted a top of the line fridge, sure I could spend well over a grand on a campervan specific fridge, but I chose not to. Thanks for the comment, if you have any questions, ask away. Jamie
@@campervancreations7656 that’s something to consider for my next build then!
It's rubbish. I have a 12 volt fridge in one motorhome and a standard home fridge in another and there is no difference between the two. In fact the home fridge being a good quality one is possibly even better.
I tied this game too. When it gets to 90 or 100 degrees, and you need to run this for a few days in a row, you'll find why a good 12v fridge is worth it.
Hey Bret, the thing is, if you have enough power to run a 12v fridge then there will be enough to run a mains fridge. I researched the current draw of 12v compressor fridges and compared it to mains and it's only about 10-12% less. Also household fridges are better insulated because they are held to a higher standard. Jamie
@@campervancreations7656 - A quality efficient inverter has a 10-12% overhead for converting to 110v. And these small refrigerators you are mentioning in this video are nowhere near as well insulated as a quality 12volt fridge. Yes, a 'good' 12v fridge costs more, but it is far better insulated, has a far superior compressor that will last much longer (especially in a bumpy moving vehicle), and and is a direct 12v connection so no loss to inversion. Additionally, most of the 12v fridges are 'cooler shaped' which means the cold air doesn't spill out when the lid is opened. As mentioned, I tried this route you are looking at. It seems to work fine at first, but when you go into warmer areas, and are constantly jarring it with bumps, you will find the cooler fridge is a 'lot' more efficient use of power.
Bret, the only issue is for us,a fridge of comparable size to the one I've used is the price. This one was 179 a similar sized one, for camper/mobile is 1100 and I have way too much to spend on other things just now so bearing in mind the van has 2" of high grade PU foam insulation top,sides and bottom and our temperatures rarely go next or near 80 never mind 100, I think we'll manage for now. PS what's your setup in your van/RV
@@campervancreations7656 - I use a HUGE 60 liter ICECO VL60 combo fridge/freezer. It costs 799 and works awesome. The more normal sized ones that are just a fridge or freezer (either/or but not both as the same time as they only have one compartment) are much less expensive and still work very well. (3-400 bucks). The key is to use one with a quality compressor, either Danforth or SECOP. Mine uses the SECOP.
If you buy a quality home fridge they're built just as well as a 12 volt one. They're not easy to find outside Europe as they do smaller fridges than the US or Australia.
I've had the home fridge in my motorhome (a 110 litre upright type) working absolutely fine and at correct fridge freezer temperatures (4 & -18C) in temperatures up to 39C.
Great video 😁
Thanks a million, Jamie
What if you're in the van fulltime with 700 watts of tilted solar/Alternator and 400 amps of batteries?
You have a setup I'd be really jealous of. But seriously, unless your in the article circle, that setup should be well capable. Just watch your levels obviously but also be aware of other loads that may effect consumption. Jamie
@@campervancreations7656 Thanks Jamie, I'm a Corkman living in England in the middle of a conversion and don't fancy paying 400 pound for a 12v mini fridge basically,your video has helped me save a few quid 😅
@@fol3564 brilliant, some really nice fridge freezers available and reasonably good pricing in UK. Our choice of style here was limited but the functionality works brilliant. We'll done on the van life too. Full Tim is a big step.
@@fol3564 a great way to get more efficiency out of a power inverter is to install a relay. If you connect a relay to the fridge thermostat and connect the inverter to the relay as well. The relay will turn the inverter on to run the fridge compressor.
Have you a video showing how to do this? It sounds straightforward enough but I wouldn't want to mess it up @@navigatingthedestination
Hi there I tried the link to purchase the fridge sadly the link doesn't work
I'll check that out Christian and update it. Thanks for the info
My double door uses only 1.5 amps my 6ft freezer only uses 1.2 amps.
Dan, is that mains power or 12v from the inverter? Jamie
@@campervancreations7656 I've been off grid for 30 yrs and the nearest power is 7 miles away. The fridge is a full size house fridge and the freezer can hold two elks. Even on cloudy days I still bring in 20 amps. By morning I'm at 92 to 94 % on the batteries. There 540 amp hrs each and weigh 2000 pounds each. I keep everything in a military emp proof communication shed. The pannels come from san tan solor and are 240 watt pannels that only cost me 750 for 25. So I bought 3 pallets. My shop has 50 pannels and it's well lit up and can run all my equipment. It's a far cry from the old days when I ran 12 volt system. 48 is the way to go.
Not jealous at all, swear, you had me at elks in the freezer. Or as I say, chest freezer that sleeps 2.😂
Times 10 for 120v to 12v or 20 at 220v better to use watts
Hi, do you keep your inverter on at all times?
Yeah, it's on constantly but the fridge is the main item used off it. Jamie
@@campervancreations7656 i see, thank you. Does it make a lot of noise, the fan? Also did you check the power consumption when no power is drawn? Does your inverter work just fine when on for several days? Just bought similar fridge and wondering if I should wire thermostat to 12v and make thermostat switch inverter on and off to save power but I don't want to buy separate inverter to power laptops etc so your solution looks brilliantly easy.
The fan on the inverter only comes on when the fridge compressor is running and even then only when the inverter gets warm does the fan switch on. There is also a method of using the fridges thermostat to switch the inverter on via a relay when it needs to run the fridge motor and then switch off the Inverter once the fridge is back to low temperature. Jamie
Very very interesting! I learnt one hell of a lot! Looking forward to going up a van myself 🤪
Brilliant stuff, Glad it was helpful, really, the aim of this is to help people decide what they can and can not use in a camper and how to go about it. Jamie
Should be no difference full or empty.
There is for the reasons he gave. Also when you open the door of an emptier fridge there's more cold air sucked out and replaced with warm room air.
Sirry folks, this isn't something I'd be prepared to risk. I know I'm probably going to make a few enemies with my comments, but I guess I'll just have to live with that.
Well, the theory sounds really economical and promising, until you (a) corner a bit hard and shed the fridge contents all over the interior of the van - yes, a couple of latches or hasps and staples could resolve that, but I don't see them here, or (b) happen to become involved in a motor vehicle accident. At that latter point you have an exciting opportunity for the crashing vehicle to shred the insulation from your wiring (if that hasn't already occurred) releasing live 240 volts current in a conductive metal shell and thereby possibly making life extremely hazardous for both passengers and emergency workers, alike.
Why would you take this option when you could avoid the cost of the (presumably PSW) inverter entirely, by spending a bit (OK a good bit) more on a 12v/240v compressor fridge which you can also bring down to correct operating temperature the night before you travel by plugging it into the mains power, direct?
I'm not trying to put down your creativity or your desire for an economical solution, but on our outback roads, I can only see this as a disaster going somewhere to happen.
Now, if you desperately must have an inverter, in my view, that should be either switched on the 12v side, or unplugged from the 12v system while travelling.
Your comments are awaited with interest.
I appreciate your comments and your point of view. This video is proof of concept and not the permanent installation. All 230v electrics will be fully protected by MCB's and RCBO's, so should there, heaven forbid, be an accident, all mains power will be automatically isolated. The inverter will be required to run other things as part of the build. Thanks for taking the time to watch!