Electrical installation

merl said:
I find I use around 50Ah a day to run my 240V AC Fridge Freezer. It is an A+ (old rating) one and is fairly large, but once down to operating temp, I am not sure how much difference the size actually makes? What I HAVE noticed is how big an effect opening the freezer door makes to energy (i.e. a MASSIVE amount).
I remember you posting a consumption chart for your fridge so when I said "Someone will confirm" TBF I meant 'David will confirm' !!
I remember doing some work for a guy who was a retired butcher and at that time had a commercial fridge and was obsessed with saving energy so he had a strict layout of his fridge items and knew exactly where all the cuts and joints were so he could open the door, grab what he wanted immediately and then get the door closed instantly. He carried that over to his kitchen fridge and much to the dismay of his wife he has a drawing sellotaped to the fridge door showing exactly where everything was to be positioned inside out so it could be found quickly and the door shut ASAP!
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:D
When I load/unload stuff from from fridge or freezer, I have the doors open as little as possible :) I use small baskets in the fridge - 2 per shelf - and the big freezer drawers. They get taken out and door closed immediately :). Then food removed/replaced and back with door opened for as little time as possible.
The freezers with the drawer built in rather than a door are meant to be best, but I'm not sure how well it would work for everyone? could have the drawer door open for ages rummaging around for something at the bottom? :D

PS. The fridge baskets work really well, not least to keep stuff from shifting when on the move, but I found they MUST be open sided for airflow otherwise you don't get proper cooling. I think I bought a pack of baskets from Amazon which were just right for the purpose.
 
When David did his domestic fridge testing it was almost the same energy use as my Waeco 110ltr compressor fridge/freezer. I have looked at a good few 12v units for people since and they do seem to use around the same power and not really size dependent. 12v fridges use around 24a a day and 12v fridge/freezers use around 48a day. One I looked at for a mate was an Alpicool that could be a fridge or a freezer and that was same usage, 24a fridge, 48a as freezer.

I have yet to see one of these some vanlife shout about that can run 10 days on a 100ah battery in winter with no charge source 😁
 
wildebus said:
:D
When I load/unload stuff from from fridge or freezer, I have the doors open as little as possible :) I use small baskets in the fridge - 2 per shelf - and the big freezer drawers. They get taken out and door closed immediately :). Then food removed/replaced and back with door opened for as little time as possible.
The freezers with the drawer built in rather than a door are meant to be best, but I'm not sure how well it would work for everyone? could have the drawer door open for ages rummaging around for something at the bottom? :D

PS. The fridge baskets work really well, not least to keep stuff from shifting when on the move, but I found they MUST be open sided for airflow otherwise you don't get proper cooling. I think I bought a pack of baskets from Amazon which were just right for the purpose.
Click to expand...
We have a 3way, we took all the various measurements and then went to Wilko, the range etc and found some suitable open sided plastic containers. Some needed trimming to size height wise but we've completely filled all the shelves and it does stop the avalanche of stuff falling out after a trip and stuff is easier to access.
 
My small 230v fridge uses a qtr of and amp p hr through a 600w smart soft start inverter, it will go 2 full days with out pulling 2 90ah batts down.
 
Nabsim said:
When David did his domestic fridge testing it was almost the same energy use as my Waeco 110ltr compressor fridge/freezer. I have looked at a good few 12v units for people since and they do seem to use around the same power and not really size dependent. 12v fridges use around 24a a day and 12v fridge/freezers use around 48a day. One I looked at for a mate was an Alpicool that could be a fridge or a freezer and that was same usage, 24a fridge, 48a as freezer.
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There was a very nice Thetford 12V unit (a 2160T I think the model was?) that would have been a direct replacement for my original Thetford 3-way.
I would have liked to get that and I think it would honestly be better than the fridge/freezer I have as I could have controlled the Fridge and Freezer genuinely independantly, and turned off one or the other if not needed.
But I had to ask myself is that flexibility and extra power saving (which would not have been massive) worth the near £1000 extra spending over the very servicable brand new 240V domestic Fridge/Freezer?


Nabsim said:
I have yet to see one of these some vanlife shout about that can run 10 days on a 100ah battery in winter with no charge source 😁
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When I was much more in the VW 'scene', there used to be quite a few people who would say they would have a 100Ah battery and they would be off-grid for a whole weekend at a festival, with a compressor fridge and never had any issues.
What they failed to admit until pressed is they arrived on a Friday night with fully charged batteries and bottles of frozen water in the fridge; they would turn it off overnight and there was nothing left in it that needed cooling by Sunday Lunchtime :) So it was probably running for a total of 24 hours maximum rather than a full weekend :D
 
merl said:
We have a 3way, we took all the various measurements and then went to Wilko, the range etc and found some suitable open sided plastic containers. Some needed trimming to size height wise but we've completely filled all the shelves and it does stop the avalanche of stuff falling out after a trip and stuff is easier to access.
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Just for info, these are the ones I got for mine. They happened to be good for the shelf gaps in mine.
What I find really handy is that they are the perfect size for 3 330ml drink cans, so can keep them cooled in the fridge without bouncing around inside :)
 
trevskoda said:
My small 230v fridge uses a qtr of and amp p hr through a 600w smart soft start inverter, it will go 2 full days with out pulling 2 90ah batts down.
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Have another stab at that post Trev:)
1/4 of a KW? ie 250W I'm guessing?
So your consumption seems similar to David and Neil then Trev at about 50Ah per day yes?
 
merl said:
Have another stab at that post Trev:)
1/4 of a KW? ie 250W I'm guessing?
So your consumption seems similar to David and Neil then Trev at about 50Ah per day yes?
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Must be, i can go 24hrs on two 90ah lead acids, then again i dont use it that much to be honest.
 
Littleolddusty said:
Think that was our first idea then past few weeks Iv gone down the rabbit hole of alsorts of systems !! Now I don’t know my arse from my elbow!! Really all we are most bothered about is powering the diesel heater and like you said it can do that, think that’s the best way forward for us, thanks for pointing it out 👍
What puts you off them? Don’t know anybody that’s had one so I’m clueless as to how good they are.

Mike
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l did my camper last summer and this is what l did:- Main battery Bluetti AC200Max (£1399) which has a 30amp socket wired to a fuse box,
all 12v runs from the fuse box. etc: lights, freezer, Max-fan, and diesel heater, and what other 12v you wish to run. AC is run by a switched extension lead (2.5mm T&E) from 13amp sockets (2000W inverter) on the front of the Bluetti. l also have (3) 200amp solar panels on the roof. Two of which charge the main battery. I also have a Bluetti AC200p as backup as it has a 25amp socket so I can swap across if anything goes wrong. Most of my van is run by electricity, ie microwave and air fryer. Hope this helps
 
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