kenP Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 Hi! Any one out there can give me some guidance? I have a 2.8 Ducato 15 self build. I have fitted a 110 A/h leisure battery and a Zig charger/change over unit giving 4.5 amp. The compressor fridge rated at 1.1 A/h, that I expected to run for a couple of days on a fully charged battery only runs for a day, also when on site with a mains hook up, the Zig will not run the fridge! Can I fit a heavy duty 12 volt charger to charge the leisure battery and run the fridge when on site? What is the best unit? Is the connection simple and will any of the other electrics be effected? Another problem, the electric window on the passenger side has failed. Is this liable to be a mechanical problem or do I need to order a new motor before dismantling, there is a click inside the door when the switch activated so power is getting through. (?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 It sounds to me that you need to provide a lot more information and send it to MMM Interchange George and Val Collings when one of the "Consultants" can admonish you about the error of your ways in chosing a compressor fridge!! Or perhaps give some model numbers of the bits or your email address so that direct contact and diagrams can be exchanged!! ?? C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twooks Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 [QUOTE]Clive - 2006-06-29 9:33 PM can admonish you about the error of your ways in chosing a compressor fridge!! C. [/QUOTE] don't agree, much more efficient and less intrusive, you don't have to cut a hole in the side of the van and then cover it with cheap plastic. B-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 1.1a/h? this sounds much to low for a compressor fridge, smallest I can think of draw around 3.5a/h 'on average' this is proboly at least 10a/h when working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 I knew someone would rise to that bait!! But twooks is right about the amps taken. Basic problem with a compressor fridge is that it does consume lots of ampere hours and all the figures provided by the manufacturers who try and convince you your battery will last a long time don,t make any allowance for the fact that the door gets openned from time to time to take out the cold beer and put the warm beer in. If you camp without hookup for any period of time then the absorbtion fridge running on gas is the No 1 choice. Help it a bit during the hottest part of the day in the south of France with a low powered extractor fan behind the outlet grille if you like. And if you do have a compressor fridge then you really need a cheep plastic grill set anyway to provide somewhere for the heat from the heat exchanger to go to. Or do you want to warm up your van? But without knowing which fridge make and model, which ZIG unit and model its not easy to do any calculations to possibly help the poster. Today I serviced our stallwart Electrolux Absorbtion fridge after 9 seasons of use. ZERO soot but quite a bit of dust. Job took no more than an hour. No motors to go wrong and it runs from the battery when mobile, hookup when connected and gas when not. How can a compressor fridge beat that for flexibility? Twooks, are you the chap who built a motorhome around a fridge?? If so we have met. C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twooks Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 [QUOTE]Clive - 2006-06-30 10:34 PM Twooks, are you the chap who built a motorhome around a fridge?? If so we have met. C. [/QUOTE] hi clive, err no! I'm not a chap - never built a motorhome and think electricity is magic! but we rarely stay anywhere for more than 2 nights and if we do then we use hook up, find the fridge works great beer and wine always cold, and wouldn't go back to the absorption type - too messy - remembering to switch to 12v when travelling - life is too short for such complications! KISS rules XX B-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 Hi twooks, Each to their own. The switches for 12 v and mains are left mermanently ON on our fridge and I light the gas when we stop without hookup. Its the gas lighting I sometimes forget when we park outside the Intermache! Its not uncommon for us to camp without hookup for a week, so battery based cooling becomes non attractive, especially as I want the battery energy for my ham radio gear! My background is in electrical/electronic engineering so I have more faith in the simpler things. I did serve a full 5 year apprenticeship in mechanical engineering as well. The thing I trust the least is software. But thats another debate entirely Happy camping C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 Clive: You are right to distrust software. I used to write it for a living and I was always suspicious of it, even of my own stuff. However, it was the computer users that I really distrusted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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