Grape solar getting into the fridge game?

[VanLifeCrisis]

They seem to have happy customers in the solar arena, i wonder if the fridge will work well. it seems like a good price for a pretty decent size.
http://www.amazon.com/Grape-Solar-G...bs_265_32?ie=UTF8&refRID=1874Y8JMEQXJ0JYQ85QG

it is made in china but i rarely hold that against anyone these days, very few things arent. Seems like a newer product so not many reviews on amazon to judge.

 

[ZoNiE]

Nice price, but I'd want a 24VDC option.

 

[highdesertranger]

yeah 2 reviews, 1 five star and 1 one star. nice price, but remember it looks like you are going to be one of their lab rats. I kinda of found it disturbing when someone asked what the current draw was the person replied that when they hooked it up to their meter they stated it was 12v. obviously they didn't know about amp/hrs. or even watts. highdesertranger

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

Looks like home depot is selling it for 100 more, no reviews there though either. :\

Walmart has it for same price, 1 positive review. They offer a 3 yr service plan for 40 bucks, not sure how that works.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

I almost want to get it (with the walmart extended warranty) just to review it lol. But alas, it would be 100 more than the dometic 18 (tho it is quite a bit larger), so i might just have to pass. Dometic seems to be one of the highest rated of the lower priced smaller units.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

well dometic was out of stock for 4 months, so i took a chance and went with the grape solar. I got the walmart extended warranty option for 3 years, tho oddly it is called the power tool warranty...i hope they arent trying anything fishy there...

Ill review it on my blog when i get it all sorted.

 

[SternWake]

I hope it meets your needs and expectations.  Do you have an ammeter to see how much current it consumes?



I have a friends ARB fridge for a week or so while i make him a portable power pack for his truck.  I am not opening the lid much, and have it set at 36F, and at the 24 hour mark it consumed just under 14AH in ~65f average ambient temps.  This is more than my Vitrifrigo stand up fridge.

His draws 60 watts on initial cool down and then 45 watts when the compressor cycles there after.  Mine just draws 32 watts as I removed the resistor from the t-stat circuit.
His compressor runs for longer periods but with longer down times  Like on for 20 minutes, off for nearly 2 hours on one cycle that I noticed.  Mine comes on for shorter periods but more often.

The ARB  fridge does have the extra insulation cover on it.  My VF fridge has a lot more insulation surrounding it on 5 sides, with the door being the weak link.

You used to have a rather large Dorm fridge on an inverter right?

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

yes, im expecting a lot better performance lol. it was 3 times the cu ft of this one. It would have a big startup, like 1 sec 500, then 300, then slowly drop down to 70-90 watts. Its interesting, i tested it on house ac current, and its startup was less, and it quickly dropped to 45-50watt draw...so there is quite a difference between dc with inverter.

i just have a volt meter, and of course kill o watt for ac.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

i guess i do have one? its this lol
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B7CS3UY?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage
i used it to check voltage on battery...i also have http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EYZS6R6?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage that i picked up but never used yet

 

[66788]

I hope it meets your needs and expectations.  Do you have an ammeter to see how much current it consumes?



I have a friends ARB fridge for a week or so while i make him a portable power pack for his truck.  I am not opening the lid much, and have it set at 36F, and at the 24 hour mark it consumed just under 14AH in ~65f average ambient temps.  This is more than my Vitrifrigo stand up fridge.

His draws 60 watts on initial cool down and then 45 watts when the compressor cycles there after.  Mine just draws 32 watts as I removed the resistor from the t-stat circuit.
His compressor runs for longer periods but with longer down times  Like on for 20 minutes, off for nearly 2 hours on one cycle that I noticed.  Mine comes on for shorter periods but more often.

The ARB  fridge does have the extra insulation cover on it.  My VF fridge has a lot more insulation surrounding it on 5 sides, with the door being the weak link.

You used to have a rather large Dorm fridge on an inverter right?

I have the 47 qt ARB fridge and it runs 24/7 on 205 watts of solar charging a 115AH AGM battery.  I also run CPAP at night, RoadPro fan, and MaxxAir roof vent as well, as needed.   No problems with the system keeping up to the current draw.   I wake up with the meter showing 12.6 or 12.7 volts, then I'm fully charged by 1:00 PM.

The Grape fridge looks very small.

 

[SternWake]

I'm not sure which ARB model I am running at the moment but 47 quart seems about right. It is a well made unit.

VanLifeCrisis, that watt meter you got is very similar to the one I use. There are a bunch of clones to the 'watts up' meter. Mine are the GTpower version, and i've ordered another one for the current project I am working on. They only count upto 64 or 68 amp hours before flipping back to zero, and only can count current flowing in one direction since there is a load and source side to the leads.

I have replaced the thin cheesy 12awg aluminum leads in favor of 8awg tinned marine wire on both. This improved accuracy when measured against my clamp on and shunted ammeters. but it is still incapable of reading currents under say 0.08amps.

Soldering the 8awg wires right to the circuit board requires some skills and modification to the casing. I did so because i put the meters inline on my 40 amp charger, and the 12awg wire got too hot to touch at 40 amps continuous. Now they only get warm and the unit itself stays cool at 40 amps.

I also use 45 amp Anderson powerpole connectors which allow me to employ this meter just about anywhere, and do so.

They are not 100% accurate, but pretty close and good enough, and a heck of a lot of tool for under 20$.

The 30 amp anderson powerpoles are much easier to install on wire upto 12awg. but 12 is a very tight fit

I really have to shoehorn 8 awg into the 45 amp connectors. The 15/30 and 45 amp versions will mate with each other.

The 45's require more crimping skill or their special 40$ crimper. I've started soldering them after crimping.

Here is a link to the 45's
http://www.amazon.com/AMP-Anderson-..._sim_hi_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1B5PW21PNE5V4F3SE8JM

I put a connector in a ciggy plug extension cord So i can basically run any device through my meter easily, and it is what I am doing on the ARB at this time. However Ciggy plugs/receptacles waste battery power as heat to some degree, so i eliminate them and use the Anderson powerpoles wherever possible.

The grape fridge looks like a rebadged other brand i've seen before but cannot remember the name of.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

the grape isnt as small as it looks i think, its around 30qts....smaller than a whynter but bigger than the dometics its price range. the same size dometic is 200 more. I actually liked small size for my planned usage, so i might have to redesign my project.
So putting that blue meter in line from fuse box to fridge should give me an idea on usage right? Ill just live with 12 awg wires, i think the draw will be a lot less for this

 

[SternWake]

the grape isnt as small as it looks i think, its around 30qts....smaller than a whynter but bigger than the dometics its price range.  the same size dometic is 200 more.  I actually liked small size for my planned usage, so i might have to redesign my project.
So putting that blue meter in line from fuse box to fridge should give me an idea on usage right?  Ill just live with 12 awg wires, i think the draw will be a lot less for this

DG, the watt meter has a small Shunt on the (-) lead, and this is the part which counts current.  So While you can put it on the fuse block, the grounds have to pass through this shunt in the meter for it to measure the current.  So Some minor reconfiguring will be required for it to measure everything that goes through your fuse block.

Or you can just put it inline on the power cord for the fridge and only count the fridge current, just make sure to figure out which is the (-) and (+) and do not reverse them when inserting it.

The powerpoles are extremely useful.  I love putting the watt meter only on my fridge, or my DC to DC laptop power supply.
Right now i have it in between a new Lifeline AGM battery and my Van's electrical System as I load test the battery.  My own battery is removed from all house loads

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

I think I get it, Ill report back what i find, just waiting for its arrival

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

It arrived today. It was a little bigger than i imagined, and pretty heavy. Decided to stick in the van and plug it up. Not a very great start, i could hear the compressor start up for a few seconds then kick off. It tried this over an over. It was a little noisy too, like a metallic rattle, even though i was on a flat parking lot (manual said to level it if its noisy). I left it on for about 40 mins to test tho per the instructions, maybe this was normal? The temperature actually went up a degree.

I knew that my batteries were pretty much toast and there was no sun to help out here, so i figure it may be tripping the low voltage cut off when it goes to suck the juice it needs but im not positive, i thought its cutoff was in the 10v range and I know it wasnt going that low on the batteries because my charge controller light would go red. I thought maybe voltage drop, so i used the cord with my meter, but it was the same as at the battery. I did have a pair of clippers for my hair also fail to run lately, but they worked on ac, so maybe its the same deal here.

It actually comes with an AC cord/option, so I took it in to work with me, and stuck it on ac to see if the fridge would work at all. It fired up much more quietly and ran steady. Its dropped 30 degrees in 22 minutes. So the thing does at least work. I'm suspecting my batteries.

I was planning to buy a new battery anyway, but if i do now that will leave me pretty broke for next 2 weeks. :\

 

[SternWake]

The fridge not working on 12V is definitely low voltage related, and here comes a ciggy plug related rant.

Ok long story short. They suck.

Combine voltage drop on the circuit to the fridge with LOW batteries and there is not enough voltage for the compressor to fire up. Either the compressor controller is trying to protect the battery from over depletion, or it simply cannot start the compressor if it is only seeing 10.1 volts.

The ARB I am currently running, the other night, when I was load testing the battery, and voltage dropped to 12.1v, the ARB would not turn on and just flashed the red warning light as temperatures internally rose.

ARB has a high medium and low level of battery protection. The lowest protection level was designed to stop the fridge at 10.1 volts.

Well my Ciggy receptacles are wired with 10awg. This means there was over 2 volts drop on the Ciggy plug cable to the input of the fridge. Good for the battery, bad for the food inside the fridge.

When I hooked the ARB to my 12.8v battery, it started right up again.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

It says in the manual, cutout at 10.4. Cut in at 11.8.

Its also stops running at 11.8 im thinking, which my batteries probably are hitting under the load. :\ Guess ill be eating light this week...but hey at least i can save on eating out? lol

 

[SternWake]

It says in the manual, cutout at 10.4.  Cut in at 11.8.  

Its also stops running at 11.8 im thinking, which my batteries probably are hitting under the load. :\   Guess ill be eating light this week...but hey at least i can save on eating out?  lol

  Ciggy plugs/ receptacles and their wiring are so inherently poor, that even if you batteries are 12.4v, you might be suffering 2 volts of drop at the compressor controller when the compressor tries to kick on.   I am getting 2 volts of drop on the ARB, and its ciggy plug design appears more robust than most, and my Ciggy receptacles are wired short and Fat.  The 2 volts of drop in in the plug and the 18 awg provided by ARB.

99% of the time, when a 12v compressor fridge does not work on DC , it is due to too much voltage drop on its wiring.

If you were able to run thicker wire from compressor controller right to battery terminals it would run on your weak ass batteries, but the long length of provided wire on the ciggy plug, and the unknown length and gauge of wire to your Ciggy receptacle from battery, combined with your old abused sulfated and chronically undercharged batteries, the poor fridge has no chance of starting on battery power.

  I'd not even ask the fridge to try and run on battery power as you have it, until the DC circuit leading to the compressor controller was able to hold the controller head to within 0.3v of battery voltage.

I use about 3 feet of 10 gauge for my Fridge, one way.  The low voltage battery protect feature never is an issue when the fridge is in my cabinet hooked to this short fat cable.  but If I use a more distant connector to run the fridge, the Fan just turns on and off, the compressor never fires up.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

I have about 3 feet to my receptacle too, about a foot from battery to the fuse box 10awg, and then 2 feet 12awg to receptacle. I tried to keep everying together in one place....ill probably have to rewire things now. The cord they provide looks puny compared to either :\ I don't want to do anything that would void warranties, so I have to use their plug.

How much space do you give your fridge for ventilation in your cabinet. The manual says 6 inches clearance all around but that seems fairly ridiculous in a van. I guess i could cut holes in the cabinet and add fans.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

Here are some pics i took, drinks added for scale. A large juice bottle will fit, but only fit upright if you remove top basket entirely. Still lots of room in there, even with it on its side.



I do wish the lid had a proper handle to lift it open. The side handles are solid, and spring loaded