Wiring to refrigerator?

[user 423]

if you think about it you probably never had a temp readout on your home refrigerator and you got along without it just fine.

Maybe not so much now but in the past refrigerators were one of the best built and most reliable appliances. Probably not true of these cheap mini-fridges. During the summer the readout on mine would vary by large swings so I regularly checked with a handheld IR thermometer. On very hot days I would need to adjust the setting down to keep things cold and sometimes by morning the temps would then be lower than required for food storage.

 

[highdesertranger]

slow2day that was my experience with the mini fridges too. dang power hog in hot weather and when it cooled down things inside would start freezing inside. highdesertranger

 

[user 423]

^
With my limited budget I'll first try the less expensive route. If I had been able to stay in higher elevations and hadn't needed to head to the Midwest in July because of medical reasons, it wouldn't have been a problem. It wasn't too big of a deal to adjust the temps but like I've said, a thermometer is required.

 

[DannyB1954]

If the inverter is off, how would the fridge circuitry/thermostat be able to operate?

you have two options. If you are familiar with wiring diagrams, you can intercept the wires going up to the thermostat down where the compressor is. the other option is to remove the thermostat. The thermostats in most refrigerators pop out easy for replacement. This lets one to get at the wires. One would connect the two wires going to the thermostat together, (bypassing the thermostat).  Then connect two new wires to the thermostat and run them out to the inverter.
Now pop out the on off switch of the inverter and attach the wires from the refrigerator to that switch. You can remove the inverter switch if you like and just connect the two pairs of wires to each other. When the thermostat calls for cooling it closes a switch which now turns on the inverter.  Because the wires that used to go to the thermostat are connected, the compressor will start. When the thermostat is happy that it is cold enough, it's switch opens. This turns off the inverter.
If you left the switch to the inverter attached, you would turn this switch to the off position.

If this does not make sense, I will draw a picture if you need it. If you do understand what I said, I will be lazy and not draw an illustration.

 

[DannyB1954]

I should have added a safety note. Before working on the refrigerator or inverter disconnect it form any power source.

 

[user 423]

^
OK, that makes sense now. No need for the diagram.That is a nice mod to save power if it's necessary to make a longer run with AC.

It's been a while but I've worked on electrical equipment a bit and I'm a stickler for electrical precautions to protect equipment and myself.

Thanks for the input!

 

[ByeBye]

I used Anderson connectors on my fridge. Spliced them onto my AC power brick as well in case I need to use it.

And my freezer compartment is 3 times the size of refrigerated compartment