Community Forums

nothermark · 06-28-2016, 06:12 PM

The main thing the Norcold suit proves is that there is a lawyer for every cause.

I may or may not know way more than you about refrigeration. That includes using gas absorption for cooling. You cannot sell me on a compressor refrigerator for RV use. It is just a minor annoyance to watch folks who go that way blather about how much better that choice must be because they made it. It is not a one size fits all world even for refrigeration.

Mr_D · 06-28-2016, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nothermark

FWIW That is why I am saying to go for it. A pure sine will be less efficient that a modified sine in the conversion because of the filtering losses in the "pure sine". Another problem is cyclic loads like the defrost heater schedule is not generally known by the user so cannot be accommodated or adjusted.

But motors running on a MSW inverter take more power. The PSW will let the motor run cooler and take less power. All in all the PSW is more efficient.

nothermark · 06-29-2016, 04:21 AM

FWIW "But motors running on a MSW inverter take more power. The PSW will let the motor run cooler and take less power. All in all the PSW is more efficient. " Agree MSW takes more power at the motor. The overall efficiency of the conversion will be still be worse with a PSW. The point is that running AC motors off DC has a heavy overhead. One of the reason the Samsungs are a preferred unit is that they convert the incoming AC to DC then operate off the DC. Conversion loss is lower and the motor always gets what it wants.

boyland · 06-29-2016, 06:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beau388

Frigs are computed on running 1/4 of the time or 6 hours a day with an indoor temp of 76 degrees. An 11 cuft Whirlpool will use 5.7 amps to run and about 14 amps to start at 120 volts on a pure sign wave inverter. Figure about a 20% increase in amperage use if it is powered by a modified sine wave.

I have the 11cf whirlpool,

In other post i wrote about the install.

I have watched this for a couple months now, i have never seen the unit use more than 2amp so 5.7amps to 14amp is way beyond my real world results.

Your alternator will produce 1560 watts. You should be fine. As I stated i run off three never have issues in the past 3 months. I did put in the smaller 12 volt batteries why i did this i do not know when i bought them at menards i pickup up the smaller ones by accident planned on getting the larger ones but they have worked fine.

boyland · 06-29-2016, 06:13 AM

one other thing when i had the never cold pos i never used less than 3amps and raised to 5 amps often.

Read my other post you will never regret the switch I have made a ton of mods to our motorhome, i would say without a doubt the most useful and best was replacing the never cold.

catonine · 06-29-2016, 07:34 AM

My Southwind is a gas motorhome, a Ford V10 engine. There is no place to add extra batteries that I can see, unless I go to a lot of trouble and expense. Like I said, I am only interesting in being able to run the fridge off these batteries and the Magnum 1200 Invertor, and the alternator keeping batteries charged. Based on what I have seen here, that is very doable. My Norcold has and is working as it should. However, we camp mostly in high temp, high humidity areas and this puts a strain on the Norcold to "try" and keep up. I like these fridges, but they are more expensive than thy are worth as far as I am concerned. Also, Norcold has been sticking bandaids on its problem and not fixing the real problem. I will use my Norcold as long as it functions properly. When it fails or needs expensive repair, it is trash. Boyland, you have the fridge that I am looking to use as a replacement. I think it is a 11.3 or 11.7 CI unit. Anyway, everyone has their own opinions about Norcold and the others. But they need to FIX their problems, not half way do it. I have had and used Norcolds since the late 70's and have liked them. Their 1200 series has not been there best product as far as I am concerned. When you have to buy a $300.00 door to replace a $25.00 seal, that sucks. Thanks everyone, you have all been a big help and I appreciate your input.

boyland · 06-29-2016, 09:00 AM

i will say this i had 3 dometic units prior to never cold. Never had a single issue when them keeping up not freeze or icing up the box and you could put warm stuff in and have it cool in a reasonable time.

Never cold was horrible from day 1 never worked replaced gaskets, burner assemble, recalls and so on never worked well before replacement i would say it was bare minimum to keep food safe nothing else and you could never put in a 12 pack of warm soda without risking spoiling the other food in the thing.

Just my experience

**TonyDi** · 06-29-2016, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catonine

Mr D, book says 130 Amp. Thanks

I think you've left a decimal point out. That is more amps then any pedestal can supply and at 15,000 watts more then your generator can supply.

twinboat · 06-29-2016, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonyDi

I think you've left a decimal point out. That is more amps then any pedestal can supply and at 15,000 watts more then your generator can supply.

Maybe a little confusion here.

The 130 amp statement was in reference to the engine mounted alternator.

rjsupersonic · 06-29-2016, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boyland

i will say this i had 3 dometic units prior to never cold. Never had a single issue when them keeping up not freeze or icing up the box and you could put warm stuff in and have it cool in a reasonable time.

Never cold was horrible from day 1 never worked replaced gaskets, burner assemble, recalls and so on never worked well before replacement i would say it was bare minimum to keep food safe nothing else and you could never put in a 12 pack of warm soda without risking spoiling the other food in the thing.

Just my experience

I have to agree, we had a Norcold....aka Nevercold, now we have a Dometic and it is way better although we do get icing on the freezer fins. I am in the process of adding some ventilation fans.

catonine · 06-30-2016, 06:53 PM

The book says it is 130AMP alternator.

catonine · 06-30-2016, 06:54 PM

The two house batteries are not Interstate as I thought, they are Exide GC-135 batteries.

catonine · 06-30-2016, 06:55 PM

And the batteries re 6 volt

DrDaveMA · 07-01-2016, 07:45 AM

OP stated they want to run a residential refer while driving. The biggest issue is IF they have cooled the refer BEFORE they depart on their trip. Initial cooling takes the most power, cool it down (let the freezer get cold enough to freeze ice) then you are consuming the least amount of power. Depending upon the way their battery bank is set up two 6 v in series or 2 12 in parallel will determine the capacity of the battery bank, but with a 130 amp alternator keeping the bank charged while they drive, they should have no problems. OP did not mention, or I missed it, if their coach is set up to recharge the battery bank while they drive, I have assumed it is.

On the MSW or PSW, I have an experience with using a MSW. I have an Amana refer, originally we had a MSW inverter. The Amana has a control board that did not like the MSW and we burned up 2 control boards before the manufacturer understood the problem and increased the wattage of 1 resistor. Since we replaced the board we were good for several years. Since then we have replaced then inverter with a PSW unit and we have not had problems either. In my humble opinion PSW is the better choice, no issues.