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Old 07-30-2020, 02:07 PM   #1
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Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: FL sun
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Easy Mod - add fans to circulate your fridge fans= 12v or 120v

With this mod you can add the fans and they can run on 120 volt or 12 volt. The fans run off of USB which is 5 volts. So if you are off grid you can use a cigarette lighter car adapter to run your USB like charging you phone in your car. If you are on grid run a normal cell phone charger from your house and plug the USB into that.

On grid/Generator:
Your fridge is already plugged into a 120 volt outlet to run the "AC" electrical option of the fridge. You can use that outlet to connect a normal wall charger to run the USB/fans. See the pic below with my phone charger.

Off grid:
You have to hook up a cigarette lighter outlet to the 12 volt side of the fridge. Grab a car charger plug it into your new outlet and away you go. I haven't done the 12v outlet yet bc I'm not off grid but get a volt meter and hind your large POS and neg wire coming to your fridge.

How well do they work:
Each fan has another female USB so you could keep Daisy chaining more and more fans. I think 6 was the limit they have I'm the description. The fans have really good reviews and are used for many things - computer, theater cabinets, gaming consoles, etc. You can look at the pictures in the reviews section for the fan and see what people use them for. Why spend $100 plus for an RV specific fan kit that uses way more power vs spending $11.

My review:
So far I've had them in my fridge for a couple months and I just had the wire coming out of the bottom of the fridge door. I got a little tired of having to push harder on the door to squish the seal around the wire. I put an Acurite dual temperature sensor setup into the fridge. I noticed a 20 degree difference from the top and the bottom. I put one fan blowing down near the left back because the shelves made it easier to blow cold air from the fins. See the pic below how there is a gap about as wide as the fan to the left of the milk cartons. Down the back right side it's easier to pack stuff like a baking soda box and bags in the back. So, then I added one fan blowing up on the front right side because on the right it's harder to stack stuff up tight against the front of the fridge/door, otherwise stuff would fall out. This gives it a circular motion to the air flow. After the 2 fans I noticed 32 degrees in the bottom of the fridge. vs 52 degrees. Our vegetables don't go bad in 2 days at the bottom or frieze at the top. I had to turn my fridge up in temperature two levels. Set up the fans to create a circular flow vs spending $100+ to waste power with these kits that just attach to the fins and blow air straight at the fins not down. I also chose these fans because the power switch can lower power usage off grid and you can set them on high when you are on grid. Note If you have a newer fridge with auto defrost, then at 3pm turn it off and then back on to set the defrost cycle to be during the following night.

Wire through drip hose to get power:
So I sent a marine-grade electrical wire through the drip tray hose. Use marine grade so that the wire is tinned. The tin around the copper wire prevents corrosion especially and mainly at the connectors. Also, at all of the connections use dielectric grease. There will be moisture inside the fridge and outside of the fridge through the back vent - especially if you're driving. This is why you would use marine-grade connectors that seal, including heat shrink that has glue inside of it (adhesive lined). I cut the USB off of the fan but left a 6 inch pigtail of wire coming off the USB. The wires inside are red and black which make things easy. Once I slid my extension wires through the drain hose I connected a marine grade connector to the wire, then one on the USB pigtail, that way I could swap the USB if I needed to but regardless I have a good extension wire going into the fridge. I added a connector inside the fridge and then to the fan wire pig tail. If the fans dies I can quickly unplug them and shut the door. Then add a new connector to the new fan and quickly connect it with the door open vs having to wire it up and heat shrink with the door open. You want adhesive lined connectors. It's what they use in cars at the factory and if you use them in a boat or RV you will never get corrosion vs your dad's old wire job that left you stranded on the water :( Marine grade spade or barrel connectors will work good too if they have glue in the heat shrink portion and are tinned on too of the spade parts. I chose to wire on connectors to the USB side so I am not ever splicing wires outside in the rain, snow, or sun. Water resistant connectors used for trolling motors or car headlights work good too. Put dielectric grease on all metal in the spade or trolling motor connectors.

Future proof:
The wiring is just red and black two wire through the whole setup not like a computer USB that has data. So you can use USB ends from USB fans or other USB powered devices. You can use any computer fan if this company goes out if business. Just add a spade or trolling motor connector and connect it to your drip hose extension wire.

Fan size:
I went with two 40 mm fans. I chose that based on the size of my fridge. I have a smaller fridge - Norcold model 982. Especially if I'm off grid with the fan running 24/7. I also don't have a double wide two door or something large. The 80 mm has a .22 watt draw so the 40mm is even less x 2 fans. however if you are off grid I don't believe you would want to use the 80mm 24/7 if the 40mm works and doesn't take up much room. You also need to have enough room for all that cfm to transport around the fridge and leave a gap big enough down each side for the 80mm.


Why wire like this vs to the light switch inside the fridge:
Some people wire it directly to the fridge light. Why would you turn on a fan to blow all the cold air out of the fridge when you open the door, and turn off the fan when the door is closed and the light goes out? Also you can't easily disconnect it vs walking to the back of your fridge. It makes no sense.

Ultimately you want flexibility and easy. Setup your drip hose wire seperate from everything else. Then it is just an extension cable and not hard wired into anything. If anything fails the extention cable can stay in place and you can make new fan or USB setups to attach to it.


Links to parts if you don't have them:


40mm fans
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CNJ4DYX..._FYXiFbTJGZ5PB

80mm fans (.22watt draw at 5v)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G059G86..._5ZXiFb27YSATY


Real marine wire - It's the same west marine carries for half the price:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000NUXB0I..._G9XiFbEFH8SSW

100% need adhesive lined heat shrink, best invention since slice bread:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DFG8QB7..._qkYiFbJ5S099C

Adhesive lined marine grade tinned spade connectors:
Female- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01221HKWA..._XhYiFbERWJHZ8

Male- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012BS4XEW..._ngYiFbD6TNKFA

If you just want barrel connectors vs get shrink to connect you connectors to the USB or fans
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0121ZVXW0..._pnYiFbDZDS09B

Make you own spade connector end on these quick disconnect plugs like I did. See the pic with the plug connected to the usb just below the Samsung phone adapter.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MYTF2NU..._4oYiFbYY5NCNN

Dielectric grease - permatex won't drip off like thin home Depot brands do:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000AL8VD2..._4wYiFbRT70ZFC

Liquid electrical tape to seal up around trolling motor connectors or anything really. I out it at the end of heat shrink to add stain relief and encase the adhesive lined heat shrink glue fails
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FPAN2K..._NCYiFbQ0DNQWQ


However you choose to wire it, use dialectric grease, adhesive lined heat shrink/ connectors, and tinned wire/connectors and you won't have corrosion issues. And slop everything with dielectric grease! Trust me I have never had to clean a ground or rewire a boat after I wired it correctly the first time. Adhesive lined seals, heat shrink adds a strain relief so it's closer to a wire harness vs just a connector. Connectors alone will vibrate and the wire will break off at the hard connection. That's why NASA uses harnesses not connectors. Give your wires strain relief! I have rewired 3 saltwater boats in the past couple decades and they all never had corrosion. The battery terminals or connectors should have no metal exposed to the air. The clear grease works great for batteries also, you don't need the colored Auto grease. Click image for larger version

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Old 07-30-2020, 06:42 PM   #2
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There is a much easier way to do this, just get a 12V computer fan and tap off the 12V supply line to the interior lamp. The refrigerator always needs 12V to power the control board, and the RV converter handles converting 120V to 12V when plugged in.
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Old 07-31-2020, 03:04 PM   #3
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For the outside fan add one these and it only comes on when you need it.

https://www.amazon.com/Emerson-3F05-...=fsclp_pl_dp_3
Quote:
Originally Posted by Isaac-1 View Post
There is a much easier way to do this, just get a 12V computer fan and tap off the 12V supply line to the interior lamp. The refrigerator always needs 12V to power the control board, and the RV converter handles converting 120V to 12V when plugged in.
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Old 07-31-2020, 06:56 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Isaac-1 View Post
There is a much easier way to do this, just get a 12V computer fan and tap off the 12V supply line to the interior lamp. The refrigerator always needs 12V to power the control board, and the RV converter handles converting 120V to 12V when plugged in.
This is the lazy way with lower wire guage that can damage the circuit board drawing another watt+ off the bulb circuit coming from the circuit board. My way will never cause a problem = direct power! If you use the large fans it will burn it up for sure.

What are you going to do 5 years down the road when the fan goes bad. Clean out your fridge and crimp some barrel connectors onto the one inch bulb wires? Make that 1 year with moisture corrosion using crimps. Don't cause a fire with too much draw off the bulb circuit.
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Old 10-03-2020, 05:52 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark_T View Post
For the outside fan add one these and it only comes on when you need it.

https://www.amazon.com/Emerson-3F05-...=fsclp_pl_dp_3
I didn't add an outside fan and I'm getting 30 degrees in the middle of the fridge on the lowest level. I do blow out dust in the burning chamber with compressed air like I saw on youtube and that gained 10 degrees on the 1st day I got it. I'm comfortably running high 30s on level 2 out of 10.
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Old 10-03-2020, 08:12 AM   #6
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Stewfish I really doubt the extra 0.071 amps that my Arctic F12 Silent fan draws https://www.arctic.ac/en/F12-Silent/ACFAN00027A is going to burn out the circuit board that feeds the interior refrigerator light, which itself probably draws around 0.5 amps, since the vast majority of the time the fan is running the light is off. Also the wiring is done with clip on piggyback connectors, to the back side of the door light switch assembly, similar to these https://smile.amazon.com/DZS-Elec-Co.../dp/B0776PY5JK so if it does die in another year or two (it has been running for almost 4 years now, and has a 6 year warranty), it will be a simple matter of putting on a new lead and plugging in the connectors, total time 5-10 minutes, which can likely be done without unloading more than a couple of items off the shelf by the light.


p.s. by wiring it to the back side of the light switch the fan gets power full time, so runs with the door open or closed.
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