Solar Powered Fridge

I built and tested my solar system to power a fridge (for now).
I mounted two 100W solar on prinsu roof rack.


My power pack include Victron Solar controller, 100Ah battery, fuses and switches.


The power pack was mounted on a 1/2" plywood (for now, will upgrade to 3/4" if I install rails for the fridge).


The fridge was mounted using straps to bed stiffeners and some anchor on the plywood using T nuts.


The complete write up is here. https://ylemwind.wordpress.com/solar-powered-fridge/

So far I tested in cloudy days in Yosemite last Xmas. It was too cold to see how much power the fridge uses. So far so good. I did not have to pack ice and coolers for my beers.


Will update more later. Hope it helps you guys.

The noise with solar panel is loud.

 

I've got the same fridge, thing is awesome! Nicely done!

 

Cool. Any chance of a bird's eye view of the bed with everything installed?

 

Thanks. I just have it for couple months. How is yours holding up ?

 

Really well. I use it full time as beer fridge in the back room when not camping. The drain plugs are super nice for cleaning it out when it needs it. I love how little power it draws considering it's size. "No ragrets" so far, been about a year.

 

It is pretty simple. The power pack is front right of the truck bed, couple inches from the edge in case rain may get in. The fridge is way back near the gate. I may install a rail system later. But for now it is easy to get to my beers without open the gate of the truck.

 

Looks like a great setup, but what does the math look like for this- fridge specs vs solar panel specs? I ran into a block with doing it with my fridge (which is nowhere as efficient as the one you used) and I ended up not haing enough room on my roof with my soft top RTT and basket rack for what my panel size needs would have been- so I just have a 50watt panel mounted off the side to keep the 2 house batteries topped off when we are parked for a couple days and have a third spare battery to also help keep the fridge going that long as well (it runs off 2 of the three batteries and the main is only for the engine).

I used the specs from your refrigerator to run the same calculation I did for mine, and it looks like this:

Refrigerator specs: .635 KWh per day = 635 watts per day

100watt solar panel produces on average about 350Watts per 8-hour day x 2 = 700watts per day

So you’re good with the two panels. They are producing about an extra 65 watts over the draw of the refrigerator per day.

 

Thanks. My setup is 200W of solar on roof rack, expandable to 300W with the third one leaning on the windshield or on top of the diamond back cover (have not tested this 300W option, yet). The fridge draws about 3A with freezer on the small section and fridge on the other one. I have not collected data on how much it draw over time on this setup. My system is not connected to the truck battery, completely stand alone. Last Xmas, it draw about 20% in about 14 hours (estimate) over night. It was pretty cloudy, so I did not get much out of the solar. On the drive back home I was able to get about 300Wh from mostly cloudy sky in about 5-6 hours.

When I first got the fridge, I ran it off a Togo power 650. It used about 50% in about 12 hours (over night, at about 70F ambient temp). The 100W panel was able to keep up, but I had to till it to get max output. If it were to lay flat (like on top of the truck), I could only get about 40-50 W out of it. This was not good enough. That was why I installed the Prinsu rack with two 100W panels. I thought about install on the diamond back cover, but it would be hard to position the truck so the cab would not cast shadow on the panels. Beside, I may use it as a sleeping platform and/or hauling stuff.

Yes, I will have to test in hot environment. I a sure my 200 W with 4-5 hours of good sun shine should be able to keep up. The only worry right now is the built up heat under the closed diamond back cover in summer time when I am off hiking somewhere away from camp. This will make the fridge run harder and my cause the battery to overtemp and shut down.

 

I ran some numbers and updated my original post, it looks like you should be OK! Get an insulated cover for your refrigerator when hot weather hits, that’ll help a lot!

 

Can you rig up solar powered fans to vent the bed through your cubby doors? Maybe something you can put in just when you’re off hiking.

I thought about making one for my front slider using a little bank of old 12v computer fans.

 

The problem here is the heat exchanger of the fridge. It won't be able to "cool" itself down with high ambient temperature.

 

Yeah, venting your bed is the answer… the insulative cover I have is open where the heat exchanger vents are. It makes the refrigerator work a lot less and when you take the cover off the sides of it are cool.

whenever we have a long power outage at home, we wrap our refrigerator with sleeping bags and tie them off with rope, it really extends the time that it keeps the food cold inside, and when we take the sleeping bags off, even the outsides of the refrigerator are very cold. I do the same thing with our ice chest when we’re camping.

 

Thanks. I was thinking about building a simple ventilation hole on the cubby. The problem I see right now is the dust and maybe mud coming up when I drive.

 

yeah, I’d only use it for when you’re not driving.

I understand what you mean about the differences between the inside refrigerator temp and ambient temperature on the efficiency of our electric refrigerators - adding extra insulation to the refrigerator really helps make up for that loss of efficiency and lowers the drive time the exchanger needs to run.

 

Cool job. I found that 80w of solar for 3hrs is enough to run my fridge each day. My fridge has eco mode and doesnt use much juice once its cooled down. Just the initial cool down takes about 400 watts total. I can aim my panel to get max output. Flat mounted panels kind of stink for that especially in winter. Just some more info and options for others considering. I do love my fridge.

The fridge is only turning on and off occasionally, less in the winter. Some people dont realize that when they do the math.

 

Thanks for the info. I will try to collect more data later on. I used AC line to run the fridge 6 hours before the trip in max mode. The extension cord fits perfectly in the gap of the tail gate. Then I switched to echo mode and ran off the battery. I email Iceco and they said both AC and DC can be plugged in at the same time and the fridge will switch to DC if AC is off. I did not try that. Some people said on Youtube it could be done. The manual did not say anything about this.

Yes I know the compressor is only running part of the time, just like regular fridge at home.

When the fridge is turned off, the LEDs still work. This means it will drain the battery when lids are off.

 

I added a schematic if anyone is interested.

 

Just curious, can you run the fridge off just the solar? Your schematic leads me to think so, ha.

 

Have you thought about using the bed outlet to provide extra charging for the battery? I am thinking of doing a similar setup with a Jackery with the idea of solar charging as well as bed outlet charging while driving.

 

I don't think so. First of all, the solar converter needs a power source to run (the battery). If you removed the battery, it would not power up at all. Second thing is the power surge. I don't know how big the current surge when the fridge starts.