Jump to content
Ford Galaxy Owners Club

Recommended Posts

Posted

Ok, i'm hoping that the title will have caught someones attention...!

 

We've just had a towbar fitted so that we can go off camping with the newly aquired trailer tent. Got ourselves all the required gear, pots, pans, torch, fly swat, insect repelant, you know where i'm coming from. But, having spoken to some seasoned campers, they suggested if we've got room (got room? got room?....... have you seen the size of what i'm driving..?), that we get ourselves a 'proper' little fridge, as the plastic things you get from Towsure or the likes, do tend to get a lot of condensation in them. So, we went off and bought one of those Stella beer chillers. Tried it out in my shed on a red hot day, and yep, checked it with a digital thermometer and it chills down lovely.

 

"Right", me thinks, how about getting an inverter so that the fridge can be chilling down as we drive. So that when we get to site, it's already to go at whatever temp you've set it too.

 

I borrowed a 200 watt inverter to try my super little fridge out. Plugged it into the cigar lighter in the back, tried a 60w 240v lamp...... bingo..! "light goes on, light goes off, light goes on, light goes off" as Homer Simpson once said.... disconnect the lamp and plug in the 70w fridge....... nothing. What was the green led light, is now a red led light. Basically telling me that it's not working. Check the instruction, check the wattage on the label on the fridge..... yep, i was right...... well within limits.

 

So why doesn't it want to work..? It's a 200w (nominal), with a peak load of 350w (i think, without checking). Could it be that the compressor on the fridge needs a bit more than 200/350w to kick it into life, before it settles down to 70w..? And before you ask..... thats with the engine running too.

 

Your comments and advice would be much appreciated and welcom.....

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Nick.

Posted
are inverters suitable for non resistive loads such as motors and if so do they need derating - your inverter may not be powerful enough. Does the documentation on the inverter say anything about non-resistive loads ??
Posted
It is also possible that the fridge only needs 70w when up and running but a lot more when cooling down. If what Nik says is wrong then try plugging the firdge in indoors then when it is cool try ther inverter again.
Posted

It is also possible that the fridge only needs 70w when up and running but a lot more when cooling down. If what Nik says is wrong then try plugging the firdge in indoors then when it is cool try ther inverter again.

 

 

yes good idea - although the maximum wattage should be quoted - calculating fuse values would be interesting otherwise

Posted

It is quite possible that the fridge does not like the inverter output. Most inverters output an approximation to a sinewave instead of a real one. There are some inverters available (I have one) that produce an exact sinewave, and these should run anything within their specified power handling.

 

As you might guess, the true sinewave inverters are more money!

 

Vince.

Posted

It is quite possible that the fridge does not like the inverter output. Most inverters output an approximation to a sinewave instead of a real one. There are some inverters available (I have one) that produce an exact sinewave, and these should run anything within their specified power handling.

 

As you might guess, the true sinewave inverters are more money!

 

Vince.

 

I could see that some electronic gear would be picky about the sine wave ........ :D a fridge though !

Posted

I don't know, depends on the motor, what impact would capacitor starting have on this? (AC isn't really my subject).

 

Seems to be my tagline, but if you want to come to Reading, I have 300W true sine wave inverter and 1000W pseudo sine wave inverter - one of them should do it!

 

Vince.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...