7 replies to this topic

[Radicalfil]

After much lurking and rumination about a solar panel to power a ARB 50 DC refrigerator and I have installed a 125 solar panel with Morningstar Duo solar charge controller.
First, I wired an independent circuit for the fridge:

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[Radicalfil]

Then I installed the charge controller:

Sorted out the electrical power source and wiring in the battery bay. All original wiring left as is and only added the fuse block for new refer. and future application, if any.

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[Radicalfil]

Then I attached the solar panel to the factory aluminum rack in the rear of the camper with an exterior conduit to house the solar wire. Currently the solar source is only fished through the turnbuckle port until I can remove the camper and finalize the permanent locus.

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[Radicalfil]

Here are the solar panel mounts that I tried to fabricate from some Simpson-Ties stuff I had sitting around after my Earthquake Retrofit.

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[Radicalfil]

Some other shots

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[Radicalfil]

Here are some fuzzy fotos of how I ran the wiring from solar controller to the battery:

I have 3 separate wire circuits:
1) Original haus wire white wire on the top in the first foto
2) Refer power wire in the middle with black plastic split loom
3) Solar in wire along the bottom with black plastic loom

I ran the solar wire under the cabinets and then through the forward panel that encloses the water tank

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[Radicalfil]

P.S., I have acquired a Doc Wattson and a Turnigy amp meter to monitor the actual current and accumulated usage for the new system. The Morningstar solar controller does have a meter, but it dutifully record input and not output so I wanted to know the actual usage. On every circuit, I have used the Anderson Power Pull 45 amp connectors so I may attach one of the meters to any circuit, power in or power out to monitor the activity. All wiring was marine grade 10 gauge wiring I got from West Marine. Fotos are fuzzy, but you get the idea.

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[Radicalfil]

I then ran a 4 day trial of my new ARB 50 refer with the following results:

Temp set @ 26 degrees F on the panel and fridge held 1 gallon of frozen water and multiple BLUE ICE units to take up a good portion of the volume. Only at the end of the test period did I notice that the frozen water was beginning to melt.

Temps taken by cheapo $5 fridge thermometer from local dept store for the cold temps and a secondary Indoor/Outdoor for the ambient and upper produce compartment temps.
unit.
It looks like the solar panel and 75Ah AGM battery will handle the job as most of my usage will be using the fridge with nominal use of the LED lights that I have changed from original lamps .

Oh: I will probably have to limit my visitation to this website because there are unlimited great ideas to mine, which can be $costly$

Attached Files

•  ARB FRIDGE FIELD TEST.pdf   32.89K   169 downloads