Hey Loren.

A useful report. Sounds like quite the set-up!

Am sticking with Dometic for now, but in future may go Norcold.

Thanks!

Neil.

--
Neil Nicholson. 1981 Air Cooled Westfalia.

http://web.mac.com/tubaneil

On 7/18/07, Loren Busch <starwagen@gmail.com> wrote:
> Some of you will recall that a few weeks ago I was asking questions (and
> getting some very good answers) about installing a Norcold DC0040, a larger
> aux battery and ways to charge that battery during extended stays in the
> boonies. I'll be doing a Blog with more details in the near future but here
> is a summary of the results.
> First I need to extend a big thanks to several people on these lists that
> offered a lot of very good advice both on the list and through pmail.  Larry
> Chase for advice on where to order a generator and saved a bunch of money.
> Mike Elliot for sharing all his experience in doing the same thing and Karl
> Mullendore also, as far as I know the first to publish info on installing a
> Norcold and who kept patiently answering my questions over several months as
> I decided to take on this project.  And especially Dennis Haynes whose
> urging to go to a bigger onboard charger was right on .  And again a special
> thanks to Paul Guzyk for his hands on help in figuring out the rats nest of
> wiring in the old aux battery box, getting all the interior accessories
> switched to the new aux battery without having to add any additional wiring
> and helping get the new Surepower 1315 in.
>
> First, I consider the change over to the Norcold a total success.   After
> one full week of use I have no complaints, not even about the way I did the
> install. The configuration I ended up with I'm very happy with.  It's like
> this:
>
> Norcold DC0040 installed where the Dometic 182 was.  The old front panel,
> sans door, from the Dometic was widened slightly and retained as the
> surround for the front.
> A Fullriver Group 31 AGM battery was installed under the rear seat and wired
> into the existing aux power fuse panel already in place.
> A Surepower 1315 was wired in and replaced the old relay system that was in
> place for battery separation. (Will later up size the wire between the
> starter battery and the Surepower and add wiring to allow the aux battery to
> assist the starter if needed)
> Wiring was created for easy attachment of either a solar charge controller
> or an onboard charger running from 110v ac.
> The cheapest solar controller I could find was installed and a 50 watt solar
> panel was acquired.
> Two onboard chargers were acquired, a 5 watt and a 30 watt and wiring rigged
> to be able to easily switch between the solar charger or either onboard
> charger.
> And a Honda EU1000i generator was acquired.
>
> Results:
> In temperatures ranging from a high of 85 to a low of 55 at night the
> Norcold kept an internal temperature between 38 and 42 degrees around the
> clock depending on where the control was set.
> On a 110 AH battery I'd expect to go at least four or five days before the
> battery was to low to operate the 'fridge.  A fully charged battery, reading
> 12.5 volts, will drop to about 11.85 volts in 24-30 hours, down to about
> 11.2 in 48 hours.
> Cycle times on the Norcold were 50% or less most of the time.
> A 50 watt solar panel, under a brilliant Sun at 6,300 feet will bring the
> battery up from about 11.5 volts to 13 volts in about six hours.
>
> I mentioned a Honda generator.  My thinking: Belt and suspenders.  What if
> no Sun?  I'd planned to test out the charging from the generator and the
> weather cooperated, overcast on that day anyway.  Results:  A 5 amp 'Battery
> Tender' type charger just don't cut it, Dennis was very right when he said
> it wouldn't even keep up, it just barley did.  After an hour I disconnected
> the small charger and hooked up the 30 amp charger.  Instantly heard the
> load on the generator and the charger pulled the battery up to 14 v in about
> an hour.
>
> Did I stress the system all the way to a dead battery? No.  Am I convinced
> that a 50 watt solar panel can be used for extended camping? Yes, but only
> with good Sun (and adjusting the angle of the panel every hour or so.)
>
> Will a generator do the job with the right charger? Of course.
>
> The one option that I didn't try was using the 12v battery charging option
> on the Honda generator.  I hadn't set up wiring to do that and was also
> worried about the quality of the 12v from the gnerator, didn't want to
> disconnect everything from the battery to protect other circuits, like the
> Norcold.  BTW, I had the Honda cable for this, two guys parked next to me,
> with the bigger Honda, used the cable to charge their batteries.
>
> What remains to be done?  Well, as mentioned above, complete the upgrade
> wiring for the Surepower 1315, right now I'm not able to take advantage of
> the aux boost for starting feature.  I'll also come up with a better,
> permanently mounted volt meter/battery monitor system.  I just attached a
> DVM to the battery with long leads to monitor the battery for this trip.
>
> One other, last item.  What about noise from the Norcold?  There have been
> several comments from those that have installed the Norcold about the hum of
> the compressor.  Being forewarned I used Sorbothane under the Norcold to try
> to isolate it and was very careful that no other part of the 'fridge touched
> anything except where it was screwed to the front panel to keep it in
> place.  Only one time did the hum/noise really get my attention and that was
> when a pot on the stove was sitting just right and started vibrating.  When
> I firgured that out and moved the pot the noise dropped back to an almost
> inaudible level.  At night, if you are listening for it, you can hear the
> Norcold cycle on and off.  I'm not sensitive to noise at night, can sleep
> with the Propex running, so no problem for me.  I'm going to add rubber
> washers between the front frame and the cabinet, where the mounting screws
> are, and see if thatreduces the noise even further but not becuase it's
> annoying, just to see if it makes a difference.
>
> I hope all this helps and has been of value.  And thanks again to all that
> offered such good advice, it really helped in this process.
>