Was hoping somebody can throw some light on the problem I appear to be having with my 60L Engel Fridge.

I use it either on fridge or freezer.

Had my fridge on -15 whilst shopping on a 33 degree day. (Fridge is located under a closed canopy)

Had it about half full with cold items. Returned 4 hours later and the temperature was now showing +3.

I have it running from my second battery; this is about 6 months old. (Marine)

I then tried running my fridge on -3.

Pretty much same conditions but this time after 4 hours the fridge was reading +13.

I drove the 47Ks home and found it to be reading was +3.

A few days later I had the fridge on +3. The temperature  outside was 27.

The fridge was still on +3 when returning home after a 70K drive.

Not being too technical I assumed the fridge should remain or be close to the temperature it is set at.

Obviously as long as your battery is in a good condition.

Had my battery checked at my local Auto Electrician, excellent condition.

Furthermore the other engel fridge I had, 40L never had these issues. (even on hot days))

Am I expecting too much or is there a problem.

To narrow down issues, does it work running off 240volts?

Yes it runs from 240V.

But I haven't tested it running on 240V during a 30 odd degree day.

I will try running my fridge from 240V as soon as we have another 30 plus degree day, excellent question.

Seriously never thought to test it on 240V.

By the way the fridge is 2 years old.

I did extensive testing on my fridge & I could only get my fridge to 45°C below ambient & it bottoms out at -23°C.

Stick it in a bathroom with a heater & see what you get.

Hi all; Check to see if you have 12 volt at the end of the 12 lead that plugs into your engle fridge. If not back check your cabling. Have a close look at were the 12 Volt and the 240 volt plug in to the back of your fridge. There could be a blade fuse ( 15 Amp ?? ) just near the sockets. This have blown. Worth a check to see if it has, I think that fuse is only for the 12 side of the fridge.  

You could make a testing cable & connect the fridge straight to the battery & check voltage at the same time. If the fridge works then it is something between the battery & fridge.

It's handy having an Anderson plug at the battery for testing (& jump starting), bypassing all electrical equipment.

Hi Everyone,

I appreciate all your comments.

My problem doesn't relate to the fridge not working.

My problem is that the fridge doesn't hold the temperature I had it on initially.

The battery is fairly new and nothing else is running from this battery apart from the fridge.

Perhaps at 32 outside temperature and the fridge being under the 4wd Canopy (Obviously much higher temp)is the problem or part of.

My 14 year old 39L Engel never had this issue even in higher temperatures.

A 14 year old fridge will have R22 refrigerant, these days they are using R134a which doesn't work as well so you will have to help the fridge in other ways like as cool as possible ventilation.

Thermal fuse on way out? Try replacing it and see if any change.

Hi,

It is sealing well.

The fridge is like new.

Thanks for asking.

I was told that the earlier models run on a different refrigerant.

Maybe Im expecting to much. After paying just over $1800 for this two year old fridge I expect that it will cope even in warmer conditions.

Maybe if drops  a few degrees I can live with that but, dropping 19 degrees on a hot day in 4 odd hours, not good.

In this thread I did extensive tests on my fridge at 35°C ambient temperature I could only get the fridge down to -10 reliably, sometimes getting to -12. 

It would get to -23 without problems but the ambient temperature can't be any more than 45°C more than -23.

Another thermometer was showing the fridge would get to -25 but realistically it's about -23.

I've tried pushing more air through the condenser but the difference of 45 is about it. The only other option is to water cool the condenser but that all becomes very messy.

https://thegreynomads.activeboard.com/t65059593/extra-fridge-insulation-wattage-test/

Hi Gypsy2600; You do not say what size battery you have ( Ah ), having a battery to small and your fridge would soon bring the battery down to 50% state of charge and the fridge may be shutting down as it has sensed the battery be to low. Even having a battery of  100 Ah you only have around 50 Ah to play with and these fridges draw around 4~5 Amps, so you are looking at around 10 hours of use. How is the battery charged and at what current and last what size cable has been used from the main battery to the auxiliary battery and on to the engle fridge. Battery voltage loss could be your problem.

I did a 6 hour test with my 28L fridge set at its lowest setting of -22. The lowest the fridge displayed was -13. The 3 seperate thermometers showed -12.8, -13.0 & -12.1. Room temperature ranged from 34.5 to 35.0.

Over the 6 hours the fridge used 0.258kWh & this is with an additional 60mm of foam covering the fridge.

Hi,

You make a good point.

My  battery is 95Amp. The problem is that this 95AMP battery is as big as I can have in the space available.

Perhaps I need to look at ways to solve the battery issue, not sure how.  I haven't looked at the idea of a solar panel on the roof of the 4WD.

Not sure if having a third battery in the back of the 4WD is a good idea. Would the alternator handle this.

Im not to technical but welcome any ideas.

That's why have 4 X 26ah batteries. No room.

Does the car have a smart alternator as most cars do. The battery probably will never be fully charged. One of the reasons I have installed a DC-DC charger.

Have you isolated the auxiliary battery & fully charged it overnight with a 240 volt smart charger. Then run the fridge off the battery for a couple of hours. If the fridge works well then it will be clear the fridge is not the problem.

If you have the auxiliary battery in the engine bay fully exposed to the heat this is not a good idea. My starter battery is in the engine bay but fully enclosed from the engine bay & gets a lot of seperate ventilation. On top of this I have installed heat shielding around the battery. The auxiliary batteries are inside the car, 2 under a seat.

Although not ideal you could put a second battery in the boot & charge & draw from a mid point within reason with 4awg cable & fused both ends. The warmer battery should be charged at a slightly lower rate but you probably just be better living with a slightly shorter life of both batteries.

Do you need to run the fridge as a freezer at -15 as this uses 5 times the amount of energy.

A torture test to see how long it takes to freeze 10.5 kg of ice bricks to -22C, lowest fridge setting. On previous tests thermometers I stuck in the fridge showed -24. Fridge cover & 2 thicknesses of 10mm foam. Aluminium heatsink to "butter" compartment.

Ambient temperature over the days was 26°C morning & night, including ice bricks at the start. Fridge sitting on carpet.

I also put a thermometer in the centre of the ice bricks as this area is slower to freeze.

24 Hours: fridge -11, centre of ice -2

36 hours: fridge -16, centre of ice -10

44 hours: fridge -20, centre of ice -16

46 hours: fridge -22, centre of ice -19

The fridge started cycling at 46 hours.

About half the time it was running off a car hattery which was around 12.4 volts with a trickle charger. Fridge current was 3.1 amps.

I could hear the compressor running a touch faster on AC but not a lot in it.

So about 1.768 kWh for the 46 hour test.

Exhaust air from compressor was about 30C.