Wiring a 120v Mini Refrigerator

[abnrngr86]

Sent: 1/9/2005

Yes was wondering how to go about wiring a mini frigerator.  old one wont work 12v/110/propane...so have a 4.4 cu mini...bigger than the original in my 72 d18 brave....operates on 120v....at .09amp.......would the original winnie converter change it to 12v...when using the original wiring....?? so that it would run 12v or 110...??

[Daved27c]

Sent: 1/9/2005

The short answer for your question is yes and no. The converter will convert 120v to 12 volt, but only power the things that are 12 volt. To use a replacement fridge that only runs on 120volt, you need to be plugged in to a 120 volt source, or run your generator(if you have one). You can convert 12volt into 120 using an inverter, but the inverter has to be huge to run a fridge, and your alternator may not like it much. Post more (if you can) about what you are trying to do.

Dave

[k0lde1]

Sent: 2/6/2005

I plan on swapping out my old fridge for a "dorm" style one.

0.9amps @ 120volts is only 109watts

you'd need to leave room for "startup" draw but i picked up a 400 watt (800 peak) plenty left over.

that same 109 watts at 12V would require (adding in a little elbowroom for lack of 100% efficiency ~10amps.

alternator shouldn't mind that, but you'd want to keep an eye on running the fridge off the batteries.

I'm also going to install a switch, so when i have 120VAC available the power wont have to get converted twice

robert

[Lefty]

Sent: 5/11/2006

A word of caution before you buy an apartment fridge. When we got our rig, the original 3-way fridge didn't work. After trying to burp it for a week without success, We decided to look into replacing it with an apartment style fridge. This has some good advantages, but a few drawbacks as well. First, the advantages; Cost, availability, and larger size. Disadvantages; requires 110v power to run, may require modification to surrounding cabinetry to fit.

Because we rarely camped without 110v power hookups, we decided that wouldn't be a problem. we found a model at a "scratch & dent" sale, half off due to a large scrape on the side. Because we planned to flush mount it anyways, a scratch on the side didn't matter to us.
We overlooked a very important thing!! And it caused our rig to catch fire! We neglected to read the power requirements label before we installed it. Turns out, it required only 5 amps to run, but 18 amps to start the compressor! Our rig was on a 30 amp hook-up, and the roof AC requires 15 amps to kick on the compressor. Add in a TV, clock, coffee pot, and a few more "goodies", and when the fridge tried to kick on, it overloaded our plug. For some reason, it failed to trip any breakers, neither in the rig, or at the campgrounds plug. We awoke at 2:am to a warm interior, and no power. We noticed a flickering outside, and when we looked out the window, we saw the campground power box blazing merrily!! Thank God it caught fire at the box, and not in the coach!

After quietly moving to another campsite at the other end of the campground (we had arrived after the office had closed, so they never knew we had been parked there-lol) and a trip to the all-nite Walmart for a replacement end, I was able to get the juice back on. But from then on, we had to run a seperate cord for just the fridge. Most campgrounds have a 30 amp connection, and a 20 amp connection (a regular dual prong grounded outlet). We plug the main cord into the 30 amp, and the extension cord for the fridge into the 20 amp. Had I not had a very heavy gauge extension cord (rated for 50 amps), this would not be possible.

  We later found similar sized models, that required much less power to operate. Some were as low as 1.5 amps running, 4.0 amps starting These would work just fine using the existing plug in the RV.
                                                                               Lefty