Comments on: Our experience with a solar powered refrigerator

By: Greg Seaman

Greg Seaman — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 16:01:00 +0000

The refrigerator is on full time year round. The other devices (laptop, rechargeable devices, router) are used part time as needed, averaging 4 – 6 hours per day.

By: Christian Shearer

Christian Shearer — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 14:48:00 +0000

Hi Just wondering if the 60-70 watts of power is your hourly useage of power or daily? And if hourly, how do you manage this on only one solar panel?

By: Greg Seaman

Greg Seaman — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 15:50:00 +0000

Great comments Thomas. We have 9 guests at our cabin right now and our refrigerator is packed, and just humming along. Yours is a good suggestion about keeping salad greens from contacting the side walls. Another thing we noticed is that, since we stack cartons of eggs (usually 3 – 5 cartons) on the bottom level and against the left wall, the column of cardboard containers has an insulative effect which causes icing on and near the left wall. We have learned to use this as an advantage – the egg “column” can be moved a bit to the right which forms a small “freezer” compartment for things we want extra cold.
So far we have had no problems with the handle (over 2 years in use) but I will take your experience into consideration and go easy on the handle when opening the lid.
Thanks for your comments and keep cool!
Greg

By: bestregistrycleaner

bestregistrycleaner — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:59:29 +0000

Out of interest, those small fridges that cool a couple of cans of beer – how do they work? Do they have cooling circuits like regular refridgerators? I wonder if they might be good for someone alone, off-grid and who needs only limited facilities.

Congrats on your good luck with getting the bigger model though. As you say, why not? Your costs only go up as you add more and more food (to be cooled).

Chris

By: Greg Seaman

Greg Seaman — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:10:56 +0000

The large model (225) weiged about 140 lbs with the carton. These units come very well packaged, and I would suggest that you leave the packing on till you get to your destination, even though you'll have packed in a bunch of styrofoam. We were able to give the styrofoam to someone who had a large item to ship, but you will likely have to pack it back out.

By: Bradley

Bradley — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:14:37 +0000

How heavy is this unit, do you know? We're looking to pack one in to a remote camp and the weight is a factor. Thanks for the article.

By: Greg Seaman

Greg Seaman — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:56:29 +0000

Good point, Dirk. Besides solar power, the refrigerator could also be run using micro-hydro, wind-power, or any energy source that can charge a 12 volt battery.

By: Dirk Becker

Dirk Becker — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:15:10 +0000

Thanks for a great article! It is important to understand that it is not solar powered, it is 12 volt which can be generated in a number of ways; one of which is by charging 12 volt batteries, which then run the said appliance.

By: Davis

Davis — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:12:40 +0000

I really enjoyed this article Greg. I'll be looking forward to my next opportunity to visit you again, to help out with meaningful work in the outdoors, and to enjoy great meals and conversation. Thanks again for having me.

By: Michael_Walker

Michael_Walker — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:33:20 +0000

this is just the information i was looking for, thanks! we are in a similar situation as you in central montana.
can i email you with a couple questions?

By: Greg Seaman

Greg Seaman — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:03:23 +0000

We have just the one main panel and two batteries rated at 232 amp hours each.
For about 8 months of the year this powers our refrigerator and a few peripherals such as laptops and rechargeable batteries.
In the cold months we will turn off the reefer because we don't need it. The power from our panel will be used for several LED lights which run at 6 watts each. (incredible!) So if our power is reduced by half in winter, we still have enough to power 4 – 6 lights. (by comparison, the reefer uses up to 60 watts.)

By: Greg Seaman

Greg Seaman — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:08:38 +0000

My research led me to the SunDanzer as the best unit with regards to power consumption. There are other brands which have benefits such as combined refirigerator/freezer, but these required more power to run.
I learned of problems with the wire soldering in older SunDanzer units which were made overseas. For this reason, I did not buy a used model. The new models are made in Texas and I have not heard of any recurrence of the wiring problem.

By: Greg Seaman

Greg Seaman — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:57:05 +0000

Good questions. Yes, the solar power is diminishing as the days get shorter. But so far there is no problem powering the refrigerator. Right now I'm also running my laptop and charging a battery for a drill/driver while the panel and batteries are powering the refrigerator.
I can't tell yet what if any effect the ambient tremperature has on power requirements for the unit.
Yes, you can get a separate freezer thermostat. It takes about 2 minutes to install. And you can also get an ice cream thermostat for even colder freezing needs.