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backin15 
Groupie 
Joined: 26 Feb 2017 Location: Burnsville,MN Online Status: Offline Posts: 65 |
 Topic: Fun with Fans and FridgesPosted: 12 Sep 2018 at 9:48pm |
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Which taps on the power block would I connect to if I wanted the auxiliary fans to come on with the main fan?
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2015 179
2013 Xterra Pro 4X |
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DavMar
Senior Member 
Joined: 04 Aug 2017 Location: Lexington, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 592 |
Posted: 04 Sep 2018 at 4:14pm |
I'm impressed and intrigued! Fred, please let us know how all your Labor Day testing went and how your experiments are turning out. Hopefully the end result of all your work will be a separate tutorial for others like myself to follow.
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Dave & Marlene J with Zoey the
wonder dog. 2017 Rpod 180 2016 Toyota Tacoma SR5 4x4 Lexington, NC |
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fwunder
Senior Member
Joined: 04 Oct 2013 Location: New Jersey Online Status: Offline Posts: 1676 |
Posted: 03 Sep 2018 at 1:06pm |
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I wanted to follow up on my latest mod for this cooling thing.
I bought this little gizmo:  The probe fits nice and snugly under the new 50 degree celsius switch (122 fahrenheit) .  The thermostat is wired to exhaust fans with start temp set to 45 degrees C and stop set to 35 degrees C. I did test the thermostat calibrating it against my Thermopen. It seems very accurate. I added a simple push-button switch to power off the thermostat and fused the power feed with an inline spade fuse. I used spade connectors on everything so I could easily disassemble and/or try the thermostat with upper or lower fan. First impressions (in driveway): Both fans start at their set temperature and stop at their set temperature. With outside temp at 85-90, slide in, four bars on panel and empty fridge/freezer - no problem maintaining 0-5 F in freezer and 36-38 F in fridge. The fans definitely make a huge difference. It's going to take some more playing around to determine optimal cut in/cut out temps for either fan. Since I'm just testing in the driveway at the moment I can't really say if the fans are cycling at all. Monitoring as much as possible, it seems the tube temp does not drop to cut out temps (35 C). We will be camping soon, so I should be able monitor closer. My gut feeling is that the fixed thermal switch @ 50 C (122) is a bit lower than it needs to be. The stock thermal switch is 70 C (158) seems too high. Somewhere in between is probably optimal. I may just end up wiring both fans to same thermostat. We'll see. Happy Labor Day! fred
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2014 RPod 178 => MyMods and Buying Habits
2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6 Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks! |
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DavMar
Senior Member
Joined: 04 Aug 2017 Location: Lexington, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 592 |
Posted: 22 Aug 2018 at 10:21pm |
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Hey Fred, When I saw your photo where you tapped in for voltage for
you fan I had to just smack my forehead and go dahhh, along with how stupid can I be! But
thanks so much for sharing the photo! Hi Mark, So, you too also wired all your air intake fans and exhaust
fans from the same point that Fred did? Guys, please understand I’m just trying to help understand how
you made your modifications not only for myself but anyone else who maybe
interested on improving the refrigerator cooling. Fred, As for the fans inside the refrigerator did you wire directly to the interior light and if so do you have a photo or can describe how you wired these fans? Did you both or anyone else know that with at least in the Dometic RM 8501 model if you converter dies then you loose all control over switching your refrigerator over to gas or battery power? Sad but true since there is no battery back up that powers the refrigerator controller board which allows you to switch. I contacted Dometic about this and they said this model has no battery backup control despite their own parts diagram showing this battery backup in their schematic, so all I can say is go figure? All in all very interesting guys and thanks for sharing your information on these modifications.
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Dave & Marlene J with Zoey the
wonder dog. 2017 Rpod 180 2016 Toyota Tacoma SR5 4x4 Lexington, NC |
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Wood River Pod
Senior Member
Joined: 30 Sep 2016 Location: Wood River, ID Online Status: Offline Posts: 153 |
Posted: 22 Aug 2018 at 9:40pm |
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Mark,
Would you please post some pics of your fan (in & out) mod along with your "channel" to route the air though the fins. I and I'm sure others would be most appreciative. Thanks Jeff
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Subzilla
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Jan 2017 Location: Concord, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 302 |
Posted: 22 Aug 2018 at 12:30pm |
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Ditto to tapping into the power block. These fans don't pull much power so I just wired them all together (upper fans and lower fans) plus threw on an in-line fuse close to the power block tap. I actually replaced the factory temp sensor with one from one of the websites that is suppose to be better.....not so sure....once on, it stays on all of the time and never seems to shut down...hence my switch install. Adjustable ones exist out there....
https://rvcoolingunit.com/-Improve-your-Cooling-Performance-items-C320215.aspx?sid=298 This website also has a similar baffle I made and added.
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Mark
Concord, NC 2017 RP 179 "Podzilla" 2011 Silverado 1500 4X4 |
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fwunder
Senior Member
Joined: 04 Oct 2013 Location: New Jersey Online Status: Offline Posts: 1676 |
Posted: 22 Aug 2018 at 11:26am |
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Hi Dave,
My mod was pretty simple. I tapped the DC power block @ the bottom of the fridge. I used enough wire and a couple of inline connectors so I could remove the top cover and lay on ground or disconnect easily If I wanted to. The fan has a switch on it and a 1 amp inline fuse. It was just something I had in my gadget box that I used a couple of wire ties to attach to grill.   I also switched out the fan limit switch (thermo disc) with a lower temp one. The only wiring difference there was larger spade connectors.  Hope that helps. fred |
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2014 RPod 178 => MyMods and Buying Habits
2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6 Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks! |
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DavMar
Senior Member
Joined: 04 Aug 2017 Location: Lexington, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 592 |
Posted: 21 Aug 2018 at 3:34pm |
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+1 fwunder and same for Subzilla. I would though love to see a schematic diagrams of both of your modifications with wiring in all these fans? You are both just pulling air through the outside cooling fins, yes? Did you both just parallel the two additional exhaust fans from your single fan giving you three exhaust fans or maybe I'm missing something? Subzilla where did you tap into for your 12Vdc dual intake fans that are pushing air up? Lastly fwunder your two interior fans are they wired to the interior light or batter to pull 12vdc from? This is all very interesting!
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Dave & Marlene J with Zoey the
wonder dog. 2017 Rpod 180 2016 Toyota Tacoma SR5 4x4 Lexington, NC |
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fwunder
Senior Member
Joined: 04 Oct 2013 Location: New Jersey Online Status: Offline Posts: 1676 |
Posted: 21 Aug 2018 at 10:57am |
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mjrpod, I guess we were posting at the same time. Yep, I agree.
fred
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2014 RPod 178 => MyMods and Buying Habits
2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6 Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks! |
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fwunder
Senior Member
Joined: 04 Oct 2013 Location: New Jersey Online Status: Offline Posts: 1676 |
Posted: 21 Aug 2018 at 10:55am |
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Mark,
Shotgun approach! Love it. I think it really comes down to several factors including environment, usage habits, baseline maintenance and moon phase ;), to name a few. The first three years of our use I really didn't notice a big problem. When I look back on all the trips we took and the tens of thousands of miles I noticed that the biggest difference between those years and our trips this year was environment. It's been a hot summer. Heck, it was in the low to mid nineties with 90% humidity on Prince Edward Island! There seems to be a fairly narrow environmental window of operating efficiency for our fridges. I have read many stories of folks insisting their fridges didn't work and the dealer actually removing the fridge, bench testing and telling the client there was nothing wrong with the unit. Of course. They were bench testing in an air conditioned shop! If there was one solution that worked for all of us I would say the closest thing would be a passive solution as suggested by StephenH in another thread - an efficient and easy method of exhausting to outside. I just haven't been able to come up with an easy way to do that with our installations. In the meantime, we'll all just have to MacGyver methods that work for us. BTW, I have looked at several portable compressor options like the offerings from Dometic or Engle and If I was fulltiming it would be a serious consideration along with enough power generation to keep it going. Just doesn't make sense for a few weeks of camping right now. A good cooler and ice is a lot cheaper. Thanks for the input! fred
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2014 RPod 178 => MyMods and Buying Habits
2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6 Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks! |
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Fun with Fans and Fridges