The Freezer - Part 2

 

This is the locker into which the freezer is going to live.

Vincenzo has begun the irreversible work of creating the neccessary space. No machines where used, only a thin handsaw. 

To ensure the freezer runs as cool as possible two 12 volt computer fans where installed and powered by a 5 volt USB charger. The fans run quite slow and without noise, yet pushes cooler air over the back of the freezer. 

Artemis has a 2kW Victron inverter. It is mostly in standby when in port and when at sea 230volts is not used all the time and in this mode it draws power. The idea was to have the freezer running from a smaller and dedicated inverter offering lower wasted power and also redundancy. After all a freezer may have valuable contents. Particularly when out on longer cruises. We plan to catch big tuna too. 

After having checked the power requirement of the freezer it was identified to be around 50 watts when the compressor runs. Knowing that the starting current can be much higher it was decided to put in a 250VA Victron inverter. This is an inverter of pure sine type with a real transformer inside, ensuring clean and sine correct power to the compressor. Another feature of the inverter was its claimed ability to handle starting currents above its rated power. What could go wrong?

In the engine room there was space for the inverter right next to the 2kW unit. Seen to the left is the new box for auxiliary engine start and top, more on that in another post.

If you look closely at the Victron 2kW image above, installation was even more simplified as I could take DC power directly from the 2kW inverter by piggy backing on its own DC input. All this went smoothly. 

Power up time! Inverter went on and showed normal status and when the freezer kicked in it shut down due to overload. Time to understand the problem and it was discovered by others with similar attempts that the inverter was a wee bit underrated. Fine, next level up was a 370 VA version. To be sure using the 2kW inverter no sign of issue at all. Order placed and it had just about the same size too. But, no cigar still overload, more searching for answers revealed that freezer are particularly demanding at that very early few seconds of starting.  

Was it possible to solve the problem with a slow starting device? The web revealed that many RV´s had problems starting AC units and that aftermarket devices did the job. I located such a device and after some email exchange with the manufacturer I decided to try it out. 

It did not work, no setting made any difference at all, the compressor refused to start up.

A third Victron Phoenix inverter has been ordered and delivered, now a 800VA variant that can handle 1500W overload. This over double the capability of the smaller 375VA model.  This has yet to be tested. 

 

However, the freezer works just fine on shore power and the 2kW inverter so no real worries and reason why the project is on the back burner for a while. We have enjoyed very cool drinks and it takes very little to get fully addicted to having ice in drinks in this climate. 

I´ll be back