Adler/Barbour Refrigeration

[shekinahsailor]

I leave my vessel plugged to shore power and the refrigeration on all the time (I like a cold drink when I go to the docks).  It seems my house bank (two 4Ds) goes through a lot of water.  My charger, a Flyback 3-20 seems to be working ok.  I've wondered if the 12V refrigeration keeps a constant load on the batters/charger thus taking out the water.  If this is the case, could it be possible to issolate the refrigeration from the house bank and provide dock side power from a small 110V/12V transformer?  Anyone tried this or some other solution, or am I all "cold" on this one?

[malgase]

I had similar problems.  I had an older, small capacity battery charger (8 amp - way too small) to support the batteries, and left refrigeration running.

Two seasons running, the batteries used what I considered way too much water, but I also noticed that the battery charger, even with fully charged batteries attached and NO load, was always registering 3-4 amps of charging.  Check out the charger with the refrigeration off and the batteries fully charged to see if you're overcharging and driving the water off.

I did two things:

1)  Replaced the old, undersized charger with a Statpower Truecharge 20+, and the batteries with brand new group 27's.  (this was an upgrade I was in dire need of anyhow)

2) I Placed a 110VAC/12VDC Power supply to feed the fridge.  Mine came form an old project at work, but you could get a 240W switching supply capable of 18A @ 12VDC for about $100.   Look at Astrodyne and or Jameco.  Then I installed a relay so whenever the power supply saw 110VAC, the relay switched power to the output of the supply (on the N.O. contacts, and the relay coil energized by 100VAC).  When I unplug to leave the dock, it looks for its power from the DC distribution panel (N.C. Contacts).  Relay is rated at 30A/pole.

One consideration:  I sail in Fresh water.  You may want a more robust, better sealed power supply if you sail in salt water.  The supply will likely have a fan on it, so you cannot just seal it in an enclosure.

One person's solution . . .

"Tranquilizer"
1986 MKI #91