AC Refrigeration Question

[Gary Brockman]

I am about to convert my Aldler Barbour refrigeration system to AC for when the boat is in the slip. I have copied the John Nixon article from the Tech Wiki and have my power supply but I am not sure what to buy for the relay. I went to Pep Boys this afternoon and told them I needed a SPDT 30 amp relay and they said that they had 5 or 6 30 amp relays but as I know nothing about the electronics involved, I was not sure which, if any, were the right one to purchase. Does anyone have a suggestion of what I should buy?

Thanks,

Gary

[Ron Volk]

Gary.

I used a Tyco 4-45f11 relay which I ordered on Ebay.  I you use this relay you need to add a strap between contacts 87 & 85 as it does not come strapped together.
Go to search box and type in 'Trouble Shooting 12v power supply for fridge' started by pablosgirl and read all the posts as this might help in installation.

[lazybone]

I haven't followed any old threads on this subject and since I'm an old lazy bastard when it comes to searches, would someone explain the logic behind modifying the power supply to switch ac/dc rather than just running off the dc battery charger?

[Ron Volk]

Aldo.
My reason was to save the continuous topping off of the batteries while in port. We live a few hours from our boat and when we go, we spend 3-5 days there, usually every other week. While staying on the boat with the refrig. on using DC, every time the the refrig. recycled, our BC came on and topped the batteries off.  The BC has a fan in it & came on every time which was noisy and annoying during the night.  This led me to add a AC to DC pwr. sup. and a AC switch so when we get there we flip the switch on and use shore power to power the refrig.  When we go somewhere or out just for the day we use the DC switchto  power it.

[lazybone]

That makes sense.
The charger fan is very noisy.

When I'm in a slip its a symphony of mechanical clatter,  what with the AC and its water pump, the fridge, the charger/fan and occasionally the bilge pump.
Did I miss anything? .

I don't want to brag but my snoring puts them all to shame.