DC refrigerator power needs?

[Limelight]

I recently acquired a 2001 Albin 28 TE - house batteries (4) are 6 volt and relatively new (2 are 2 years old - 2 are 1 year old). I have a Xantrex Freedom 2500 inverter and battery/charger monitoring system.

My refrigerator is a DC unit (Norcold) which was factory installed.

The issue I am having is the power drain on my house batteries - it seems that my overnight power draw is so much that I can't power the inverter in the morning in order to brew coffee - a criminal offense in some circumstances!

Power usage from an afternoon/evening to the next morning includes - fridge, anchor light, and one or two interior cabin dome lights on for 2 hours. The next morning, the house batteries are down to about 11 volts according to the Xantrex battery monitoring system after starting out at 13.5-14 the prior afternoon.

The only way I can power up the inverter for coffee is to run the main engine.

This seems to be an inordinate drain on the batteries - is this normal - the only thing I can think of is the fridge is drawing a lot of power. Ambient temperature on our last trip out was approx. 15 celsius (59 farenheit) - so the fridge isn't working all that hard.

Thanks for any help u can offer.

Lance

[DougSea]

Hi Lance,

One would think that you could run your fridge and a few lights overnight without drawing your house bank down so much! One thing you don't mention above is the amp/hour rating of your batteries. The fact that you reference 6v implies that you have "golf cart" batteries, but those are rather large and I'd question that you have 4 of them...but that's not clear. Can you give a bit more detail?

Assuming your batteries are properly sized - I'd be looking to see if something else is drawing power. Loads do add up fairly fast. Are those dome lights LED or halogen?

[crowra]

We have 4 six volt batteries wired together that gives us one big 470 amp hour 12 volt battery. That gives us about 235 amp hours of house power for both DC and AC loads (we too have an inverter). That's more than enough to run a fridge, anchor light,Canova cabin lights, TV, etc. Like Doug said, you didn't mention your batteries' amp hour rating but the drain you are experiencing seems excessive. The batteries are pretty new so they shouldn't be the problem. If they are "wet" check the water levels in the cells. There must be some load or even a short draining your batteries. One note is running a coffee maker is a high load and will really deep cycle your batteries (shortening their life).

[Panhdjoe]

Our 36 also has a Norcold under counter type Fridge, I anchor out often and run a 2000 watt inverter with a house bank of 4 Group 31 deep cycle, totaling 430 amp hour rating, (when batteries are new and full charged). I am a big Coffee drinker and never have a problem having enough Juice to brew. We always run more loads than you mentioned, Fan, lights, radio and TV. and sometimes for 24 hours. My point is that there is defiantly a problem. The problem may be weak batteries, To small gauge wiring causing large voltage drop (my money is on this) or a unknown draw. A 2500 watt inverter needs at least 2/0 marine grade battery cable running no more than about 3 feet from the battery bank to the Inverter.

[Carl]

I agree there is a problem. I have a 2500W inverter being fed with 2 group 27 gels. When I anchor up to fish, I have the fridge running on the same bank, depth finder running, live well pumping, sometimes hit the microwave to heat up a sandwich, and make a single cup of coffee. I might do this for 3 or 4 hrs at a time and then start the engine without switching banks to do so.

[2manyboats]

I'm wondering if the fridge is maybe original install, 2001, That it's on it's way out and running constantly. In my A25 I have two 6volt L-16s, 370AH each. My fridge is a Isotherm. We have been on the hook for 22hrs running the fridge, lights, fans, radio, wifes magic mirror, charging phones and flashlights; still showed 12.3 volts on the meter.

One thing I do is run the fridge at max (7) while cruising and 4 1/2 while anchored. That insures that happy hour ice is available when needed.

Wayne

[Tree]

I'll agree that there is an issue - I have a 3000W inverter being fed by two 180amp/h batteries. I can happily go out all day for 12 hours and the fridge is constantly running, albeit at the lowest setting as its on all year. I can quite easily warm up food for people with the microwave have the deck wash, livebait tank and all the electronics running. I've even had the TV on all day for my daughter when she was bored with fishing!

All my lights including deck lights are LED which massively reduces the load.

One thing that i would think that will draw your power is the coffee machine - an average kettle here would be 1000w at 240 volts. I only boil the kettle when the engine is running due to the power it pulls.

[TimQ]

Depending on the exact battles you are using and their condition (combining 2 year old with 1 year old is less than ideal but that's another discussion) you could, from your description be using about 50 or 60 amp-hours in a 12 hour period.
A simple way to find out how much each of your loads is consuming is to buy an inexpensive DC clamp meter (Blue Sea Systems 8110). It's far less expensive than a permanently installed monitoring system with installation cost included and it's portable.
Clamp the negative cable to the bank and individually switch loads on and off and observe the current draw. Do your calculations and see if it matches expected values. If you aren't sure how to make sense of it all report that back here and any number of members familiar with the drill will help you sort out what's possibly going on.

Keep in mind you may be able to bypass all of this by first checking all your electrical connections to make sure something isn't loose or corroded which would add to your power consumption.

[Limelight]

Thx everyone for your comments. To clarify regarding the batteries - I have two banks of 6 volt batteries wired together to povide 12 volts. Batteris are wet cell with 230 amphour rating and should be providing a total of 460 amp hours (fully charge - new state). Fluid level in the batteries is at the appropriate level. Battery cables length to the inverter is lss than 2 feet with appropriate guage wiring.

I will be testing the condition of the older batteries - i was told by the prior owner they were 2 years old, however, upon further inspection - they appear to be close to 4 years old - yes, I hear u about not mixing older batteries with newer batteries, as they usually operate at the level of the weakest one.

I have been looking for specs on the power draw on the fridge, as I suspect this could be the issue. I see the new Nocolds draw about 2.1 amps per hour - not sure about the old fridge.

She comes out of the water next week and over the winter I will be replacing hoses, checking elctrical connedtions, and doing general maintenance - so hopefully, will get to the bottom of the issue.

[Mike Ebert]

I was chasing a power drain for months and we couldn't figure it out. Then the original Norcold died and everything was back to normal. Check the fridge!