Like Dave, I'm finding this very interesting on a couple levels. First, we have not found the TM's OEM fridge to be especially lacking in cooling capacity, though it has pretty poor temperature control. (I keep thinking I should do something about that, but haven't made the mods suggested on this board.) As we crossed the country on our recent trip, we kept the thing switched to the AC power setting, at a dial setting of "3", so it was actively cooling whenever AC power was available. Late afternoon, and all night. Then we simply turned it off as we drove trhough the day. This approach worked pretty well - we didn't freeze as much lettuce as we used to. It maintained temperature pretty well all day - part of that is from fixing the freezer door spring, I think. I would love to have more capacity, though - that 2.4 cu ft isn't much.
The second issue is that Danfoss compressor. We have a 10-year-old Engel 45-quart chest-style frig/freezer (which uses the Sawafuji "swing motor", a slightly different compressor than the Danfoss). We carry it on the back seat of the Explorer, and in the first five years, we used it a lot, setting the temperature to the lowest it would go so we could lug Maine seafood to Arizona, and Arizona tamales and peppers to Maine. Then about 5 years ago, we started using it as an extra freezer in our home, so it has been running 24/7 for 5 years! It seems absolutely bullet-proof. I would offer one caution, though. One night at Chiricahua National Momument, I left it plugged into the cig lighter in the Explorer. We set up camp at 3PM, and next morning at 8AM, the Explorer battery was dead. So although it does not consume a lot of power, 17 hours of freezer operation was too much. Most likely, solar would not have solved the problem, since the unsupported drain was at night. I would expect the bigger refrig that Rick installed to have a somewhat higher drain, although running it as a refrig instead of pure freezer would help a lot.
At any rate, it makes me wonder if TM could be persuaded to build and deliver a trailer with no refrig installed. Just cap off the propane and electric lines. I don't think they would install this new Dometic for you, but your own installation would be easier if you didn't have to deal with the Norcold. And maybe save a few bucks.
Just a thought. My points, I guess, are that the Danfoss reciprocating compressor, as well as the Sawafuji unit, is great - no one should be afraid of it. And although its 12-volt power consumption is lower than the Norcold, it will still eat your batteries if you don't have some way to keep them up.
Bill
|