Club 80-90 Forums

California Dreamin wrote:Maybe I'm being a bit picky....and what you have done looks very neat however, I would still like to have seen a matching 'door' with trim and not the front of the Waeco fridge.....like Westfalia fashioned for the original.

Martin

Rob (Dutchdude) bought the cooling element, compressor etc and fitted it to the original westy fridge. I haven't seen inside his fridge but with the door closed it looks completely original looking. The only downside is you don't have the freezer compartment.

Works like a charm Looks completely stock. Flat element mounted in rear of fridge, compressor unit on top. It's a waeco Coldmachine cu 55. I've tried EVERYTHING to keep the original door, I even bought a waeco compressor fridge, but it is impossible to do. (waeco MDC50 compressor fridge, fits the original hole (42,5 cm wide) for sale now btw).

Best thing of it all: it runs completely off the solar panels, the fridge draws just 2.5 amps. Never any need for hookup or sterling chargers for that matter. Just tested it on a two week trip and works even better than expected.

I'll take some pictures if anyone is interested. Pricewise better too, the compressor units are much cheaper than a complete fridge and it's the same mechanics. this is the unit I bought, I found a used one..:

http://www.marinesuperstore.com/item/99 ... ng-kit-box" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can also get a version with a freezing compartment instead of the flat unit:

http://www.marinesuperstore.com/item/99 ... ooling-kit" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And Neil, although I wanted to keep the original look as well, I have to complement you on your work, very nice install, best one I've seen so far.

Dutchdude wrote:Works like a charm Looks completely stock. Flat element mounted in rear of fridge, compressor unit on top. It's a waeco Coldmachine cu 55. I've tried EVERYTHING to keep the original door, I even bought a waeco compressor fridge, but it is impossible to do. (waeco MDC50 compressor fridge, fits the original hole (42,5 cm wide) for sale now btw).

Best thing of it all: it runs completely off the solar panels, the fridge draws just 2.5 amps. Never any need for hookup or sterling chargers for that matter. Just tested it on a two week trip and works even better than expected.

I'll take some pictures if anyone is interested. Pricewise better too, the compressor units are much cheaper than a complete fridge and it's the same mechanics. this is the unit I bought, I found a used one..:

http://www.marinesuperstore.com/item/99 ... ng-kit-box" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can also get a version with a freezing compartment instead of the flat unit:

http://www.marinesuperstore.com/item/99 ... ooling-kit" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And Neil, although I wanted to keep the original look as well, I have to complement you on your work, very nice install, best one I've seen so far.

Would love to see some pics Rob.
Rob.

lhd wrote:

Dutchdude wrote:Works like a charm Looks completely stock. Flat element mounted in rear of fridge, compressor unit on top. It's a waeco Coldmachine cu 55. I've tried EVERYTHING to keep the original door, I even bought a waeco compressor fridge, but it is impossible to do. (waeco MDC50 compressor fridge, fits the original hole (42,5 cm wide) for sale now btw).

Best thing of it all: it runs completely off the solar panels, the fridge draws just 2.5 amps. Never any need for hookup or sterling chargers for that matter. Just tested it on a two week trip and works even better than expected.

I'll take some pictures if anyone is interested. Pricewise better too, the compressor units are much cheaper than a complete fridge and it's the same mechanics. this is the unit I bought, I found a used one..:

http://www.marinesuperstore.com/item/99 ... ng-kit-box" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can also get a version with a freezing compartment instead of the flat unit:

http://www.marinesuperstore.com/item/99 ... ooling-kit" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And Neil, although I wanted to keep the original look as well, I have to complement you on your work, very nice install, best one I've seen so far.

Would love to see some pics Rob.
Rob.

Me too! I wondered if doing this was possible after seeing the guy on here (ourwullie?) do the same thing to his bay's cooleer box

Pics and tutorial would be good lol

Some pictures:

and some more:

I really like that
How did you mount the compressor? Does it work as well as you expected?

The compressor unit can be mounted as far as 1.5 metres away. Logical place would be a cabinet to the right or left. Downside of this is loss of cabinet space and lack of ventilation in the cabinets. I mounted the compressor unit on top/behind the fridge. There are vents on the top and on the left side. Best spot in my opinion although it was a tight fit, but it worked.

The unit works exactly the same as a regular waeco compressor fridge. With the thermostat on max it will cool the entire box down to minus 18 degrees. I did not go for the freezer compartment version because I hardly use that and now there is more cooling space in the fridge itself.

Works very well, I can only recommend it.

Rob.

This isn't in the same league as Neil and Jes's install or Rob's but is another way of doing things:



The aluminium angle at the side is what I had lying around as is the mesh at the bottom. I like the look because it matches the Waeco rather than trying to find something that matches the early westy brown.

Underneath the fridge is the Sterling which is why the aluminium mesh is there to allow for air flow:



Two 80amp batteries in the bottom of the wardrobe - we chose this because its an area that just gets cluttered up with junk otherwise. You can just see that the two battery boxes clip together.



Then lids on to keep everything insulated and strapped down. A wooden shelf will go over the top of these cut to fit the space. I'm going to do this with a cardboard template as its not a very regular shape.



Sterling remote control was needed as the unit is out of sight most of the time. It fitted quite well here:



Two really useful tools:

The cheap crimp tool that I got (about £20 delivered) - works a treat



and a step drill bit which helped make sure I could drill big enough holes to get grommets in where the HD cable runs through steel panels.



Overall I'm quite pleased with the look of it and I've learnt a bit through installing the Sterling. The whole set up works well and the Waeco is as good as everyone says. I'm struck by what Neil said about having the fridge lower down and being able to get it further back into the recess. When I've got a bit more time I might see how it works swapping the fridge and Sterling around.

Looking good - I quite like the idea of having leisure batteries in bottom of the wardrobe - still lots of useable space

Nice battery boxes. Source?

Lots of different sizes/colours on fleabay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksi ... &_from=R40" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

silverbullet wrote:Nice battery boxes. Source?

What richlaz said ^^^^^^ - found them on fleabay. The ads often don't give dimensions so I had to phone to check.

These were the ones I got http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leisure-Batte ... 51b677fb74" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I like the battery setup. Twin batteries is better, might copy you on that. How does the crimping tool work? squeeze in a vice or hit with a hammer?

With a fridge this nice I think your front panel deserves a repaint.