Club 80-90 Forums

Has anybody fitted a waeco fridge into their westy .if so how have they got on with it are they noisy at night and how long do they last running on a leisure battery

https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.p ... g#p8003149" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Still didnt answer the question are they noisy

They make a noise yes, similar to your house fridge. At night you will hear it more, it only runs for a few minutes every half hour. So not a constant noise.
It doesn't bother me at all

We have an engel which is a compressor fridge similar to the waeco. You do hear the compressor, but I don't find it intrusive at all. It happily lasts 3 or 4 days on the leisure battery - I havent tried it for longer than that so may go for longer - and will freeze stuff if you set it to much more than 1 (of 5)!

Mark

I can be a light sleeper sometimes. I've contemplated fitting a switch close to the bed for my compressor fridge so I can turn it off overnight if its bugging me. Fridge stays cold overnight, but ice might start to melt.

The only noise I hear with the CR50 is the computer style cooling fan. I find this completely acceptable even at night.

Waeco CR50 seem to be less efficient than Engle top opening fridges. Probably due to all of the cold air falling out everytime the door is opened.

There is lots of info on how long batteries last in the thread I linked too above. But it is not possible to calculate how long your battery will last. It depends in ambient temp, battery capacity, fridge setting, how often you open the door, how much/often you add room temp beer. We find 144ah battery bank lasts up to 48hours as we run the fridge pretty cold and I drink lots of beer.

Fitted a CR50 in my Westfakia (Tin top with Westy pop top and vaguely Westy styled interior - the point being relative position of bed and fridge are as per Westy!).

I have 2 by 85Ah leisure batteries and a 100W solar panel. Have gone 4 days in overcast conditions without voltage dropping below 11.9V (if it did drop below that I'd run the engine for a while and / or reduce draw). The CR50 does have built in voltage protection - i.e. it will turn itself off if it sense supply dropping below whatever it says in the manual that I don't have to hand!

The fridge does not keep me awake (and I wake up if a sparrow f@rts a mile away) mainly because (in my opinion) being thermostatic it really isn't working that hard at night as the temp drops and once down to temp it only kicks in for a few mins especially if the door isn't being opened. I don't sleep eat so never open the door whilst asleep!

Very pleased with the whole set up. You will need a separate switch anyway (so you do have an 'override to off' option in the event of low voltage / too much noise) as apart from turning the interior temp knob to zero there is no way to kill the power to it.

As said before, no noisier than a PC fan and actually I think a bit quieter. And you can't put a price on cold T for the G&T!

Also see this one https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=131527" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

We haven't been kept awake by ours - like people say its not on too much at night when the ambient temp is cooler.

Big problem is that our two 80 amp batteries only keep it going for about 24 hours in hotter climates like S of France in June / July. We are going to be following the example of various people on here (e.g. Tom and Jed) and fitting solar panel before we head south next.

Just bought a vitrofrigo 50l. Same compressor in it, just different 'shell/casing'.

Got a lot of change out of £400.

Google the name and very well respected in houseboat/motor home fraternity. Just don't appear to have the same following in vw circles

PetenAli wrote:Also see this one https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=131527" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

We haven't been kept awake by ours - like people say its not on too much at night when the ambient temp is cooler.

Big problem is that our two 80 amp batteries only keep it going for about 24 hours in hotter climates like S of France in June / July. We are going to be following the example of various people on here (e.g. Tom and Jed) and fitting solar panel before we head south next.

What number do you run yours on? How old and what batteries do you have?

Am I write in saying you can only run these fridges on hook up or mains is there a switch which will turn it from hook up to battery power like my old 3 way fridge

The Waeco CR50 is 12v/24v only. However, they will sell you a 240 to 12v adaptor at which point you will of course be able to use mains hook up.

However, I just wired mine to the leisure battery (via suitable fuse and switch of course!) and run it off the leisure battery bank (170Ah total capacity) topped up with a solar panel. If I do go onto mains hook up (which I've never done since going solar!) there is an on-board charger that tops up the leisure batteries via mains hook up so no need for the adaptor.

ETA: Spec here with pic of adaptor http://www.waecofridges.co.uk/cr50.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (There are cheaper suppliers than the OEM though)

ninja.turtle007 wrote:

PetenAli wrote:Also see this one https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=131527" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

We haven't been kept awake by ours - like people say its not on too much at night when the ambient temp is cooler.

Big problem is that our two 80 amp batteries only keep it going for about 24 hours in hotter climates like S of France in June / July. We are going to be following the example of various people on here (e.g. Tom and Jed) and fitting solar panel before we head south next.

What number do you run yours on? How old and what batteries do you have?

In the UK we usually run it on 3 after everything has got cold. In warmer places we go to 6 or 7 which partly explains things as the demands are so much greater. In the UK we have run non stop for three days and still had plenty left.

The batteries are Avon 110 Ultra 80amp and both were bought in January of this year. They have never come near to fully discharging and have only been down to 11.8volts at which point the fridge switches itself off anyway. Did you have any thoughts Tom?

I've noticed with mine, that the wiring to the fridge is pretty important. If i plug it into the original westy 12v socket, the fridge lasts about a day and a half be fore it goes out on low voltage. If I then plug it into a socket I installed with thicker wiring, it lasts 3 days plus. Must be some big voltage drops on the factory wiring.