Questions about Nova kool fridge

Butch50 wrote:
Wayne, would you please let this post stay in the TC section as they have the most knowledge of the DC compressor fridges.

X TCer here and I have some questions for the folks that have the DC compressor fridges. I'm tired of my Norcold fridge and its poor performance so looking to replace it with a DC compressor unit.

I have room for the Nova Kool RFU6800 6.8 cu ft unit. This would be replacing the Norcold N3160 5.3 cu ft unit Surprisingly the Nova Kool cutout size is a little smaller than the Norcold so I would have to do a little work to make the opening smaller. Do I need to retain as much venting area on the outside of the rig for the Nova Kool as I have for the absorption fridge?

So a question is there any reason to get the Nova Kool with the AC option which adds to the cost of the unit? As far as I can see the AC option is wasted as you still have to convert it back to 12 VDC to run the fridge because the Danfoss compressor is a 12VDC unit. When plugged into shore power why not let the built in converter in the RV provide the DC power to the frdge?

The Nova Kool 12VDC draw is 5.2 amps so I'm changing out my two 12 volt batteries for two 6V Trojans T145s. I can only get 2 batteries into my battery area but I have a lot of height so can fit in the T145s. I would be adding 300 watts of solar minimum before adding the fridge. Do you folks see any reason why this well not work. I'm not a power hog and all of our lights are already LEDs. What is you thoughts on the amount of solar I'm looking at do you think it is enough? When we are out in the woods the TV is never on. M wife has a CPAP but we have a lithium battery for it and it runs her CPAP for 2.5 nights before needing recharging. if we drive at all we plug it into the 12VDC power port to charge it off the vehicle. I'm thinking the 300 watt solar would provide enough power to recharge this battery also for the CPAP.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance

Butch

Hello Butch50, regardless of what maker of DC compressor refrigerator you go to most of them use the Danfoss DB35 or DB50 compressor and yes it's worth being to be able to use 120 AC volts . I don't know why this is a option with Nova Kool with my Dometic CR1110 is is a stationard built in feature that comes with the Danfoss compressor. I've mine since 2013, just like you I got tried of the constant failures with the absorption system and will never go back to a absorption refrigerator ( Norcold 300.3) Make sure you have the ability to have enought battery power to support that compressor refrigerator. I myself increased the charging wire size and added a Interstate 4D battery to my system and will soon add solar power as well.

Here's a video on my install...CR1110 install