Questions about Nova kool fridge

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

Truck Campers

scrubjaysnest
Explorer
Apr 12, 2016
From what I have read, thinking about changing out our Norcold 300.3, I don't see why it wouldn't work. Several have switched over to the Dometic on the Trailmanor forums and are very happy. You may need to increase your size. 300 watts at best will give ~16 amps and the T145 has an 260 Ah at the 20 hour rate capacity so would be happier at 26 amps. FWIW
_DJ_1
Explorer II
Apr 12, 2016
I went with Dometic and got the 110v included. It very rarely goes to a campground with power unless I'm traveling long distances but its nice to run it here at home getting ready, etc. I have serious problems with Dometic and no help from them. If I was younger I would change it out for a Nova too. Too late in life to invest that much money AGAIN.
67avion
Explorer II
Apr 12, 2016
I put in the Nova Kool 4.3 cu ft AC/DC fridge this past year. It is surprisingly spacious, with a layout that works extremely well for us. We chose the AC/DC model since we only have 200 watts of solar. However, it has turned out to be a non issue.

Oddly, I was warned by the dealer for Nova Kool that they had issues on occasion with getting the machine into a RV. As it turned out, ours was no problem, but you may take a careful look at the measurements.

Our fridge has been sensational.... drawing less power than I had anticipated....cooling to beat the band...and quiet.

If there is one thing that I've done to insure that my wife looks forward to going on the road in our TC - its the Nova Kool. I really don't see any drawbacks to your potential installation.

Best of luck!
Steve_in_29
Explorer
Apr 12, 2016
Trying to post information but it won't let me for some reason.
dave17352
Explorer
Apr 12, 2016
All though I don't have a nova kool yet I have checked them out thoroughly. I plan to put one in my TC also. They must be thinking of us truck camper guys with their awesome sizes. I myself would get the AC option, unless you don't do hardly any shore power camping. That way if you have depleted battery's your converter can concentrate on them instead of running the fridge on a hot day. They also have spec sheets on how much ventilation you need at their website. I believe another gentleman here installed one and left the original venting and has had no problems. You probably know they also sell a unit that needs no venting but it may not fit in your rig. JMHO
ab257
Explorer
Apr 12, 2016
We have a Dometic Tundra compressor fridge (2007), with a Danfoss. The AC is converted to 24 volts DC so it may be more efficient than dining at 12 volts. We had a problem where we were getting a .8 voltage drop across the unit which then kept kicking out on low voltage when on battery. Dometic replaced the board but it didn't help. So they walked me through disabling the AC converter and that solved the problem. Fairly straight forward except powering the light which used a crude step down jury rigged transformer.

So we have been running on 12 volt for the last 8 years using the house inverter when plugged into shore power.
_DJ_1
Explorer II
Apr 12, 2016
One more reason to get the AC is if you boondock with a genny. When you hook it up the fridge goes to AC allowing your batteries to charge faster.
mkirsch
Nomad II
Apr 12, 2016
Steve_in_29 wrote:
Trying to post information but it won't let me for some reason.

Does any of your information have percent signs in it? If so, get rid of them and try again.
Butch50
Explorer
Apr 12, 2016
Thanks for everybody's responses. It all helps.
Steve_in_29
Explorer
Apr 12, 2016
Keep in mind, that unlike an absorption fridge running on 12V, the compressor fridges ONLY draw that amp load when they are running. Yes I know the absorption fridge will cycle as well BUT in any kind of heat on 12V (the least efficient mode) it will pretty much run constantly. Even out here in the 100+ degree temps of the desert my compressor fridge runs around one third of the time, with the absolute worst being a 50 percent duty cycle.

Yes you are still going to have to provide venting as the heat needs to go somewhere, just as the heat from your home fridge needs to. The installation instructions for your specific fridge will have the size of vents required. In my case I had my current camper made without the exterior vents (still needed a solid hatch to access the compressor area) and designed an interior vent setup instead. This helps the camper stay warm/cool as there aren't a couple of big holes allowing ambient temps and wind into it.

The 110V option is up to you and it is really just one of those 110V-to-12V converters. It can provide an extra layer of redundancy though as I found out once. I hadn't been paying attention to my solar panels and they had gotten so dirty they were barely charging. Plus it was VERY hot out and thus my batteries had warmed up as well. Because of this when I plugged into shore power the charger kept kicking off due to battery over temp to protect them. So I simply plugged the fridge into 110V and waited until night when things had cooled down enough to allow my batteries to start charging.

My previous camper had the compressor fridge (Tundra 4.2), (2)T145s and 270W solar setup and I ran the fridge constantly for over a year without ever plugging into an outlet. Current camper has same fridge/solar but I added two more batteries (4) Lifeline AGMs this time.

**Thanks mkirsh it was the percent sign apparently.