Club Arnage

Just got hold of an old gas/elec fridge. Its a electrolux 120. Its working great on gas but i want to wire it in to the truck. My question is this- is it 12v or 240v and which of the 2 wires is pos, white or blue? Any help gets a beer

A cold beer that is, hopefully.

I've got an Electrolux 160 out the back (beer fridge).
I've just had a quick look. 

Apart from the gas, 240 V is the upper wire (should be 3 core with an earth) and 12 V is the lower wire (picture below).

From what you've described, if you only have one wire (wire 2 cores, it's a 12 V DC fridge).



(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/205/473472856_0dca3439ef.jpg)

Yes I agree with Steve

Do I get a beer as well  ;D

Well I would guess the label has fallen off.  Most Electrical devices have a lable to say what voltage they are.

If the cable looks like it's power cable then I would guess its 240v.   If both wires are the same colour then I think it really doesn't matter which way round you wire it. 

In most cases with fridges the polarity dosn't matter.   

However,  Even if it's mains you can try it on 12v cigar lighter.  If it runs then it's 12v if not try 240v.

The only difficulty I would see is if the fridge is Heat Absorbsion type rather the Compressor.  You won't hear it running if it's Heat Absorbsion you just have to wait to see if it cools.

Where do I collect my beer?   ;D ;D ;D ;D

T.

Cheers guys. I've just put it on a battery, should know in an hour or so if its working. Hopefully have cold ones for you all, location depends on getting a camping pass sorted and the fridge working- fingers crossed.

Not looking good this morning. Just gone out to see if it has worked to find a warm fridge. I'll take it to bits this w'end and try and find the problem. It worked on gas so all is not lost.

If your running on 12v, check the fuse in the plug (the black one with the silver button that pushes in when put in the cig lighter)

Most of them have one in the end, the top normally unscrews.

Also check the battery!!

These fridges take a fair current when running on 12V, and even a full battery wouldn't last all night.

There isn't much wrong with the fridge if it works OK on gas - it uses the same refridgeration system, just a different heat source for different power feeds.

Del

So, only the one wire.

Have you got a battery charger with an ammeter.  The thing should take about 6 amps, and polarity is not important.  If not then you might want to try the mains, but it may go bang.

There is a risk that it is just 240v and gas.  I recall this was usual for 2 way fridges,    ........ but the label says 240 and 12.

So there is a second wire.  take the back off and find it.  It may be that the 12v heater has blown, leaving only the 240 volt heater.  You could buy a 150 watt 240 to 12 volt inverter, as its only rated at 75 watts.

I've now got it hooked up to a batt charger. Its taking 6 amps. Will check temp later to see if we're onto a winner. Thanks again lads!

Nopanic, did you get your Gateshead problem sorted? I'm just up the road in Morpeth. I can pop down in the morning if you want. Give me a shout

Fridge update. No joy on 12v. Going to try it on gas again, if it works i guess the Elec is 240v or buggered. If it don't it will need re-gas. Is it possible to do this or will it be on the tip by june?   Oh wise sages of CA give thy verdict!
Going to need industrial size fridge for all your cold beers now anyway.;-)

They can be refilled with refridgerant - don't know the cost these days.  Try your local camping/caravan shop.

Try running it upside down.  This may sound stupid but in some circumstances, the refridgerant crystalises and clogs various jets - running it upside down sends the crystals to the bottom (ie the top) and clears any blockage.  Once flowing again, the crystals disolve.

This has worked for me a couple of times in the past.

Del

Cheers Delboy, i'll give it a try. Another 3 way has appeared in the local rag. Plan B swinging into action!

BEWARE: Our chest freezer only runs at 0.7 amps however the startup current is 8.3 amps meaning 1992 watts at startup. We are having to buy a 1500W (2500W peak)  invertor just to cope with the initial kick!!

We have just had a 2500w peak load inverter fitted in the truck so i guess plan C should be built around a chest freezer! Just how much cold beer will that be then! We'll never get home:-P

That will flatten the average car battery in under 20 minutes, and needs some serious wires to the battery.

A three way fridge shouldn't take that much extra current on start up.  One with a motor/compressor will, and microwaves are a real killer too.

The inverter has 4 huge cables and is rigged to a equally large truck battery, all seriously heavy duty stuff. I ran a large pro MIG welder off it with no probs so it should cope with the initial kick required. We plan to run it in short bursts anyway so as not to freeze, we have put a temp sensor in to give us an idea. We will give it a try at w'end and take it from there. We can get loads more in it than the 2 small 3 ways we usually take and it takes up less room too. If it works we are on to a winner

Absobtion fridges have the refridgerant settle in them quite often however manufacturers never tell you this.

Best thing to do as Del said

Turn invert 5 times.
Leave inverted for 24 hours
Turn upright for 6 hours
Reinvert for 6 hours

Fit back and power, It normally works ten times better then before.

You hooligan.  Think of those poor little transistors.

I've heard about the upside down fridge trick too, try it.

Sod transistors, evil little things deserve punishment!
Trying the upside down thing.
We had fridge trouble a day before the off
last year and after 2 hours of fiddling about it got kicked over in a bout of rage, that particular fridge has worked perfectly ever since!
It appears from this post that i'm an abuser of electrical items. I must come to terms with our sparky friends;-)

Same here 2 years ago. A belt with the hammer on the compressor soon got it running though.

Ah the hammer. Mankinds ultimate achievement!