Help with 3 way fridge

[Robbo]

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.

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!!

[Lazy B'stard]

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

[Lorry]

We have just had a 2500w peak load inverter fitted in the truck

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.

[Lazy B'stard]

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

[rcutler]

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.

[Lorry]

............. I ran a large pro MIG welder off it with no probs so it should cope ............

You hooligan.  Think of those poor little transistors.

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

[Lazy B'stard]

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;-)

[Stu]

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.

[Lazy B'stard]

Ah the hammer. Mankinds ultimate achievement!