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Old 06-13-2017, 06:00 PM   #1
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Residential fridge battery saver mod

Here's my new mod.

This is a cut and paste from another thread that I posted in. I wanted to make sure it was working 100% before I started a thread about it. It works.

It shuts th residential fridge's defrost off for when your on battery power and can't afford to have the fridge slip into "defrost mode" that consumes 45A from the batteries for 20mins.

When switch is to the right, the red light goes on to warn that the defrost is off...a warning so I don't forget to turn it back on when it's back on shore power.

The yellow light will come on if the fridge tries to go into defrost, but it can't because the defrost heater is shut off.

With the switch to the left, it is in "normal mode"...the green light will come on when the fridge is in defrost mode. This way I'll know to let it defrost before I unplug the shore power. If that's the case.

Really, it's a glorified switch. The LEDs are needed so I know what it's doing.

Kudos to Mustang65 for working on this with me.

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Old 06-13-2017, 08:28 PM   #2
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Hi Klassic, that is very impressive and very useful. Is it totally homemade? How many batteries are in your NP? I assume you got two like most. I've added a third group 27 battery from Walmart to help the residential refer in my 377 keep running on 12 hr hauls or when we are away from shore pwr. May I ask what the cost was? I had no idea the refer consumed 45a during defrost mode. Do you know how often it goes into defrost mode?
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Old 06-13-2017, 08:57 PM   #3
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GREAT Post... Most do not know about the Strip Heat defrost in Residential Refers... or about the heaters in the doors... Need more details on these models

I did not think about that until reading this post, and DO NOT have a residential fridge in our unit(don't want one). BUT... the Defrost methodology in residential fridges can take them into high current use because they use electric heaters to defrost the evaporator coil and use strip heat to remove condensation from the doors and seals of the cabinet... that would be Nasty to an inverter supplied power scheme.
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Old 06-13-2017, 09:02 PM   #4
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Do you have a schematic/parts list? Very interested as our 2018 Pinnacle 36KPTS is Off-Line waiting to be delivered to the dealer.
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Old 06-13-2017, 09:22 PM   #5
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Do you have a schematic/parts list? Very interested as our 2018 Pinnacle 36KPTS is Off-Line waiting to be delivered to the dealer.
This is Fridgidaire specific, because that's the refrigerator schematic and fridge I have.. I believe they have changed to a different fridge for 2018.
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Old 06-13-2017, 09:59 PM   #6
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It is home made. Total cost was under 25$
Simple parts.

The Fridgidaire schematic (you can find it in the pouch behind the bottom grill) says it will go into defrost mode every 6-96 hours. I assume that is based on how often the doors are opened and how much humidity gets let in. I don't know how it knows that it needs defrosting.
I know the control board has a defrost sensing circuit, that looks for the state of the defrost thermostat (open/closed)
When it is in defrost mode the relay on the control board opens and closes every 90 seconds or so. I assume so the heater doesn't get too hot.
You've probably never heard it, or noticed, but when it enters defrost mode the fridge will stop running and the relay will click (quite loudly) every time it opens and closes, for about 20 minutes.

I don't know how the 6-96 hour timer works. I have made the fridge go into defrost 3 times now by opening the freezer a bunch of times to let in humidity..turned the temp as low as it will go, then sat down and had a beer and waited. Soon enough it goes into defrost mode.
(This is how I tested to see if the fridge would run correctly after not actually defrosting)
Even with the switch to the right,"off" mode, the yellow LED will come on (indicating defrost mode has started), the fridge will stop running...it will do its thing for 20 minutes... then the fridge will come back on, but the heater will not be drawing any power during that time because my "off" circuit isn't letting the heater get current.

I haven't "real world" tested. I've only tested it in my driveway. But while boondocking for 2 or 3 days with solar and 2 6volts in the past, I've caught the fridge entering defrost mode and watched the input current on the Xantrex remote meter hit 50amps before.

I'll post schematics to this soon.
Some electronic knowledge would be an asset
Keep in mind it requires wiring to the fridge control circuit board and is 120v.
I'm sure if you had fridge warranty problems and they saw this wired to the control board, that might not go over well.
I've done it so the wiring can come off the board and not be detected that anything has been done.

If you know anything about how the fridge works, feel free to chime in with any thoughts
If anyone thinks this is a bad idea, speak up too.
So far everything works fine. I'll only use the switch while driving and when I do short boondocking stays.
It's hard to keep battery power with this fridge, even with my 520watts of solar.
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Old 06-13-2017, 10:08 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by SloPoke View Post
GREAT Post... Most do not know about the Strip Heat defrost in Residential Refers... or about the heaters in the doors... Need more details on these models

I did not think about that until reading this post, and DO NOT have a residential fridge in our unit(don't want one). BUT... the Defrost methodology in residential fridges can take them into high current use because they use electric heaters to defrost the evaporator coil and use strip heat to remove condensation from the doors and seals of the cabinet... that would be Nasty to an inverter supplied power scheme.
Yes. All correct.
I never thought about that before I bought.
Having a residential fridge needs shore power for the most part.
I can handle sort shore powerless stays, this little mod should help out.
I've hauled 3 hours before and the batteries were way under 1/2. I can only assume the defrost went on while traveling.
I'm also going to double my Ah's soon too
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Old 06-13-2017, 10:15 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by klassic View Post
If anyone thinks this is a bad idea, speak up too.
So far everything works fine. I'll only use the switch while driving and when I do short boondocking stays.
It's hard to keep battery power with this fridge, even with my 520watts of solar.
I have a background in HVAC, specifically in Retail Refrigeration. I think you are on the right track... to be able to manage the defrost cycle and the other heat strips in a fridge that are intended to reduce condensation of the cabinet. The downside is how to reduce the power consumption that these systems use/need to make the Fridge work and prevent the evaporator coils from freezing up.

Maybe a way to pull the generator into operation while the defrost operations are in use (while on daylight cycles). Just an idea????
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Old 06-14-2017, 05:00 AM   #9
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I have a background in HVAC, specifically in Retail Refrigeration. I think you are on the right track... to be able to manage the defrost cycle and the other heat strips in a fridge that are intended to reduce condensation of the cabinet. The downside is how to reduce the power consumption that these systems use/need to make the Fridge work and prevent the evaporator coils from freezing up.

Maybe a way to pull the generator into operation while the defrost operations are in use (while on daylight cycles). Just an idea????
Yes. This was my intention. To see when the fridge wanted to defrost, then let it do it in the day time when I had full solar, or like you said use a generator.
Problem is the yellow light will be on for the defrost cycle, then it will shut off when the time is up. Unless I see it I wouldn't know.
I could put another relay in the circuit with a reset button that would keep the yellow LED on, but I found out through testing that the fridge still runs fine after not actually defrosting.
Maybe it will eventually frost up, but I am only looking for 3-4 days athe most before getting back to shore power.

Also, once it does the defrost cycle (but not actually getting to defrost) it is satisfied and doesn't keep trying.
My plan would be to put in into defrost manually (it's in the diagnostic menu) if I ever saw it was trying to go into defrost when the switch was off.
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Old 06-17-2017, 04:26 PM   #10
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Here is the circuit diagram.
Almost all credit goes to Don Mustang65

If your savvy, you will see it can be done with a DPDT switch. We just didn't do it that way because I already had the 4PDT


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Old 01-19-2019, 09:39 PM   #11
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Here is the circuit diagram.
Almost all credit goes to Don Mustang65

If your savvy, you will see it can be done with a DPDT switch. We just didn't do it that way because I already had the 4PDT


Looking at this, question were is the frig connector located, and do you have to pull the frig out to access this? thks Mitch
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Old 01-19-2019, 10:57 PM   #12
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It’s all behind the removable grill at the bottom of the fridge.
Take the screw out holding the black box, and slide the control board out
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Old 01-19-2019, 11:06 PM   #13
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It’s been over a year and a half since I did this.
If I recall, the brown wire might be wrong. I knew which wire it was, but Mustang drew it in the schematic wrong
Or I am wrong stating this. I really can’t remember now.

If your taking on this challenge then you must be confident enough with your electric/electrical skills.
Verify that wire.

The schematic for the fridge is behind the grill too. You’ll find the wire connectors with wire your looking for in the Fridgidaire schematic.

I’ll look for any other pictures I took of this.
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Old 06-28-2020, 12:33 PM   #14
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Klassic,I'm having refrigerator problems again and I remembers your post about the defrost heater switch.has that fixed the problem? I towed home yesterday 3 hours and our freezer was up to 19* We have two 12 v batteries and a 1200 inverter. But 3 hours towing?
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Old 06-29-2020, 09:23 PM   #15
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It might have been the defrost cycle that raised the temp. But 19 would be pretty high.
Was the stuff inside reflecting that temperature?
I know I have seen the temp go up after a defrost cycle. Most people wouldn’t even know that a cycle has started, but my switch has a light that tells me that it is in defrost...and it goes into defrost more than you would think. I see it a lot.

I know if I mess with the freezer too long, leaving the door open, it doesn’t take long for the temp to go up. And it’s strange because it really shouldn’t go that high.
I few weeks ago I was running low on battery power at night, so I shut the fridge off until morning. The ice just started melting, there was a small puddle. Otherwise everything was still fairly frozen. I forget what the temperature was when I turned it back on.

I’m thinking your fridge did a defrost cycle while you were driving, and you saw the high temp not long after the cycle stopped.
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Old 06-30-2020, 03:50 PM   #16
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Thanks for the quick responce! I think you're right ,sometimes we have this problem when the world's align and defrost while towing ,on a hot day. By the way ,most of the food was ok ,including ice although the ice cream was a little soft
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Old 06-30-2020, 04:25 PM   #17
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Thanks for the quick responce! I think you're right ,sometimes we have this problem when the world's align and defrost while towing ,on a hot day. By the way ,most of the food was ok ,including ice although the ice cream was a little soft
Yes. I was also going to mention “hot day”
The fridge is really crammed in it’s spot with little ventilation.
I’ve noticed a big difference on how the fridge operates when it’s hot out vs cool fall weather. I have no slide toppers, and the sun beats on the roof of the kitchen slide. It must be a thousand degrees in the fridge compartment.

I’ve thought about making vent holes in the bottom of the slide (at the fridge), covering with bug screen, and making a vent at the top of the fridge to the inside. Then when the roof fan is operating it would draw out the hot air from behind the fridge.

Keep in mind, this is only when I’m running on battery power and solar. Otherwise I’m plugged in and then it doesn’t matter.
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Old 07-02-2020, 03:18 AM   #18
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Son of a.... What a great hack. Thanks Klassic. We have the Whirlpool fridge but the concept should be the same. Because of the pets we plan on limiting trips to 3 hrs, 4 max, but I’ve wondered what the defrost would do.

I would not have guessed such a power draw. I’ll sit down with the power monitor and explain to Joan that it will require a beer...
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Old 07-02-2020, 07:16 AM   #19
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One more thing, klassic; is the point of the resistor to create a phantom load so that when the control board tries to turn on the heater it "thinks" it's successful? And is there a specific reason that you need to know that it tried? (As opposed to just letting it cycle in the future after you turn it back on)


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Old 08-04-2020, 04:07 PM   #20
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Refrigerator defrost heater

Thanks Klassic for your help !!
Here’s my switch for the refrigerator defrost heater.
Again thanks...
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0C57ABB1-323B-428E-8CD0-60C282E6EB34.jpg   3CADDD8F-7983-496E-A22C-9F9AEE1173D6.jpg  
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