A bit long, but I wanted to explain...
Happy to report I’m super happy with the upgrade I made.
My Norcold N8X had been working awful for the last 2 years, it had to be perfectly level to work so-so. And it was small inside. We lost food on many occasions and I finally gave up on it.
It all started when I upgraded to 2 x LiFePo4 Gr24 100ah batteries last year, they fit perfectly under the stairs of my 2022 Greyhawk 29MV. My pair of Harris OEM deep cycle flooded weren’t cutting it for more than 1-2 days. I did disconnect the Boost button on the dash, as I installed a DC2DC charger to charge them fully and safely, it’s installed in the compartment next to the entry door. And a little Renogy battery monitor next to all the switches in the entryway.
I did not change the converter, a PD9260 IntelliPower. More on that later.
I have the factory installed solar panel and solar controller – which I love, as it charges both the house and chassis batteries. This new setup has been running great for a year or so.
Now, this year, I bought a new Magic Chef stainless steel residential fridge, model MCDR740STE
with exactly the same outside dimension. The inside space is bigger, compared to the Norcold. (By the way Magic Chef is called Vissani in Canada, where I am. Seems they have trademark issues here.)
For the connections it was super easy, as everything is under bed. I bought another 2000W dedicated pure sine inverter and a Xantrex auto-switch. Both affixed to the compartment. The new inverter is connected in parallel to the smaller 1000W inverter from the factory.
I cut the wire to the fridge from the breaker box (white with orange tape) and connected the auto-switch, which in turn is connected to this new inverter.
Now, when running on batteries, the fridge runs off the inverter/batteries. When on shore power, the auto-switch does its thing and allow current to flow to power the fridge.
Now back to the PD9260 converter. Under normal operation, it will charge at 13.6V and on occasion at 14.4V (which happens to be the requirement for LiFePo4 batteries) Progressive Dynamics, the makers of the PD9260, sell a little push button. (The Converter Status Remote Pendant PD92201 ) By pushing the button it forces a 14.4V output when needed, as a 13.6V output will only charge up to 80%, which is not so bad by the way for the health of the LiFePo4 batteries, even beneficial.
After a few months of using it all – it works like clockwork.
When driving my DC2DC charges to 100% in less than 1 hour. On sunny days, the solar charge is also sufficient to get 100% charge.
When on shore power, in sunny areas, the solar brings the batteries to 100%. On cloudy days or treed areas, I’ll push the Pendant button and it will quickly charge up to 100%.
I’ve been able to boondock for days now. Just for insurance I also bought a portable 200W solar panel that I can place where the sun shines (it’s got its own $30 MPPT solar controller installed right next to the OEM one)
Fridge $370, 2000W inverter $90, Xantrex Auto Switch $90, sundries $50, for a grand total of $600. All in USD.
It cools down in less than 90 minutes and works all the time, in tunnels, on ferries, anywhere – no gas, no flame.
Highly recommended.
Happy to report I’m super happy with the upgrade I made.
My Norcold N8X had been working awful for the last 2 years, it had to be perfectly level to work so-so. And it was small inside. We lost food on many occasions and I finally gave up on it.
It all started when I upgraded to 2 x LiFePo4 Gr24 100ah batteries last year, they fit perfectly under the stairs of my 2022 Greyhawk 29MV. My pair of Harris OEM deep cycle flooded weren’t cutting it for more than 1-2 days. I did disconnect the Boost button on the dash, as I installed a DC2DC charger to charge them fully and safely, it’s installed in the compartment next to the entry door. And a little Renogy battery monitor next to all the switches in the entryway.
I did not change the converter, a PD9260 IntelliPower. More on that later.
I have the factory installed solar panel and solar controller – which I love, as it charges both the house and chassis batteries. This new setup has been running great for a year or so.
Now, this year, I bought a new Magic Chef stainless steel residential fridge, model MCDR740STE
with exactly the same outside dimension. The inside space is bigger, compared to the Norcold. (By the way Magic Chef is called Vissani in Canada, where I am. Seems they have trademark issues here.)
For the connections it was super easy, as everything is under bed. I bought another 2000W dedicated pure sine inverter and a Xantrex auto-switch. Both affixed to the compartment. The new inverter is connected in parallel to the smaller 1000W inverter from the factory.
I cut the wire to the fridge from the breaker box (white with orange tape) and connected the auto-switch, which in turn is connected to this new inverter.
Now, when running on batteries, the fridge runs off the inverter/batteries. When on shore power, the auto-switch does its thing and allow current to flow to power the fridge.
Now back to the PD9260 converter. Under normal operation, it will charge at 13.6V and on occasion at 14.4V (which happens to be the requirement for LiFePo4 batteries) Progressive Dynamics, the makers of the PD9260, sell a little push button. (The Converter Status Remote Pendant PD92201 ) By pushing the button it forces a 14.4V output when needed, as a 13.6V output will only charge up to 80%, which is not so bad by the way for the health of the LiFePo4 batteries, even beneficial.
After a few months of using it all – it works like clockwork.
When driving my DC2DC charges to 100% in less than 1 hour. On sunny days, the solar charge is also sufficient to get 100% charge.
When on shore power, in sunny areas, the solar brings the batteries to 100%. On cloudy days or treed areas, I’ll push the Pendant button and it will quickly charge up to 100%.
I’ve been able to boondock for days now. Just for insurance I also bought a portable 200W solar panel that I can place where the sun shines (it’s got its own $30 MPPT solar controller installed right next to the OEM one)
Fridge $370, 2000W inverter $90, Xantrex Auto Switch $90, sundries $50, for a grand total of $600. All in USD.
It cools down in less than 90 minutes and works all the time, in tunnels, on ferries, anywhere – no gas, no flame.
Highly recommended.
