Norcold 1201 finally gave up the ghost.

[8Muddypaws]

I hear you, I'm 10 years older than you.

Shipshewana? For me that would have been a 4,520 mile round trip. Cheaper to have it installed locally even at outrageous California labor rates ($195 Hr). Half of that trip would have been without a refrigerator.

My only remaining worry is that the techs won't follow the instructions.

Did you buy the additional 3 years of warranty?

 

[xrated]

I hear you, I'm 10 years older than you.

Shipshewana? For me that would have been a 4,520 mile round trip. Cheaper to have it installed locally even at outrageous California labor rates ($195 Hr). Half of that trip would have been without a refrigerator.

My only remaining worry is that the techs won't follow the instructions.

Did you buy the additional 3 years of warranty?

I did, but not on the day it was installed. IIRC, you've got 30 days after the purchase to go ahead and buy it if you want. We got home and I started thinking about it and decided to go ahead and get it....I mailed it in and they sent me the paperwork for the extended warranty.

Yea, I noticed that you live in CA, so you're probably 100% correct.....not worth the trip if you have someone there that you trust to do it right! Those guys at JC do so many of them everyday/week/month that it's probably like sleepwalking for them....LOL!

 

[garyb1st]

I was asking about the new controller & fin fans.

I ordered a 12V dual compressor today. I'm having it installed by a local shop. Not cheap though. They've done excellent work for me in the past.

I found clarification on the space needed in JC forum, I have lots of room. I'm ditching the ice maker. We hardly ever use it and want more room for ice cream and ribs.

Thanks for your help!

I put in a 12v unit when our old Dometic failed. Are you going to upgrade your battery bank to handle the added draw of the new fridge? We have 210 aHs of lithium which keeps it running for two" days with no problems.

 

[xrated]

I put in a 12v unit when our old Dometic failed. Are you going to upgrade your battery bank to handle the added draw of the new fridge? We have 210 aHs of lithium which keeps it running for two" days with no problems.

Is yours the single compressor or the Twin compressor setup? I have the Twin compressor setup on mine, and it's an 18 cu. ft. model fridge. It will use approx. 145AH in a 24 hour period of time. I built a 302AH battery from scratch and I would feel comfortable with about a day and a half of use with those numbers and current draws.

 

[garyb1st]

Pretty sure mine only has one compressor. It's a 13 cu ft model. Usage is dependent on ambient temps and how much time I use on my energy hungry iMac 27 computer.

 

[8Muddypaws]

I have 420AHs of battery and a 8,000 watt generator I bought the 12v so we can travel without worrying about the refer. We used to boondock for 10-11 days at a stretch but not so much anymore.

 

[8Muddypaws]

And two Honda gennies from our trailering days.

 

[8Muddypaws]

The box was delivered to my favorite shop. I took our rig in and made sure that all the parts were in the box, making a complete nuisance of myself in the process. Should be done in about a week.

 

[xrated]

Any updates on the fridge conversion? Just as a side note for ya, I started mine up yesterday afternoon (83 degrees inside the camper, and the fridge side of the trailer in direct sunlight) and within 1/2 hour, the freezer section had gone from 79°F down to 32°F. After three hours, the freezer was at 3.2°F and the fresh food section was at 39°F. So this morning, after an overnight of running and outdoor temperatures in the mid 50s, I take a peek at my Govee brand temperature sensors in the fridge and I'm seeing 30.2°F in the fresh food section and -6.8°F in the freezer. As of right now, there is nothing in either section of the fridge.....no food, no water, no nothing....so I'm going to leave it alone and see what it ends up at after loading up the food/drinks/etc.

 

[8Muddypaws]

Funny you should ask!

We just picked up our RV yesterday afternoon.

Background information:
The owner of the shop didn't know anything about JC Refrigeration and the Amish Aire brand He wasn't too sure he wanted to do this.

The install:
The tech who actually did the install has done a couple dozen of these but this was his first dual compressor. He said the actually install was easy but he spent twice as much time getting the #10 12v wire into the slide. Don't ask how much it cost. Yikes!

Performance:
When they first turned the cooling unit on the freezer got cold enough to start making ice in about 30 minutes! Now the owner is raving about JC Refrigeration and how freakin' amazing the unit is.

We stood there with all four doors open long enough for the refer to get up to 55F. It was back down to 37 twenty minutes later when we got it home.

More on the install:
The installer did did a couple of weird things though. He ran #10 wire all the way from the batteries to my generator compartment at the very front of the chassis, and from there all the way back to the refrigerator, which is about 10 feet forward of the batteries.

I found out he did not remove the upper baffle that Norcold required but this unit doesn't. I had to use a RotoZip to carve away the part that blocked the vent.

My observations:
When you open the door the fin fans are loud. With the doors shut they are barely audible. I'm hoping they only run when the refrigerator compressor is running. I'm thinking a PWM fan speed controller might be a good addition.

Question:
Didn't you put a couple of fans in your upper vent? If so where did you tap into power?

Thanks!
Russ

 

[Kirk]

My observations:

If you would, return after you use it for a couple of months or so and let us know what you think then. It sounds like you made a major improvement.

 

[xrated]

Funny you should ask!

We just picked up our RV yesterday afternoon.

Background information:
The owner of the shop didn't know anything about JC Refrigeration and the Amish Aire brand He wasn't too sure he wanted to do this.

The install:
The tech who actually did the install has done a couple dozen of these but this was his first dual compressor. He said the actually install was easy but he spent twice as much time getting the #10 12v wire into the slide. Don't ask how much it cost. Yikes!

Performance:
When they first turned the cooling unit on the freezer got cold enough to start making ice in about 30 minutes! Now the owner is raving about JC Refrigeration and how freakin' amazing the unit is.

We stood there with all four doors open long enough for the refer to get up to 55F. It was back down to 37 twenty minutes later when we got it home.

More on the install:
The installer did did a couple of weird things though. He ran #10 wire all the way from the batteries to my generator compartment at the very front of the chassis, and from there all the way back to the refrigerator, which is about 10 feet forward of the batteries.

I'm pretty sure he did not remove the baffle that Norcold required but this unit doesn't. If he didn't I will.

My observations:
When you open the door the fin fans are loud. With the doors shut they are barely audible. I'm hoping they only run when the refrigerator compressor is running. I'm thinking a PWM fan speed controller might be a good addition.

Question:
Didn't you put a couple of fans in your upper vent? If so where did you tap into power?

Thanks!
Russ

Hey Russ, yes, I put a set of Titan fans inside the upper vent on mine....probably at least a year or more before I had the JC mod done. On mine, the 12VDC was behind the fridge and that was the circuit that fed 12VDC to the OEM Norcold unit. I left it there and didn't take it out, even though I ran a completely new circuit from the battery compartment and off of the Pos and Neg buss bars up there. The original 12VDC circuit is where I picked up power for the 12VDC Titan fan assembly. With that unit, there is a wall mounted controller that I placed inside the RV, where I can turn the fans on/off manually or choose "automatic" and the thermostat sensor will determine what speed to run the fans (6 different speeds) Here is a pic of the controller inside the camper, mounted on the wall right next to the fridge.....and also a pic of the Titan fans....

 

[8Muddypaws]

This morning I thoroughly cleaned the entire inside of the refrigerator and freezers and put all the shelving and plastic parts back in it.

I turned it on at 10:10AM. The temperatures inside the box were

Freezer : 47.7F
Refrigerator : 67.8F

30 minutes later.
Freezer : 14.2F
Refrigerator : 46.7F

After another 30 minutes, at 11:10PM
Freezer : 8.7F
Refrigerator : 36.5F (.1 degree from it's default set point.)

The red numbers are actual temp and the blue ones are the set temp. Top set is for the freezer, bottom set refrigerator.

 

[8Muddypaws]

This morning I thoroughly cleaned the entire inside of the refrigerator and freezers and put all the shelving and plastic parts back in it.

I turned it on at 10:10AM. The temperatures inside the box were

Freezer : 47.7F
Refrigerator : 67.8F

30 minutes later.
Freezer : 14.2F
Refrigerator : 46.7F

After another 30 minutes, at 11:10PM
Freezer : 8.7F
Refrigerator : 36.5F (.1 degree from it's default set point.)

The red numbers are actual temp and the blue ones are the set temp. Top set is for the freezer, bottom set refrigerator.

I tried to change the swing temperature. I don't think the manual has been updated since they changed the controller. It didn't act the way the manual said it would.

 

[xrated]

The next picture that you post should be YOU.........smiling from ear to ear!

 

[8Muddypaws]

I have a couple of questions:

Do the fin fans ever stop??? Is there a way of slowing them down? How big of a pain would it be to replace them with quieter ones? They're 40 or 50mm I think. I've found 'quiet' fans that size for home theater cabinets but so far nothing that is moisture proof.

I'm probably going to add at least 2 (very quiet) 120mm fans to force air out the upper vent but I don't want them to run all the time. I'm thinking of hooking them up in parallel with the two fans on the heat exchangers. One on each of each of the existing fans. If the circuit can handle the extra load that's the got to be the simplest way.

 

[xrated]

I have a couple of questions:

Do the fin fans ever stop??? Is there a way of slowing them down? How big of a pain would it be to replace them with quieter ones? They're 40 or 50mm I think. I've found 'quiet' fans that size for home theater cabinets but so far nothing that is moisture proof.

I'm probably going to add at least 2 (very quiet) 120mm fans to force air out the upper vent but I don't want them to run all the time. I'm thinking of hooking them up in parallel with the two fans on the heat exchangers. One on each of each of the existing fans. If the circuit can handle the extra load that's the got to be the simplest way.

Hmm....I don't know the answer to the question about whether or not the fin fans ever stop. I've never paid any attention to them. Replacing them might be an option, but I would certainly try to get something that moves as much air as they do....or more.

As far as the Titan fans I installed on the inside of the upper vent, when you set the controller to "auto", the fan speed will speed up or slow down based on the ambient temperature of the thermostat that it has. It doesn't depend on it's temperature readings from any other than it's own temperature sensor that comes with the kit.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

One of the major drawbacks of an RV fridge is the lack of forced air circulation in the fridge, resulting in uneven cooling and relatively slow temperature cooling recovery. Adding fin fans helps over come this, and ideally those fans should run non-stop at a very low speed to maintain even temperatures throughout the box. But in an RV that is perhaps off-grid, it might be more desirable to run them only when the compressor is actively cooling. It's a tradeoff of cooling performance vs energy usage.

 

[John From Detroit]

Fans also help reduce frost build up on the fins (common on Absorption Cooling units) I added them to mine very nice.

 

[garyb1st]

We use two small D-cell battery operated fans. Honestly I don't think they do much but the wife believes they are the solution to better cooling. When we travel we move everything from our homes refrigerator to the RV. That's 18 cu ft of food stuffed into a 13 cu ft refrigerator. I believe the real answer is to allow more space for the air to circulate.

FWIW, our 12v refrigerator takes about 4 hours before the freezer section is cold enough for food. I think it's ready sooner but that's the wife's bailiwick.