[C320-list] power outage with fridge on question

[Jeff Church]

Chris,

I'd also be interested in a solution that will protect the batteries. Maybe 
Jeff Hare has a suggestion.

I've stopped storing any perishables in the freezer because the fridge shuts 
down a couple times each season.  I'm not sure if it is because of a thermal 
cutout at the compressor or a voltage drop due to the battery charger 
malfunctioning. When I get back to the boat after a few days the evaporator 
is defrosted, ice has melted and drained out of the ice bag, but all else, 
including battery voltage, looks normal. The harbor doesn't appear to have 
had any power outages. Sometimes I have to flip the fridge breaker to 
restart the unit, sometimes it has already restarted itself. I hope the 
problem is the thermal cutout and not that the batteries are drained and 
recharged while I'm away.

The Cold Machine manual says that if the fridge does not see at least 11 
volts at startup, the startup is aborted. Unfortunately the battery is at 
50% at 12.18 volts.

JeffC


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Block ..._/) ....._/)" <cblock at austin.rr.com>
To: <C320-List at catalina320.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2006 6:30 PM
Subject: [C320-list] power outage with fridge on question


I was wondering if anyone had a "work around" for the following scenario:

You're plugged in and running your fridge and the power goes out at the 
Marina.  How does one prevent running down the batteries past their safe 50% 
level?

Is there a type of sensor/switch that says, if I'm not connected to 110 at 
the charger, turn off the batteries?

Chris
Amore #139
!!- _______________________________________
!!- C320-List at catalina320.com mailing list
!!- Archives Here: http://www.catalina320.com/list/archives
!!- Change Subscription Here: http://www.catalina320.com/list/change
!!- Subscribe Here: http://www.catalina320.com/list/join