www.iFourWinns.com

Following on from an earlier post re the galley fridge(s) on my 2006 378, the compressor runs for around 30 seconds, then cuts out for around 40 seconds then cycles back in when on 12 volt operation. The fridge is cool but not cold, and the freezer does not form ice. This seems to be draining my batteries, I think due to the high stat-up current draw of the compressor.

It works perfectly on 240 volts (Australian boat). I'm also on a swing mooring so son't have shore power access.

This week-end I tried an experiment. With generator running battery charger only (mains voltage fridge circuits off), 13.5 volts shown on the main panel, the fridges formed ice in around 15 minutes. Perfect !. With genset off, and 12.2 volts indicated on breaker panel, the problem re-occurred, so obviously, I'm dealing with a voltage loss issue.

Any ideas how to proceed from here ?? I guess I should measure voltage at the back of the fridges. Are the wires easy to access ?

This weekend, I also checked out the thruster Charger under the main berth. I notice it's got two outputs. I wonder if I installed another battery under the main berth, charged by the thruster charger, and ran a heavy gauge wire (and a breaker) the short distance to the fridge, how that would go ?

Thx,

Wyane 2006 Vista 378

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Wayne R.
2006 Vista 378 - "AeroNautical"

The size of wire used to power the fridge is likely too small for the run, the fridge has a feature that will cut out when the voltage is low. Here is the manual for Novakool refrigerators where you can read about the cut out feature:

http://www.novakool.com/support/documen ... 007PDF.pdf

A simple way to check this before you go through the trouble of fishing wire is to run the proper gauge wire directly from the panel or the battery.

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2004 Vista 298
Twin 5.7L Volvo Penta GXi-E

Pilotpak, the icemaker will jot work on battery power only on Generator (240/120) or if on shore power which you do not have access to but whenever you can it will work. Cheers.

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2005 Vista 378
VP, 8.1L Inboard

Wayne,

As a fellow 2006 378V owner I've been following your various posts about the problems you have been experiencing. The problem with the fridge/freezer working on shore power/generator and not on 12 volt DC is an easy one to fix. You see, in the brain storm decision to save $5.00 on a $300,000 boat the geniuses wired the DC side with 14 ga. wire instead of the 8 - 10 ga. recommended by the manufacturer of the product. Basically, the unit is starving for power. Rewire with the heavier gauge and your problems are over.

Thanks for the info guys....Next time I'm having a maintenance day at the boat, I'm going to test out a heaver cable run and see if that helps. At least it is an easy problem to replicate, so I will be quickly able to see if the solution works.

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Wayne R.
2006 Vista 378 - "AeroNautical"