Isotherm Boat fridges

[itsonlymoney]

My mate has bought a replacement fridge for his boat (Old one knackered) The new one only runs from 12v DC supply (old one had 12v DC and 240AC supplys) According to the manual it appears that you can fit a "convertor" translates into English as "Transformer" one assumes however I cant find and availability from online chandlers so the question is this......Is it worth fitting a tranny or is it as well just leaving it on 12v DC. Will it harm the batteries the fact that the fridge will drain them regularily therefore the chargers will be on a lot more tahn they would if fridge was on shorepower ?
Ian

 

[Bunny]

Have a look HERE. Mine runs the 12v fridge from the hook up and reverts back to the battery power when un plugged.

 

[zingaro]

i have a isotherm fridge which is 12 volt and also has a transformer so that it can be run on the mains when pluged in to shore power. the fridge stopped working so i got a marine electronics engineer to take a look. he said that the transformer had gone and you could not by it separate it came with a relay as well at a cost of £140.00.He advised that i should just run it on the 12 volt dc supply. He just unpluged the mains cable from the step down transformer which tripped the relay and it has worked fine ever since. he also told me that it was safe to leave the battery charger on at all times without doing and damage to the batterys as it regulates the charge rate according to the drainage on the batterys and i am always hooked up to the mains when i am in a marina.

 

[itsonlymoney]

Thanks...........

 

[miket]

I have just fitted my new Isotherm and also the Waeco "step-down". The transformer was quite expensive but I decided to go for it. I also opted for the ASU version of the fridge to suit our style of boating.
A word of warning on running the battery charger full time;
Yes it SHOULD be fine until the auto cut out fails, as mine did, and you cook 6 batteries, all of which needed replacing.

 

[itsonlymoney]

So how much was the tranny and were from ?

 

[miket]

Refer to the link on the "bunny" reply.
It is a Waeco product but can not remember how much. I am thinking about £70 odd but may be way off.

 

[Nautorius]

Ian,

I have an Isotherm Fridge on the Aquador and do not have shore power. It has also never flatened the battery even when left on. They are very efficient units and will run over 24hrs on a single 85amp battery. I use a 13volt solar charger to keep her topped up when moored and it works a treat.

Might be worth trying that first,

Cheers

Paul /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[itsonlymoney]

Thanks Paul
So probably be ok just to leave it as it is then ?

 

[Nautorius]

I would have thought it was fine to use off the leisure battery.

Let us know if you come accross any problems

Paul /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[itsonlymoney]

Will do. It had 2 new batteries fitted july 06 so if they cook in the near future we know its not a good idea not to have the 240v option /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Will keep you posted.