Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

[quote="MtnDon"]
The Truckfridge with its extra 2" wrap of polyiso insulation. The extra 2" for the bottom is not attached to the fridge but is under the plywood covered base just visible at lower right.

Truckfridge inserted into its place. The bed platform is painted. Still have to make doors for the underneath storage area; water tank, pump etc visible. Some of my parts mess visible too. The A/C with remote control temporarily installed in the door cut out

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The view from outside the door. Shower pan and walls in place. Fridge in place. The sink in a mockup installation with faucet.

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Closer and different angle view of the shower.

View from the rear. Walls for the shower, pipes visible are hot & cold supply to shower and the waste water tank vent pipe. Vent is still to be hooked up through the roof. Plywood walls finished in Minwax Polycrylic Clear Satin. (water based... love it as there is almost no odor at all. Lasts well too as I have used it on other projects for something like 10 years or more.



Interior nose view. Shelves to be added under counter. Our plan is to use storage boxes under there to hold "stuff".


MtnDon, a question for you on your Truckfridge refrigerator.
My 4.3 Whilrpool refrig conked out on me a couple of weeks ago. I must admit, Sam's Club did a great job backing up it's return program. Now I am in the market for a replacement. I am going to step up and get a much higher priced 12V unit this time at somewhere between 3 and 5 times the cost. I am interested in the 43 qt or 60 something qt Edgestar top load unit and the higher priced CF130 Truckfridge like you have.

I think the Truckfridge is the better unit for me in the long run. Now for three questions for you.
1. How do you still like yours? Would you buy it again, or look for another option?
2. When you travel, how do you keep refrigerated items in place and not all over the place when you bounce around down the road? I have thought that some sort of filler such as those air packing bags that come with online orders from places like Amazon.
3. When you travel, how do you hold the door closed and the unit in place? With my earlier model, I strapped it in.

1. Yes, happy and would buy it again. The only 12/24 VDC fridge out there that I like better is the Novacool. They have one that is very much the same size with the exact same motor & compressor. It has a different and IMO better condenser coil. So it is a little better at dissipating the heat. However, at around a thousand dollars it is not that much better. The Truckfridge condenser is a typical residential small tube and wire variety. It uses a fan for air circulation. The Novakool uses a larger version so in theory it may cool better and I believe theirs has no fan so less power drain. The Truckfridge fan does not use much power though. I have seen one where the owner had the stock condenser replaced with a copper tube and fin radiator with a fan that blows directly through it. Any good refrigeration mechanic could do that.

2. We have enough stuff inside it as a rule that nothing shifts around all that much. The wire shelves all have a front lip. The door shelves hold cartons and bottles fine. We've had no issues with anything in the fridge. There is a drawer in the bottom.

3. The door comes with a good latch. As shipped the door hinge is on the right. It is made reversible and I did switch it to have hinges on the left of the door. That entails moving the latch and that leaves 2 small holes. I filled them with a couple round head screws.

Thanks.
I am pretty much convinced that the CF130 is what I will get. I will just watch for the best price. I will not need one til February when I may make a trek to Florida for a few weeks. It will fit my refrig spot under a cabinet and will have plenty of room for air flow. I believe I also would have enough clearance on all sides and top so as to be able to add more insulation and a circulation fan. I had better run some heavy wiring there now while I still have many unfinished areas to route them.

I watched their website for a long time and never saw any sales. Same price today.

Are they only sold direct or have you seen any other retailers have them?

AFAIK, truckfridge.com is the only place to get one.

Just food for thought, top load reefers tend to be more efficient since cold air is heavy and wants to fall out every time you open the door and is replaced by warm, moist air. Just sayin'.. if your design allows the top load could be better for 12v consumption.
McDave

I truly find top loaders such a pita to use I don't mind paying for the convenience of shelves and a door On the other hand, if I was on a sailboat....

I considered that along with the other pros and cons. I would prefer a top loading one I think, but I want one with a volume that equals my premade space. Also the cost for a larger volume top loader is much more then the high (a subjective rating on my part) cost of the Truckfridge.

I also notice that the model number is TF130, not the CF I was using before.

Since I am no hurry right now, I will check the Truckfridge website frequently just in case a special is offered. Free shipping would be nice.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00CMIIUVY/ref=pd_aw_sim_sbs_469_3?ie=UTF8&dpID=51duTbyBD7L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL100_SR100%2C59_&refRID=0EQMRKGX06XK14V1NXMV

Here you go MtnDon this should keep your lithium batteries warm @30 below.

Cheers ottct

It's been a long time... I finally completed the installation and setup of the PV panels and charge controller today. The panels have been on the roof for a month or so. I ran into an issue with the charge controller and had to send it in for warranty claim. I received a replacement, a brand new unit yesterday.

The panels are attached to the roof using Instapark mounts and sikaflex 252 adhesive. The 252 is sold only through industrial dealers; very tenacious stuff. It is rated as a structural adhesive.



It has rained recently so there is some dirt dried in place. The two panels are connected in parallel. 140 watts each.

The 10 AWG wires from the panels are routed to the hinge line and down the left rear corner.



Then to the Midnite Solar Brat charge controller.



This is a PWM controller, made in USA. There is a fuse in the + from the PV array, mainly to make disconnecting and reconnecting a tool-less job. Also a fuse on the output to the battery very close to the + terminal. The brat did a short bilk and then stepped into absorb as the batteries were fully charged. In a hour and a half from now it should shift into float. There are 4 LED indicators used to show what is happening. After I let it run for a week or so my plan is to paint most of the clear case white to match the trailer.

The Brat is mounted under the A/C that hangs out the left rear door and above the spare tire.

MtnDon wrote:It's been a long time... I finally completed the installation and setup of the PV panels and charge controller today. The panels have been on the roof for a month or so. I ran into an issue with the charge controller and had to send it in for warranty claim. I received a replacement, a brand new unit yesterday.

The panels are attached to the roof using Instapark mounts and sikaflex 252 adhesive. The 252 is sold only through industrial dealers; very tenacious stuff. It is rated as a structural adhesive.



It has rained recently so there is some dirt dried in place. The two panels are connected in parallel. 140 watts each.

The 10 AWG wires from the panels are routed to the hinge line and down the left rear corner.



Then to the Midnite Solar Brat charge controller.



This is a PWM controller, made in USA. There is a fuse in the + from the PV array, mainly to make disconnecting and reconnecting a tool-less job. Also a fuse on the output to the battery very close to the + terminal. The brat did a short bilk and then stepped into absorb as the batteries were fully charged. In a hour and a half from now it should shift into float. There are 4 LED indicators used to show what is happening. After I let it run for a week or so my plan is to paint most of the clear case white to match the trailer.

The Brat is mounted under the A/C that hangs out the left rear door and above the spare tire.

I have the same mounts but haven't mounted my panel yet. Did you make sure it was mounted along the rough support beams?

Gunman9 wrote:
I have the same mounts but haven't mounted my panel yet. Did you make sure it was mounted along the rough support beams?

More or less. The roof skin was glued to the transverse ribs with sikaflex 252 before I began insulating. FWIW, the rigid foam was also glued to the skin. So the roof skin has to flex to it at all. The sikaflex 252 is a great adhesive. It is used to secure skins in constructing trucks and trailers. There are quite a few guys on the expedition portal who have used it to bond skins on there off road creations.

Don,
Nice install on the solar panels!
Tom


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

MtnDon, Howdy;

Long time no see! Good to see you haven't left us for the good life in the Mtns.

Quick question, ... from the looks of it in the photo of the mounts glued to the roof,
it looks like you had painted the roof then glued the panels to the paint, ... or did you
clean off the paint before gluing or is there no paint and it just looks like there is???
Just asking for clarity.

hank