80 litre waeco not reaching temp

[AB]

My brother has the 80 litre dual zone waeco.

He was at my house the other day when we had that hot 38 degree day and he had it set at -10 which "In his words" holds the beer temp in the fridge department perfectly.

Long story short it could only get to -3 with the fridge in the shade under the carport. When the sun set it came back up.

I know in my 60 litre I can set it to whatever and whenever and it will easily reach desired temp.

Is this is a regular problem with the larger fridges struggling on hot days or is something wrong with it?

Never had this problem with my 60 and had it inside locked up in the gq on similar days with no issue, even set at -10.

Larger area to cool and can't handle it or?

[MudRunnerTD]

Hi mate you will find that it was the weather and not the fridge mate. Below is straight for the manual available online.

Temp range is +10 to -18 but advises that minimum temp can not be gained when ambient temp is above 32c

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[the evil twin]

Hi mate you will find that it was the weather and not the fridge mate. Below is straight for the manual available online.

Agree with MR on this call.

The Waeco 80's aren't exactly brilliant performers when ambient temps head past low 30's and they suck in high 30's, low 40's.
In fairness to Waeco they do say so in their specs.

I sold mine and use two smaller fridges instead.
Much happier camper

[AB]

Thanks mate, interesting how the 60 litre can reach any temp any time but the 80 just can't cut it in the extreme days.

It would suck if you went up north touring in the heat? The fridge part of the dual zone was warm enough to spoil food and the freezer would not freeze water.

[MudRunnerTD]

Did you put a multi meter on the power supply at the back of the car for voltage drop? What condition are his batteries?

[AB]

I told Mark to check for voltage drop because the previous owner has run the power to the tray and an extra few metres so they can put the firdge outside the tray under a tree, etc for camping. Mark also got his auto elec to add a couple of metres onto the waeco cable as well....lol

He cracked it and just bought a new Optima and still same problem.

I'll try and take a look this weekend. I remember when I had voltage drop on mine the fridge would cut out. I did watch his fridge for 5 minutes and didnt see it cutting out though.

Newb question = Can you get a voltage drop that simply doesnt supply enough power or will it just always cut out like mine did?

[megatexture]

I told Mark to check for voltage drop because the previous owner has run the power to the tray and an extra few metres so they can put the firdge outside the tray under a tree, etc for camping. Mark also got his auto elec to add a couple of metres onto the waeco cable as well....lol

He cracked it and just bought a new Optima and still same problem.

I'll try and take a look this weekend. I remember when I had voltage drop on mine the fridge would cut out. I did watch his fridge for 5 minutes and didnt see it cutting out though.

Newb question = Can you get a voltage drop that simply doesnt supply enough power or will it just always cut out like mine did?

Yep and you can, the waeco have 3 cutoff levels his could be set on high also

[the evil twin]

I remember when I had voltage drop on mine the fridge would cut out. I did watch his fridge for 5 minutes and didnt see it cutting out though.

Newb question = Can you get a voltage drop that simply doesnt supply enough power or will it just always cut out like mine did?

Bit of a mixed question there but the Waeco's esp the early ones were notorious for being to sensitive to voltage when on battery.
They would cut out at stupidly high voltages but that isn't the problem you saw.
It was just too darn hot
Probably the biggest advantage of the Engels over the Danfoss type fridges, in that the Sawafuji use less power in the first place and run at lower voltages.

Voltage drop is a two part thing.
One the manuf like to tell you it is there to save your battery which is kinda true but only because they need it more than your battery does.
Part two is that the fridge needs the same amount of electrical power to operate and power (watts) is volts times amps.
As the volts drop the amps rise and the the higher the current flow the more the wiring and components heat up.
The more the wiring heats up the more voltage drop you get so it is a vicious circle.

The Waeco 80 specs indicate they won't perform at 100% in temps above low 30's even if you plug them into the local power station.
They aren't engineered to be able to do it but in fairness that would mean an ability to drop the temp more than 50 degrees below ambient
Engel claim from 45 up to 55 degrees depending on model.

National Luna are the absolute top of the wozza for fridge performance with a claimed ability to maintain -18 at an ambient of 43.
Given their reputation and the field reviews I have read I believe them.

[Sir Roofy]

The big waeco that i had just didnt cut it in hot weather hence went to a 60l as all the above is correct
check his cables and put in heavy duty for less power drop and i use dc to dc charger on aux battery
and when not driving switches to 70w solar to top up while parked up

[sooty_10]

Just tell him he should have bought an engel... haha

All joking aside that's a pretty disappointing state of affairs if it can't keep beer cold when ambient is above 32+ degrees.

Next time you could test it by plugging it into 240v, should tell you if it is voltage drop issue or simply the fridge design and specifications not handling it.