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Installing Dometic / Waeco CD-030DCW Refrigerator in Yamaha SX230

OCMD

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Man you guys like to complicate things.....throw some ice in a good cooler, slide it under the chair where it fits perfect, and the ice stays ice until the next day!
 

Bruce

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Fridge just plugs into the batt?
It has a compressor mounted to the back. That has 12V power leads.

You can uncoil the copper and relocate the compressor. It was fine where I mounted it so my compressor stayed in place.

The 12V lead has a low voltage cutoff so it will not harm your battery(s).
 

Bruce

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Man you guys like to complicate things.....throw some ice in a good cooler, slide it under the chair where it fits perfect, and the ice stays ice until the next day!
This simplified my life. No more trips for ice before heading to the lake.

I considered buying an ice maker. This was similar cost and I always have a fridge full of cold drinks on the boat. And if I turn it down I can make ice on the boat.
 

Krats

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Krats

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Bruce

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@Krats @1948Isaac installed this fridge in his similar age AR240. Perhaps search for his posts especially his for sale listing.
 

Bruce

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@cmcnice, I hope you do not mind that I am answering your questions here where everyone can see the answers.

Eight summers later the fridge is working perfectly. Some winters I turn it off others I have left it on. It is nice having cold drinks in the garage.

1. I have a small ACR branded fuse panel after the battery switch, after the low voltage disconnect for house loads. The fridge is connected to that fuse panel. I likely added appropriately sized wire that I had on hand. This thread explains my dual battery setup. Not a typical starter and house battery but two AGM deep cycles using one, the other or both. On long trips I may use both for the fridge.

2. I screwed directly into the solid floor below the storage area. Worked great in my 230. Might not be a good idea in your 252. Removing carpet and glueing down boards should be fine.

3. I did not buy a trim kit. Guess I could 3D print the pieces now if I wanted to.

4. I used a pneumatic automotive body saw that I had bought to enlarge 6.5" speaker holes to 6x9. It worked great but just needing four straight cuts lots of tools would work. A grinder would be an excellent but messy option in skilled hands.

5. The manual has a wiring length to size chart. The rated current at 12 volts is 3 amps and I found the average to be closer to 1 amp. I do not remember what size wire I used but I would guess around 16 gauge pure copper which could handle a constant 3 amps up to 23 feet or the 15 amp fuse maximum up to 5 feet which is similar to the wire run. This wire size calculator could be helpful in determining what size wire to use Wire Size Calculator
For home AC projects wire is sized based on standards that do not account for distance. I followed those standards wiring my home but for DC I prefer to properly size the wire based on length and current. I have started using BNTechGo silicone wire from Amazon for all my DC projects. It is really nice wire to work with and reasonably priced.

The fridge must be our most used boat mod. Always on, always packed with drinks and always being used. We keep drinks in the helm to restock the fridge.
 

cmcnice

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Don’t mind at all, and thanks for all the info!
I ordered the same Dometic fridge with white face from Sure Marine Service and found the stainless steel trim plates from a European site SVB. Both in stock, will see how long they take to get to me. Will be doing the install this fall, or maybe the spring depending on timing. Will share some images and my experience w the 252S. Likely to put it in the rear port seat storage which is right next to the battery/switch. I’m sure have other questions as I go…thanks again.
 

cmcnice

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@Bruce, Both the fridge and trim plates have shipped already, should have both early next week. I did some measuring and reviewing my boat battery setup and wiring (see pics). The fridge will fit nicely in the port side rear storage area which is next to the switches/batteries. I spoke w the main guy at my marina who was concerned it draining the batteries and giving error messages in the connect system. Which I obviously agree with. Just to see I checked the batteries now and the House is 12.1 and Starter is 12.6. This was after last weekend being out 2 days and anchoring for a few hrs w music, and driving about 90 mins each time. In 2 years with the boat I have not had any low battery warnings or issues with similar usage pattern.

He asked me if there was a way to just power it from a battery pack rather than add to the boat’s power, which is an idea. I don’t readily have shore power which is the issue. My boat is kept at a marina as “High and Dry” where it’s out in and out as needed. I may be able to arrange for it to be stored on the trailer near power btw uses but that isn’t a guarantee. So, I was already thinking about getting a Jackery explorer 1000 (was going to get anyway for other purposes as well) which has 46.4 aHr of stored power to recharge my boat’s dual marine batteries as needed with an on-board charger that I would install. But, at this time I am considering just powering the fridge from the Jackery to start and see how that goes. Based on 1aHr/hr rough power consumption of the fridge that should work fine. The pack could fit in the same compartment. I could always add to boat battery in the future, and get better batteries as I think these two aren’t the best. Any thoughts about all this? Thanks!
 

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Bruce

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@cmcnice $1,000 is a lot of money for a 46 aH battery pack. This would be twice the amp hours for a third of the cost https://www.amazon.com/PUPVWMHB-LiFePO4-Phosphate-Self-Discharge-parallel/dp/B092V8675X/

I keep my boat's onboard charger plugged in all the time when the boat is not in the water. That keeps the batteries charged. Unplugged I can draw 100 aH from my two group 31 batteries combined so I can run the fridge for about four days if I do not turn the stereo up too much and send all the battery power to the amps.

Starting with the fridge hot it will draw more initially to cool itself down but a 100 aH group 31 lithium battery would give you 80 aH to draw. That would likely handle the initial cool down plus three days of run time for the fridge. The fridge has a built in low voltage disconnect that would protect the battery.
 

cmcnice

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@Bruce, thanks for the input so fast. I think I will go the route you recommended bc of cost, size and battery density. I wasn’t sold on that Jackery pack too bc it is so pricey, but has other uses obviously than a regular battery which I also could use. I’m going to shop around some. Have you used that brand of Li battery you linked to? There are so many LiFePO4 batteries out there on Amazon I find it hard to know what you are getting. It’s a large enough capacity tho that it would prob last a large chunk of the season and I could charge it at home if need be. Would you just use 14g wire with an Anderson connector with a 15a inline fuse (per fridge instructions) to connect it to the refrigerator? Thanks again for the help!
 

Bruce

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@Bruce, thanks for the input so fast. I think I will go the route you recommended bc of cost, size and battery density. I wasn’t sold on that Jackery pack too bc it is so pricey, but has other uses obviously than a regular battery which I also could use. I’m going to shop around some. Have you used that brand of Li battery you linked to? There are so many LiFePO4 batteries out there on Amazon I find it hard to know what you are getting. It’s a large enough capacity tho that it would prob last a large chunk of the season and I could charge it at home if need be. Would you just use 14g wire with an Anderson connector with a 15a inline fuse (per fridge instructions) to connect it to the refrigerator? Thanks again for the help!

14g wire should be plenty. Crimp on ring connectors would work well with the terminals on the battery.

I have not used that brand. The price and reviews look good but you may find something better. Since it is Amazon if it does not seem to be working correctly you could send it back. The battery should be 13.6V at full charge and drop to 13.2V after running the fridge for 30 hours reaching 13.1V after 60 hours.

1663366048747.png

You can use something like this for the fuse. https://www.amazon.com/MGI-SpeedWare-Inline-Holder-Harness/dp/B08TH41GWN

If you want to run 120V AC items just buy an inverter to use with the battery.
 

cmcnice

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@Bruce, thanks for the help. Did a small dive into the LiFePO4 batteries, watched a few tear down videos, and bought one that has a Bluetooth BMS to monitor charge capacity since it will be freestanding. Will see how the quality is. Arriving this week. My next decision is where to put the battery - either next to the other two in the engine compartment, or just next to the fridge in the storage compartment. Turns out the starboard side makes more sense for the fridge I think but it’s a <10 foot run across to where the battery would be in the port side. My other thought was to wire a battery switch and put next to the others so I can simply turn the power to the fridge on and off when I turn on the House and Start batteries. Let me know if you have any thoughts on above, and again, thanks. I’ll keep you posted as it goes.
 

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cmcnice

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I like those too as a replacement to the cooler we have on the boat and was checking them out. The drawer appeals to me more for our purposes because of the access without sliding out the heavy cooler to the middle of the boat. Esp the kids who can’t do it themselves and also the cooler can’t be slid back and forth easily while moving. Plan to keep our cooler in the spot designed for it behind the port chair w ice or larger items. Nice to have many viable options out there.
 

cmcnice

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I like those too as a replacement to the cooler we have on the boat and was checking them out. The drawer appeals to me more for our purposes because of the access without sliding out the heavy cooler to the middle of the boat. Esp the kids who can’t do it themselves and also the cooler can’t be slid back and forth easily while moving. Plan to keep our cooler in the spot designed for it behind the port chair w ice or larger items. Nice to have many viable options out there.
*correction, the cooler is behind the starboard seat on the floor in our boat
 

svana

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I was looking around for this model as the only ones readily available seem to be the black unit or $750+ and came across this fridge for considerably less ($350). It's a similar size but not sure if I would trust it like I would a Dometic - does anybody have any experience with this model?
 

zelone

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@Bruce have you had any issues with your fridge? mine worked great for 2 years and didnt work at all last season, and I never had a chance to look into it. Now, I have some time, the service light flashes twice, and compressor doesnt kick on. After alot of reading, 2 flashes is usually indicative of a bad fan. I tested the fan and it runs fine. I found a circuit board on ebay, and tried replacing it, but the problem is still there. Not sure how much more time/money I want to invest in this.
 

Bruce

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@zelone, I am touching wood as I type this but eight summers in mine has worked perfectly. I hope it will continue to do so.

The manual has a little bit of troubleshooting info.

The temperature control also acts as a power switch.

It has a low voltage cutoff that turns the fridge off below a certain voltage.

I would check voltage where your wiring connects to the fridge, verify polarity and make sure you are connected to the 12 volt wiring rather than 24. Then make sure it is turned on and check to see if voltage is being sent to the compressor.

Do you remove your batteries over the winter? Any chance the polarity might have been reversed when reconnecting?
 
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