Brass Monkey Fridge Review

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condor22 said:
Although not on topic, I did mention I was going to check my household fridges, here are the results

Main fridge is a Westinghouse 313 lt fridge with a 103 lt top freezer. It is in a room adjacent to the kitchen and airconditioned, the split directly above the fridge near the ceiling. Although set to 23 C on cool, because of it being directly below the A/C outlet, the fridge ambient is around 20 C.

Freezer is a Hisense 220 lt vertical freezer located in the kitchen and not air conditioned, ambient was an average of 27 C during the test.

Westinghouse used 1.22 kWh @ 36 cents over 24 hours = $32.40 per qtr or $131.40 P.A.
Hisense used 0.9 kWh @ 27 cents over 24 hours = $24.30 per qtr or $98.55 P.A. (runs at about -16 C)

Total fridge freezer $$$ P.A. = $230 (rounded)

The result surprised me initially that the freezer used less, however, 2 considerations;

The fridge is opened more often than the freezer and being a vertical door lets the cold out.
The freezer has a door flap on the top shelf and drawers below, so even though a vertical door, will hold temp much better than an open shelf fridge. Also it' a smaller capacity.
Click to expand...

I knew the Fridge Freezer would be high, mine is about 212Lt combined and in temps of around 25-27*c it uses 1068w and in the cooler months it uses around 750 to 870w and it does not make much difference if the freezer section is full or not,

Due to how the Twin units share their cooling they don't seem to get as cold as they should where the temp in the freezer can vary anything from -9*c to about -15* +/- which is why I started using the ARB, Not only did it use less power but they get a lot colder, with the cooling element being in the compartment, I left a couple of Gammon joints in there for about a month and when I took one out to cook it It was as hard as Marble and took 2 days to defrost and even then it was Ice cold and had Ice crystals in the middle of it,

Back in the summer,
On AC the little 35L Snow Master used 1199w per 24 hrs
"" "" The 78L ARB used 729w per 24hrs @ -15*
"" and the ARB 78L used 927w per 24hrs @ -18*

What surprized me was the Snomaster using 1199w compared to the House fridge freezer using 1068w being a 212L Vs a 35L as a freezer.
 
davent said:
Had a look at these brass monkeys today, they actually look outstanding!
Seem like good quality fridges.....shame I dont need one lol
Click to expand...

Yeah, being in the backseat all day and it was pretty hot down here. Dropped mine down to 2C and it started freezing my drinks after a couple of hours. Back up to 4c and all was good. Icy cold water, cordial and coke.
 
Hard Luck said:
davent said:
Had a look at these brass monkeys today, they actually look outstanding!
Seem like good quality fridges.....shame I dont need one lol
Click to expand...

Yeah, being in the backseat all day and it was pretty hot down here. Dropped mine down to 2C and it started freezing my drinks after a couple of hours. Back up to 4c and all was good. Icy cold water, cordial and coke.
Click to expand...

Yup same as mine, it seems to cycle 1-2 below the setting and then go off until 1 or so above the set temp before it comes on again. So need to be careful not to set it too low for drinks. I've found 3 is a good setting, beer's still icy cold but doesn't freeze.

I had another look on Jaycars site today, they have new model BM fridges since I got mine including the ability to put battery back up on them. But $189 for a 156 AH Li on or $99 for 78 AH seemed very low pricing, wonder what the quality is like. Says they snap into place on certain fridge models. That was from the main BM page on Jaycar's site.

However, when you go to the specific battery page, it states 15.6 and 7.8 AH so someone forgot the decimal point lol. So I think, if you are running from a car/solar for main power supply, then these batteries are for running a fridge away from the car for a couple of hours i.e. a picnic etc.

https://www.jaycar.com.au/7-8ah-rem...fridge-freezers-with-battery-support/p/GH2018
 
Yeah they had a 7.8 amp hour lithium to go with the 40 lt fridge for $99.
7.8 amph is not much use, maybe for recharging detector batteries or run lights.
 
I don't have timed power figures on the BM as a fridge when on 12 VDC, but if I used my Engel as a guide, I average 1 AH in cooler weather and nearer 3 AH in the heat.

So I might get 5 hours in winter and probably less than 2 hours in the heat from the 7.8 AH battery and double that from the bigger battery. So I think my thought bubble re picnics is all it's good for.

As an aside, my Engel is fastened in the 4by so won't remove for picnics. But the 15 lt BM is only rope tied down in the 4by and could be. Even so, I have a HD 10M Anderson ext lead for my compressor, a 5 M ext for my pump and another 3M utility. Joined together 18 metres + the BM 1.5M lead. As long as I don't picnic more than 19-20 metres from the car, I can run it from the solarised Aux battery, lol.
 
condor22 said:
All up, $0.63/day for 313 lt of fridge and a total of 323 lt of freezer aint too bad.
Click to expand...

Trouble is at 1.22kw X 365 is 445.3 Kwh which is $229.95c per year, They claim that my house fridge uses around 227kwh per year but when tested it actually chews 389.82Kwh per year,

My food and milk lasts up to 10X longer in the ARB or the little Dometic and it chews a lot less power. :Y: :beer:
 
My mate that is the off grid solar expert lives around the corner from me.

He has solar on his house wired 3 phase as he has a 3 phase grid supply. He gets $0.16 /kW for solar feed in and pays nothing and once a year gets a check for around $1,200 from the power Co.

No battery at this stage but 8 kW of solar.

Way to go.

If I had my way, (when we finally get to move from current abode) I would like a 5 kW battery/solar on the house and another on the shed for 10 kW total and interconnected.(shed big enough for 2 cars, caravan and modest workshop) with a 3-4 kVA genny as backup and stay off the grid altogether.
 
condor22 said:
If I had my way, (when we finally get to move from current abode) I would like a 5 kW battery/solar on the house and another on the shed for 10 kW total and interconnected.(shed big enough for 2 cars, caravan and modest workshop) with a 3-4 kVA genny as backup and stay off the grid altogether.
Click to expand...

Careful what you wish for.

Off grid set ups are completely different to grid connected. The inverters are entirely different and unless you can make one yourself they are way more costly than the std type.
You also need two of everything with another working system sitting in backup, when something fails there is no power company to ring to fix it, then it's up to you to have a quick fix or you'll have a very upset wife.

It's a fun project if you are into electronics and have the patience to re wind 50kg torroids.

Those brass monkey batteries say they click inside the fridge (current models), that's different.
 
condor22 said:
Is that your price in the UK $229.95? (for 1.22 kWh)
Click to expand...

No that's the maths using your figures, :Y:

QUOTE:- condor22 wrote: All up, $0.63/day for 313 lt of fridge and a total of 323 lt of freezer aint too bad. End Quote.

By your figures @ 1.22kwh @ $0.63c per day X 365 days = $229.95.
 
Wires crossed lol :)

1.22 is the Westinghouse only add the 0.9 for the Hisense and that = 2.12 kWh = 63 cents a day lol

I said "All up, $0.63/day for 313 lt of fridge and a total of 323 lt of freezer aint too bad." meaning both appliances. I got a little confused when you stated 1.22 for $0.63 lol.

hey I'm getting older by the day. :)
 
condor22 said:
Wires crossed lol :)

1.22 is the Westinghouse only add the 0.9 for the Hisense and that = 2.12 kWh = 63 cents a day lol

I said "All up, $0.63/day for 313 lt of fridge and a total of 323 lt of freezer aint too bad." meaning both appliances. I got a little confused when you stated 1.22 for $0.63 lol.

hey I'm getting older by the day. :)
Click to expand...

You and me both, LOL.

I got my brother with AGM problems, who won't leave it hooked up to the smart charger and then wonders why it is becoming slow to charge, ??

Such is life :( :( :playful: :playful: :playful: :playful: :playful: :playful: :playful: :playful: :playful:
 
Wasn't sure where to put this post, but here seems the best place.

Yesterday it was just over 30 C in Adelaide, today is tipped to be 38 C with 27 C overnight. Tomorrow 41 C with 26 overnight Sunday/Monday.

I've set my Engel wired temp gauge in the car, but not in the fridge as what I'm interested in is the ambient temp in the car. I've put the gauge under the back seat well away from the sun to give the shade temp and the probe (normally inside the fridge) hanging from the zipper of the Engel cover. The probe will give the temp the Engel is exposed to in direct sunlight as I do not currently have any rear window shades. I'll note 2 readings - Ambient in the car (the gauge under the seat) and Fridge (the temp the Engel is sitting in) and link to this post over the next 2 days.

My Max readings from yesterday are - Ambient 31.2 C - Fridge 51.4 C. (Min Temp = 17 C) These figures already start to tell a story in that if the fridge is set to say 3 C it is working to drop nearly 50 C from its outside temp. :)
 
Condor22, Somewhere in amongst various fridge posts have mentioned this before. My two engels travel on the back of the ute under canvas cover. The 39L runs as a freezer set just off "flat out" so it will cycle. Usually around -8C. It has a blanket lined canvas cover. One day I placed a seat cushion on the lid so I could get to some gear before heading off for a swing.
When I returned did notice the temp had dropped a few degrees. So I put it to the test over next few days. Cushion off around -8C.
Cushion on around -10C.
When I got back home, dug out the trusty old sewing machine and added a layer of sheepskin seat cover inside the lid section of cover. Didn't get away last year to put it to the test.
It does appear though that extra fridge insulation will definitely help.
 
NJ, I would agree and probably considered it would work before done, adds an extra layer, lol. Here's the latest update.

condor22 said:
Wasn't sure where to put this post, but here seems the best place.

Yesterday it was just over 30 C in Adelaide, today is tipped to be 38 C with 27 C overnight. Tomorrow 41 C with 26 overnight Sunday/Monday.

I've set my Engel wired temp gauge in the car, but not in the fridge as what I'm interested in is the ambient temp in the car. I've put the gauge under the back seat well away from the sun to give the shade temp and the probe (normally inside the fridge) hanging from the zipper of the Engel cover. The probe will give the temp the Engel is exposed to in direct sunlight as I do not currently have any rear window shades. I'll note 2 readings - Ambient in the car (the gauge under the seat) and Fridge (the temp the Engel is sitting in) and link to this post over the next 2 days.

My Max readings from yesterday are - Ambient 31.2 C - Fridge 51.4 C. (Min Temp = 17 C) These figures already start to tell a story in that if the fridge is set to say 3 C it is working to drop nearly 50 C from its outside temp. :)
Click to expand...

Saturday - 8 pm local, sun's off the car. The ambient shade in the car was 40.1 C today. The probe near the Engel hit 61.3 C :poop: I'll use this emojee, cos what I said isn't in the list. :)

I'm seriously considering placing insulated shades on the rear 1/4 windows and the tailgate window. Minimum tonight is expected to be 27 C, which means Min ambient will be in tomorrows edit. :)
 
Back to the insulation, there are two schools of thought re insulated covers, some swear by them, others say they make no difference. There is a however a 3rd factor; Some covers tend to reduce the airflow around the compressor vents, which can also happen depending where the fridge is installed even without a cover. This affects compressor efficiency.

How effective a fridge is, disregarding compressor, how often opened etc, largely depends on it holding the set temperature and the point at which the compressor cycles on and off. It is logical to assume that if the insulation in the cabinet is not the best, it will reach its switch on temp more often. I would then also assume by adding external insulation it would have a similar effect. So, I'm in the swear by group, notwithstanding the outside of my 28 year old fridge is as good as it was when bought.
 
The first and second posts are above re car temps, here are todays figures -

BOM temps o'night 31 C min, (at 5 a.m.) todays max 43 C. (I live nearer the coast)

Car minimum o'night 28.8 C (under the seat) - 24.2 C (at the fridge). - To the maximums, under seat 43.9 C - at the Engel 61.8 C ]:D
 

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