Adler Barbour Compressor "Pumping" when on Battery Power

[duck21]

Hello,

We have a 90's vintage Adler Barbour Super Cold Machine on our boat. It works great at keeping our food cold and seems to be a solid device. Everything works as expected when on shore power--the compressor kicks on and the fan runs/cools the ice box. According to my OEM amperage gauge (analog meter, came with the boat), it draws about 5 or 6 amps (more than I'd like, but the cost of refrigeration).

But, it seems to have an issue with the compressor starting when we are on battery power. We have a 2 year old single 4D lead acid house battery. When at anchor the compressor tries to turn on, I see the meter spike to about 7 amps, then the compressor stops. It will cycle like this almost indefinitely. Maybe once every 20 times the compressor will stay on and it will cool.

This feels hard on the compressor, so I shut the unit off when we're not under power.

That said, it feels like this should work properly.

We have a fifteen foot wiring run from the electric panel to the fridge, it's wired with 8AWG wire, which I think should be able to handle that amperage with out issue. The house battery wiring is about 7 foot length run with 2/0 cable.

I'd assume that we're not overdrawing anywhere. If the fridge wiring were under sized I would assume that it would pump even when the charger is running. The battery is in good condition (and exhibited this problem even when new), so I don't think it's a battery problem.

I'm open to suggestions as to next troubleshooting steps.

Thanks!

 

[Tally Ho]

I have an AB compressor on my 1988 O’Day 322. I didn’t install it, so I don’t really know how old it is.

I have 2) 6-volt golf cart batteries as my house bank (well, my only bank). Batts are about 3 years old.

My compressor come on regularly, when on shore power or just batts. I don’t really see a difference.

My amp draw is similar to yours at about 5-6 amps.

When I go out on the hook for a weekend, I typically throw a gallon jug of frozen water in the the fridge, and turn the fridge off at night. Keeps my food and beer cold, and I get ice cold water as the jug melts. And I don’t hear the compressor turn on at night while I am sleeping ;-)

I can’t help with the wiring, not sure what mine is…but as you said, it is strange that the compressor only acts strange when on battery-only.

The fridge isn’t a dual power supply (120v and 12v) unit is it? That could explain the different behavior.

Greg

 

[duck21]

Thanks, Greg,

Definitely not dual power--we only have a refrigeration breaker on the DC side, and we see the amperage draw on the DC meter even when we're plugged in.

I know they make "soft start" units for air conditioner compressors, but I haven't been able to find the equivalent for 12V systems.

Doug

The fridge isn’t a dual power supply (120v and 12v) unit is it? That could explain the different behavior.

Greg

 

[Davidasailor26]

What voltage do you read at the battery and at the compressor when it’s cycling?

My compressor started cycling like that a couple years ago when the battery was at lower state of charge. I measured with my multimeter and found over 1V of drop from the battery through the distribution panel and to the compressor. That drop was enough to cause the short cycling when the battery was under about 12.5V. I re-ran a new 8AWG wire straight from a fused bus bar at the battery to the compressor and that solved the issue.

 

[JoeWhite]

When this happens, run the engine and see if the compressor turns on. You can do this at the dock with shore power disconnected. If the compressor runs then it is not getting enough current due to corroded contacts. First try cleaning them. If it did not solve the problem, the compressor is set to not work if below a set voltage. Lower that setting and see what happens. This setting usually is at 10.5 VDC.

 

[rgranger]

I’m with @JoeWhite

I was going to suggest that your battery can’t support the initial surge…but since @Tally Ho has a similar set up without problems… I was going to suggest a voltage drop due to bad connections … this would not happen if your charger was plugged in (ie connect to shore power)

 

[Johnb]

Lets ask the question nobody seems to think of.

Did it ever work right or is this a new problem?

 

[dlochner]

Time to get out the DVM. Measure the voltage at the compressor when it is trying to start without the battery charger or engine running.

The symptom you are describing sounds like inadequate voltage to start the compressor. There can be multiple causes for this from poor connections, wires that are too small, dying battery, too many other loads on the battery while trying to start the compressor.

 

[duck21]

Hi all,

Thanks for the various pointers. I grabbed the multimeter, shut off the battery charger and opened up the fridge door and....of course, the compressor kicked on no problem. In thinking, we usually disconnect from shore power and head out, running instruments etc. on battery before I head down and see it failing to start, so I'm guessing things are living right on the edge,. I was worried about current, but didn't think about voltage drop. I'm very sure this is the issue.

The refrigeration configuration is probably Hunter OEM (based on the breaker placard). That said, the compressor has 25ish years of wear and tear, we've added/changed other draws on the system, and I'm not sure what the original battery config looked like. Did it ever work? Probably when the boat was new, but the previous owner rarely anchored out, so it's doubtful that he would have ever noticed when it stopped working. We've had the boat for two years, it hasn't worked in that time.

After the first mention of voltage drop in the thread (and reference as to where the cut off may be) I broke out the manual (maybe I should have started there). Indeed, AB states that the compressor will have a good sized start up draw and needs a minimum of 11V. THEY recommend NOT running wiring through the DC distribution system due to potential voltage drop. Their recommendation is to come directly off the battery (OR off the battery on/off switch), through an independent 15 amp breaker, then straight to the compressor. I think I'm going to rewire our unit to source off of the battery switch (through a breaker on the control panel, of course). I'm not sure when I'll get to the project, though as I have a couple of other higher priority projects to tick off the list first, but I'll update when I do.

Thanks to everyone for the info and for pointing me in the right direction!

Doug

 

[Stu Jackson]

Doug, I have a 1986 unit. I had exactly the same problems and read the manual about going directly to the batteries. Don't do it. Your issue is voltage drop, for starters. I ran new parallel wiring from my panel, improved it somewhat. Then it just stopped working. I traced it down to the electronic module. Mine was a pre-idiot light version. Richard Kollman's website has lots of info on idiot light modules if that's what you have. i found a replacement module at rParts in Santa Cruz, California. You need to know if you have the four pin or three pin connection between the module and your compressor. They're both on the base of the unit. The new module I got is mounted remotely from the compressor base about a foot away. It's been running fine since I fixed it in 2016. Good luck.

 

[duck21]

Thanks, Stu,

I just found your thread from 2016 about this. Reading it now!

Doug, I have a 1986 unit. I had exactly the same problems and read the manual about going directly to the batteries. Don't do it. Your issue is voltage drop, for starters. I ran new parallel wiring from my panel, improved it somewhat. Then it just stopped working. I traced it down to the electronic module. Mine was a pre-idiot light version. Richard Kollman's website has lots of info on idiot light modules if that's what you have. i found a replacement module at rParts in Santa Cruz, California. You need to know if you have the four pin or three pin connection between the module and your compressor. They're both on the base of the unit. The new module I got is mounted remotely from the compressor base about a foot away. It's been running fine since I fixed it in 2016. Good luck.

 

[Davidasailor26]

I grabbed the multimeter, shut off the battery charger and opened up the fridge door and....of course, the compressor kicked on no problem.

If the compressor is running and staying on that’s actually a pretty good time to take your measurements with the multimeter. That way you can check voltage drop with a consistent load on the circuit.

 

[duck21]

With the compressor running and the battery fresh off the charger I was reading 12.6V at the breaker. The Admiral wasn't keen on me tearing up the cabin to measure on the compressor (located under the settee) at the time so further data points will need to be obtained later.

If the compressor is running and staying on that’s actually a pretty good time to take your measurements with the multimeter. That way you can check voltage drop with a consistent load on the circuit.

 

[Davidasailor26]

With the compressor running and the battery fresh off the charger I was reading 12.6V at the breaker. The Admiral wasn't keen on me tearing up the cabin to measure on the compressor (located under the settee) at the time so further data points will need to be obtained later.

12.6 at the breaker sounds alright, but yes you’ll need to get to the compressor to see what’s being lost the rest of the way.