On Mon, 31 Mar 2014 15:13:56 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:
On Mon, 31 Mar 2014 12:42:37 -0400, "Sir Gregory Hall, Esq."
wrote:

Our 4 L16HC batterie$ gave up the gho$t at the dock, and will no longer hold
a charge overnight.

Batteries are like that. Replace them every three years and replace
them as a group. Don't buy anything but old-fashioned, flooded, deep-
cycle 12V marine batteries. Case size 24 or 27. Nothing larger. Derive
your amperage capacity from getting as many as you require. In your
case, probably about 12 case size 24 or 10 case size 27

===

Not good advice in my experience. We're having really good service
out of a set of Trojan T-145 heavy duty golf cart batteries. They
cost more of course but are much better than the standard Trojans and
infinitely better than the Sam's Club variety. We are now at year 5
and they are still going strong.

Six-volt Trojans are good batteries and they do tend to last a year or
two than your garden variety 12V deep cycle battery but they aren't
cheap compared to the same amount of 12 V amperage. If you've gotten
five years out of them, count your blessings and recycle them
into a new set BEFORE they start going on the fritz.


====
PS our new $ea Fro$t refrigeration is struggling, too,
maybe batteries, maybe the water pump with gunge from our grounding.

===


I TOLD you not to get Sea Frost brand as it's a POS. Throw it all
overboard and get an Adler Barbour air cooled unit. In your case
you probably need two of them. It's a simple system and quite
efficient. Mine's been working like a champ now for over two years
since I fixed a hole in the tubing going into the evaporator with
electrical tape.

===

I agree with that. We have two independent A-Bs which I installed
myself. I carry everything I need to service them including gage
set, vacuum pump, leak checker and extra R-134a. One of the units
has never needed service. The second one had a hairline crack at the
quick disconnect fitting which was probably my fault. Once
discovered, I re-soldered it, and has been trouble free since. We
also have an Engel chest type fridge/freezer depending on settings. It
runs on either 110AC or 12 volt DC whith automatic fail over. It's a
great unit which will keep Hagen Daz ice cream frozen at sub zero.

Good for you - you're prepared. Here's something to remember. If one
or the other units starts to act up as in constantly cycling off and
on, and running fast as if the fan and not the compresser is working
and the voltage indicates little or no draw and the evaporator barely
gets cold, then check the gas pressure and if it's right then the
chances are great that one or more of the spade connectors on the
computerized connection block are making a poor connection. Poor
connections can even result it it not starting at all or starting and
running for a short while and then stopping for hours. You might even
feel a lot of heat on one or more of the spade connectors which will
be due to high resistance ane/or arching.

Make a color-doded connection chart and then remove all the
connections. Clean both the male and female side with contact
cleaner (acetone). Crimp the female side a little tighter and,
using some dielectric lube slide them back together. They will
need to feel very tight. This procedure will probably be the
cure.

It cured all my oddball problems which I had assumed to be due
to too much or too little R134a. Turns out that, when running,
7-10 psi on the suction side works great. At 10 psi the copper
tubing commences to feel a little cold about two feet from the
compressor just about where it goes into the insulated sleeve
and the amperage draw goes up half an amp or so but the box
cools faster and more so it's worth it.

I'm convinced that if one has refrigeration one must be able
to caretake it in house. But, all told, the cold beers on a
hot day without having to get ice makes it well worth it.