Warning on Norcold DE-0061R Refrigerator

[stuartbell]

Hi, I replaced my old, dead, propane refrigerator with a Norcold DE-0061R 12V/110V about 2 months ago. Simultaneously, I replaced by 3 Group 24 batteries with 4 AGM 200A batteries (6V) hooked series/parallel to give about 400 Ah. I also added 196 Watts of Kryocera solar cells.

I found two serious problems with the Norcold DE-6100R.

1. After several cloudy days, the battery bank dropped below the starting voltage of the refrigerator - rather than shutting down, the motor continued to draw starting current until the batteries went to zero (0) volts. Norcold technical support said, "so?" and I built an under voltage relay to protect the system should that happen again.

2. The second problem is much more serious: The unit draws 0.48 Amps (about) when the thermostat turns off the compresser due to a serious design flaw in the refrigerator's electronics. Norcold tecnical support eventually acknowledged the flaw but refused my request to discuss a possible correction with the design engineer.

Norcold's customer support is unacceptable.

If you are at all constrained on electrical power, the DE-0061R is also unacceptable.

Shame, it is an otherwise good box.