Adler-Barbour Cold Machine voltage range.

[Richard Lane]

I have a 1982 SFV-1 unit with 16' between the compressor and evaporator
and have just rewired it with 10AWG.
The manual states that the unit shuts down for <10.5v at the terminals
and will restart at >11.5v. Is the 11.5v measured just before the 7.6A
starting current flows or while it is flowing and therefore causing a
further 400mv drop in my case?
Dick

 

[Larry]

I have a 1982 SFV-1 unit with 16' between the compressor and evaporator
and have just rewired it with 10AWG.
The manual states that the unit shuts down for <10.5v at the terminals
and will restart at >11.5v. Is the 11.5v measured just before the 7.6A
starting current flows or while it is flowing and therefore causing a
further 400mv drop in my case?
Dick

After its running.....

By the way, this wonderful piece of technology is the rhythmic buzzing
sound in a regular, very annoying pattern ONLY on Channel 16 where it will
cause the most interference....

bzzzt....bzzt....bzztbzztbzzt.........(repeats every 3 seconds or so)

Took me a while to figure out where the damned noise I couldn't squelch out
was coming from. Shut off the fridge's 12V....noise gone.

Consider yourself VERY lucky if you can't hear it. Check your antenna and
VHF range, just to make sure it's working!

We never got rid of that little bzzzt noise. You cannot shield it out.

 

[Richard Lane]

After its running.....

By the way, this wonderful piece of technology is the rhythmic buzzing
sound in a regular, very annoying pattern ONLY on Channel 16 where it will
cause the most interference....

bzzzt....bzzt....bzztbzztbzzt.........(repeats every 3 seconds or so)

Took me a while to figure out where the damned noise I couldn't squelch out
was coming from. Shut off the fridge's 12V....noise gone.

Consider yourself VERY lucky if you can't hear it. Check your antenna and
VHF range, just to make sure it's working!

We never got rid of that little bzzzt noise. You cannot shield it out.

I since called "Louie" at the Connecticut outfit that bought the Adler
Barbour refrigeration business and he told me that the 11.5v minimum
restart voltage is the voltage at the compressor terminals when only
loaded by the 200mA condenser fan however the 7.6A starting current must
not pull the voltage down below 10.5v or the system will go through
another wait and test cycle. This is a much less stringent condition
than I had assumed and accounts for why the system now starts and runs
fine on one battery w/o charging source. Before rewiring the
battery(ies) had to be charging for the 'fridge to restart.
I had not noticed the ch16 interference but then I rarely monitor the
channel despite the law, I am usually more interested in the VTS
channels 5 & 14. Incidently the 16' pair of wires is twisted to minimise
rfi, perhaps that helps.
Dick

 

[Larry]

Incidently the 16' pair of wires is twisted to minimise
rfi, perhaps that helps.

Nope....not with one of them grounded....

I see your point on VTS....

 

[Richard Lane]

Nope....not with one of them grounded....

I see your point on VTS....

I'm a retired Microwave engineer and believe provided the "grounding" is
at the sending end only then both the E&M far fields (at the mast head)
should be reduced.
Dick

 

[Larry]

I'm a retired Microwave engineer and believe provided the "grounding" is
at the sending end only then both the E&M far fields (at the mast head)
should be reduced.
Dick

This would all be fine if you could put the leaky unit and its cold plate
"radiator" in a Faraday cage. But, alas, it's simply not practical so all
the plumbing radiates it to the nearby VHF radios.

Someone at Adler-Barbour in electrical engineering needs to own a BOAT,
too, so he can THINK about what would be acceptable radiation and not
acceptable radiation to MARINE INTERESTS.....making sure nothing it
radiated fell in MARINE FREQUENCY bands....

 

[Bruce in Bangkok]

It seems to me that if you connect a capacitor from hot to ground, any
AC bzzzt would be shunted to ground without affecting the DC. Of
course if the bzzzt is airborn, this might not help.

Casady

I have one of these devices, mounted under the aft cockpit floor
approximately 6 feet from the VHF. The VHF antenna lead runs forward
from the transceiver to the mast and up the mast to the antenna.

Never heard a bit of noise on any channel in nearly ten years.