[Graham99]

Hi Everybody,

For a long period of time I have had a Waeco CF80 dual zone which I have not been happy with. The problem was the extreme range of warm and cool spots across the fridge, and it's inability to be used as a fridge only rather than a dual zone fridge.

I decided to try one more thing before getting rid of the fridge if the change did not work. I fitted a 12V 120mm fan into the fridge between the baskets to improve the circulation inside the fridge. Images are attached.

This has transformed the fridge. The temperature range across the fridge used to be 20 degrees with the partitions in, and about 12 degrees with the partitions out. I'm now down to 3 degrees across the whole fridge. This was measured with a temperature probe and comparing against the fridge display in various positions.

If I put some cans close to the fan they are cold within an hour. If I load the fridge up to the top it is stable overnight and good to go. I only need to determine what the added current draw will be, but I am envisaging 0.1A.

Cost, for me about $20 because I got the fan from a main shop. If you hit the computer fairs you'll get fans a lot cheaper than that. All that is required is a 120mm low speed fan. I have a high speed fan, you know when you open the fridge, as it's howling.

Hope this helps anybody else out there who wants to improve the performance of a CF80, or any other large fridge for that matter. Next time we go away I am going to take it and find out if it is a success in the bush.

 

[BowTieGQ]

Mate, thanks heaps for that idea. Looks awesome, simple, effective and cheap. I've got the same fridge and can't get temps even enough. Freeze my beer at the freezer end and warms my beer in the dairy section.

I always have the baskets and partitions out hoping the other end would get colder. But this may be the answer I'm after.

As for any additional current usage, I'd assume that since it's more even you'd probably have it turned down a little. I always have mine a little colder so the warmer end isn't too warm.

Can you now work out a way to get the temp readout accurate?

 

[ITS A FORD NOT A NISSAN]

i did this a while ago although a different fridge , but i put a small fan in a piece of pvc pipe , 40 mm i think , and i have it standing up right to suck the cold air from the bottom and spread it out over the top , i have a nice even temp throughout my fridge where before i had up to 15 deg differance , no more digging for cold beers as they now reside near the top, mine runs 24/7 and has been faultless

 

[Graham99]

Waeco CF80 Fridge

Do it mate, you wont look back. As far as temp is concerned, get another temp readout gauge and put it at the opposite end of the fridge to the coil. I am assuming from the results I am seeing that the Waeco temp sensor is on the coil somewhere.

Believe me, you'll like the results

Mate, thanks heaps for that idea. Looks awesome, simple, effective and cheap. I've got the same fridge and can't get temps even enough. Freeze my beer at the freezer end and warms my beer in the dairy section.

I always have the baskets and partitions out hoping the other end would get colder. But this may be the answer I'm after.

As for any additional current usage, I'd assume that since it's more even you'd probably have it turned down a little. I always have mine a little colder so the warmer end isn't too warm.

Can you now work out a way to get the temp readout accurate?

 

[BowTieGQ]

Yeah I'm assuming that too. Have another aftermarket sensor already. Shows the Waeco on is 9 to 10deg out all the time. When placed in centre of fridge not touching anything. So Mines always set about -5 to -7 to be right. Not stressed, just find it annoying. Can put a man on the moon but can't get a temp sensor/readout right.

 

[Graham99]

Waeco CF80 Fridge

Hi BowTie

Thats the nature of the dual zone fridges, the temperature control for the fridge only works on the coil, the rest of it is by guess and by god.

The Engel dual zone is much better, it has a fan and a 2 degree swich, so if the fridge side is getting too warm the fan kicks in. It was either going to be an Engel or ARB 60L if this had not worked.

 

[voids]

That looks like a very simple and effective little mod. When I Had my CF80 found that you need to run the fridge around -6 to -10 and lower for it to work well as a dual Zone fridge. I think the More the fridge is packed the more efficiant it gets providing everything has cooled down.

 

[Komodo]

way more faffing around but I use 2 x 12V temerature controllers from fleebay. About $40 for the two controllers - everything else I had.
One is used with a relay to opperate the compressor (has compressor delay settings etc). This gives me a temp read out as my CF-80 is the older style with the bar graph type read out (useless).
and the second one is used to control a small (40-50mm) fan with read out/control of the fridge side temp. The fan is setup like ITS A FORD NOT A NISSAN (I think thats where I got the idea initially actually) on the end of a piece of PVC pipe to force the cold air up.

Oh I also setup the fan across the heat exchange thing (not a fridgie so not sure its proper name) in push pull by adding a second fan. Pulls down temps slightly faster now too.
Works really well. I was concidering selling the fridge until I did this as I was sick of it not working properly and using a metric s**t tonne of power.
Its funny these days a lot of 240V domestic fridges have fans in them to circulate the cold air too.

 

[foreverdiesel]

From memory the temperature gauge on the Waeko CF80 showes the freezer compartment temperature, not the fridge. I recall reading this somewhere.

 

[Graham99]

That is correct, which makes it a crap fridge when you dont want to run it as a dual zone.

My only concern is how this mod will stand up in high heat situations like the outback.

 

[ITS A FORD NOT A NISSAN]

That is correct, which makes it a crap fridge when you dont want to run it as a dual zone.

My only concern is how this mod will stand up in high heat situations like the outback.

i cant see any downsides to it, it surely works well in my fridge even on the hottest of days, as long as the air is moving around inside the fridge then it should have a reasonably even temp throughout the fridge, although i would have thought that a 120mm fan would be overkill but a bigger fan should ensure a more even temp, and may be a bit quieter than a smaller fan

 

[Graham99]

The fan is a bit loud, but it is a higher speed 120mm fan, which gives the airflow around the product. I have found that if I want to chill something down quickly the best place to put it is the downstream side of the fan.

Fridge is actually at work now doing a 12 week product trial. Best part is that once the trial is finished I will probably get to keep the product.

 

[MikeH]

this fan in the tube things sound like a good idea to make and sell.
Where's Ferret when you need him?
he could come up with something neat and tidy that clips into a CF40 or a CF60 and makes your beer cans stack straight too.

 

[geordie4x4]

this fan in the tube things sound like a good idea to make and sell.
Where's Ferret when you need him?
he could come up with something neat and tidy that clips into a CF40 or a CF60 and makes your beer cans stack straight too.

You can buy a small 3" diameter fan in a tube from a good boating store. The Rule bilge blower fan is what I have used to cool my compressor and I have tried one in the fridge too.

They do run a bit too fast for the fridge and pump a big volume of air for a small fan but you could put a resistor in line to slow it down.

This one is the most compact:
Australian Boating Supplies | Chandlery - Rule Blower In-Line 75mm 12v

This one is a lot bigger and bulkier than it looks in the picture:
Australian Boating Supplies | Chandlery - Blower In-Line 12v
Or make a cheaper one if you can find a fan to fit neatly in the PVC tube.


Best price I have found

Amazon.com: Rule 140 Marine Bilge Blower (3-Inch, Inline): Sports & Outdoors

 

[Doogeej]

Hi there, this post is old but was hoping still OK to post on. I have a cf80 and want to to try graham99's solution. I'm not overly technical and wondered what the fan is connected to? I see from the pic it runs into the bulb housing, how does it connect from there?
Thanks
Doogeej

 

[Squalo]

Welcome to the forum Doogeej. It's actually preferable to tag onto an existing post/topic rather than create a new one, if the subject is the same, so that's a pretty positive start to your membership here

The bulb power will be more than sufficient to tap into to run a pc fan. You just need to connect + to + and - to -

+ is red
- is black

Go to a Jaycar and tell them what you want to do and they will tell you how to do it and sell you what you need.

 

[Tonner61]

i did this a while ago although a different fridge , but i put a small fan in a piece of pvc pipe , 40 mm i think , and i have it standing up right to suck the cold air from the bottom and spread it out over the top , i have a nice even temp throughout my fridge where before i had up to 15 deg differance , no more digging for cold beers as they now reside near the top, mine runs 24/7 and has been faultless

I now this is mega old but don't have a pic of the fan in the pipe by any chance?