Freezer to Refrigerator Conversion

Hint: Good job Dorkmo

/Manufacturing Instructions

Video

Video mentions the refrigerator conversion - video from Open Source PV System

Introduction

Convert a freezer to a refrigerator, and reduce energy consumption 12x so that your refrigerator uses 8 Watts of average power.

This translates to about 50 million megawatt hours of electricity (126M households with 1 fridge) saved per year in the USA if everyone converted to an energy saving fridge from a 1kWhr/day scenario today. This is about $5 billion dollars saved per year in America.

Nearly every household on Earth has a verticaldoor fridge that uses 100W of power on average - or about 2.4 kWh per day. In a country of a few million households, replacing vertical door refrigerators with chestfridges can save enough energy to allow closing down at least one large power station. Alternatively, construction of a new power station to meet the increasing energy demand could be avoided or delayed. http://mtbest.net/chest_fridge.html

In money terms, the Superfridge costs 2 cents per day to run (assuming 10 cent per kWh electricity cost). This is about $7 per year - compared to $88 for an average fridge.

For the Seed Eco-Home, the cost is actually even better. The off-grid energy system cost $3000 for 3kW not including labor. This translates to 2 cents per kWh energy cost over a 20 year life of the PV system. That is about $1.50 electricity cost to run the refrigerator for a whole year!

Original Work

This work is based on the Mt_Best_Freezer_to_Refrigerator_Conversion.

edit

Wiring Diagram

google doc

Wiring Harness

google doc

BOM

Hint: Transition to Arduino Nano, which is less expensive and appears not to get compilation errors like the Sparkfun Pro Micro

Bill of Materials' lists all parts required to build a machine.

amazon

• Sparkfun Pro Micro 3V amazon
  • or adafruit Trinket amazon
• Relay amazon
• Themister amazon $4.32
• 10K resistor amazon
• Female Headers amazon
• Jumper Wires M/M amazon
• USB Wall Charger 1A 5V amazon
• 6" USB Cable amazon
• 4"x4"x2" Electrical Junction Box amazon amazon
• 1-11/16 Hole Saw amazon
• Extension Cord amazon
• 2 Conductor Wire amazon
• Crimp Connection Assortment amazon amazon

sparkfun

• Sparkfun Pro Micro 3V - $19.95 sparkfun - Install Instructions
  • Arduino MKR1000 WIFI sparkfun
• 24-280VAC Relay - $9.95sparkfun
  • or SainSmart Relay Module $3.99 - Requires 5V Board
• Thermister $0.75
• 10k Resistor $0.95
• Female Headers
• Jumper Wires M/M
• USB 5V Charger $3.95
• USB Micro Cable $1.95
• Junction Box $7.23
• Extension Cord - Ace Hardware
• 2 Conductor Speaker Wire - Ace Hardware
• Crimp Connections
  • F Blade Yellow ace
  • F Blade Red ace
  • M Blade Red ace
  • Spade Blue ace
  • Space Red ace
  • Butt Blue ace
  • Butt Red ace

Luxury Edition

• 120V Male Receptical amazon
• 120V Female Receptical amazon
• Hole Saw 1-11/16" amazon
• MKR1000 amazon
• Illuminated Plug Extension Cord amazon
• 6x6x4 Junction Box amazon
• potentiometer adafruit grainger

Tools

• step drill bit amazon
  • drill
• butt connector crimper amazon
• small blade screw driver
• phillips head screw driver
• soldering iron - for adding headers amazon
  • solder amazon
• electrical tape ace

Arduino Code

Hint: Sparkfun Pro Micro controller appears to require Arduino IDE v1.0.1. Not. See installation notes at https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/pro-micro--fio-v3-hookup-guide/installing-mac--linux

Hint: The trigger values below did not work. See Talk:Freezer to Refrigerator Conversion. Try 300 and 310

Code history - File:Fridge code.ini

//A1 read voltage
//D3 sensor power
//D14 relay (-)


  volatile int sensorvalue = 328; //define the variable
  int triggeron = 328;         //number that will trigger fridge on
  int triggeroff = 304;        //number that will trigger fridge off


// the setup function only runs once every time the chip is reset
void setup() {
  digitalWrite(3, HIGH); //for powering thermister  
  digitalWrite(14, HIGH);  //for switching relay
  pinMode(3, OUTPUT);    //begin operating pin
  pinMode(14, OUTPUT);    //begin operating pin
  delay(20000);          // wait for thermister to get a good initial reading
}

// the loop function runs over and over again forever
void loop() {
  sensorvalue = analogRead(A1);   //read sensor
if (sensorvalue > triggeron){     //if sensor reads over triggeron, turn on
  digitalWrite(14, LOW);       //turn on relay
  delay(8000);                 //wait 8 seconds
}
if (triggeroff > sensorvalue){   //if sensor reads below triggeroff, turn off
  digitalWrite(14, HIGH);         //turn off relay
  delay(8000);                  //wait 8 seconds
}
}

 

• See Talk:Freezer to Refrigerator Conversion for explination of trigger values.

Refrigerator + Compressor

• 
• 7.4 LRA on the label. See definition of LRA
• Info about the panasonic compressor: [1], PDF -[2]
• Replacement part on ebay: [3]
• This is the fridge we got (it cost $450): [4]
• This is the closest (in terms of size and price) currently available: [5]
• Best Buy has a 10 cu ft for $270 and 14 cu ft for $370: [6]
• Sam's club has 10 cu ft for $240: [7]
• Notes on how a Refrigerator Compressor works

Other Options

• http://mikeysklar.blogspot.com/p/yatc.html
• https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002EAL58
• https://johnlvs2run.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/chest-fridge-conversion/

Further Reading

• Refrigeration
• Open_Source_Peltier_Refrigerator