AcuTemp Refrigerator

[rustystud]

Rusty- Did you find a way to quiet the mep-531 ?? They seem so loud for camping use...I love mine but it is loud.

I just use a "plywood" shelter lined with acoustic foam. Just run a pipe to the air intake and exhaust tube. For the exhaust muffler, there is a company that makes "discs" that quite the sound. I've used them before and they work. You can add or subtract the number of "discs" to suit your application.

 

[Aussie Bloke]

G'day everyone,.....

As far as area goes, it is 18" wide, 18" long, and 15" tall. That's 4860 cubic inches. I don't how much that is in metric liters though .

I have just had a look at the pictures you posted now I am home on my big laptop, Looks like a 40ltr fridge/freezer.

Sorry I forgot about your back and knee as you did mention it in another thread before, I guess I just think of everyone the same.

Sargent eh, great, backbone of the service.

When I did my GST at east Sale airbase we had a WOD who was a real Nazi wanna be,....
The last day just before we left the base we had our barracks inspected by him,....

Lets just say we left,.... he was cocooned up in the rafters with our bed sheets,...
Never did hear anything about it after that.
As far as I know he is probably still up there!



Aussie.

 

[rustystud]

G'day everyone,.....





I have just had a look at the pictures you posted now I am home on my big laptop, Looks like a 40ltr fridge/freezer.

Sorry I forgot about your back and knee as you did mention it in another thread before, I guess I just think of everyone the same.

Sargent eh, great, backbone of the service.

When I did my GST at east Sale airbase we had a WOD who was a real Nazi wanna be,....
The last day just before we left the base we had our barracks inspected by him,....

Lets just say we left,.... he was cocooned up in the rafters with our bed sheets,...
Never did hear anything about it after that.
As far as I know he is probably still up there!



Aussie.

That's funny ! Of course all drill instructors are suppose to be total ass-holes ! That's their jobs. Some do take it a bit to far though.
So 40Ltr . That's not bad eh ? Considering this unit will last for decades I feel it was a great deal.

 

[rustystud]

I just use a "plywood" shelter lined with acoustic foam. Just run a pipe to the air intake and exhaust tube. For the exhaust muffler, there is a company that makes "discs" that quite the sound. I've used them before and they work. You can add or subtract the number of "discs" to suit your application.

I should be more specific about my description. Just a box over the generator will cause severe over-heating. So don't do that ! I plan on remaking mine out of aluminum and putting on newer acoustic dampening (cancelling) materials. That way it can be mounted outside on my spare fuel tank. Also I plan on installing a 120 volt fan instead of the 24volt one there now. That way the generator will supply the power straight from the generator instead of going to the battery charger and then the battery and then the fan. Simpler is better in my opinion. To bad I don't own a small diesel water cooled unit. Actually do they even make a 2KW or 3 KW water cooled unit ? I've never seen one. If they did it would be so easy to just route the hoses outside the box to the radiator. As it is now I will be bolting on aluminum panels onto the MEP-531 frame with the acoustic material facing inward. This will give me a few inches from the bottom to bring in fresh cool air, then the fan will blow it out the top which will have a angled vent to prevent water from entering. Also the "angled" vent will trap and "deflect sound air waves. The muffler I will be using is called "Super Trap" . I've used them before on my old house generators. They work great. They do rust out though. To bad they don't make them out of stainless steel. Maybe they do that on purpose !
Anyway I thought I should just "clarify" about my plywood box.

 

[Aussie Bloke]

G'day everyone,......

That's funny ! Of course all drill instructors are suppose to be total ass-holes ! That's their jobs. Some do take it a bit to far though.

Well he wasn't exactly like R Lee Ermey in 'Full Metal Jacket' (somebody I found out about long after this time of my life).
But was very pedantic and in your face with trivial crap.

So 40Ltr . That's not bad eh ? Considering this unit will last for decades I feel it was a great deal.

My 21ltr came with my 4x4 I bought new in 95 and its still running like new.
I got my 40ltr Gold edition as a 50th anniversary limited edition about 2yrs ago and my 60ltr is a limited edition that Engel did to support our veterans and was released on AZAC day.



So Yeah 40ltrs is not a bad size, great for your supplies for 3-4 people for a good weekend or a couple of people for a week.
As I am sure you already know if you keep it full the fridge will work at its most efficient and use less power keeping the temp where you set it.

The good thing is it looks like it is fully repairable if anything did break down but such things are rare with these.
I do hope you got it for a great price.



Aussie.

 

[Storm 51]

There is another style blood cooler that is smaller and thermo-electric. That means they have no moving parts! They run on very little current and can still hold a case of beer. Cool stuff for sure.

I have one of those in my M37/M42. Great little unit; it runs on house current (120 AC) or 12 VDC or 24VDC. It draws 3 amps max (12 & 24 VDC) and keeps things at exactly 40.5 degrees (F) which is what your kitchen refrigerator is supposed to be set at. It is also little and light (about the same size as a regular cooler and easily lifted by one old person.

Mine came from Murphy's Surplus brand new and I think it was $148.00 to my door.

Blood coolers are great accessories for shows and camping.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Wow, thats a super price!

My new one is a compressor model like rusty's. It has all its paperwork including the packing slip that says inspected by Mat Walace 29/Oct/08. It is missing the batteries, so I called the manufacturer since they are just up in Dayton Ohio. The new part number(my part number is 10yrs old) is 101880. $164.89 each, two required! I will be looking into alternative sources for them(looks like I can get them for about $60 each).

 

[robson1015]

I should be more specific about my description. Just a box over the generator will cause severe over-heating. So don't do that ! I plan on remaking mine out of aluminum and putting on newer acoustic dampening (cancelling) materials. That way it can be mounted outside on my spare fuel tank. Also I plan on installing a 120 volt fan instead of the 24volt one there now. That way the generator will supply the power straight from the generator instead of going to the battery charger and then the battery and then the fan. Simpler is better in my opinion. To bad I don't own a small diesel water cooled unit. Actually do they even make a 2KW or 3 KW water cooled unit ? I've never seen one. If they did it would be so easy to just route the hoses outside the box to the radiator. As it is now I will be bolting on aluminum panels onto the MEP-531 frame with the acoustic material facing inward. This will give me a few inches from the bottom to bring in fresh cool air, then the fan will blow it out the top which will have a angled vent to prevent water from entering. Also the "angled" vent will trap and "deflect sound air waves. The muffler I will be using is called "Super Trap" . I've used them before on my old house generators. They work great. They do rust out though. To bad they don't make them out of stainless steel. Maybe they do that on purpose !
Anyway I thought I should just "clarify" about my plywood box.

think I had a supertrap exhaust on a DR Suzuki dirt bike years ago. Thanks for the info on the noise suppression....
I

 

[Magilla]

I've got an Acutemp fridge as well! Ordered new 22ah batteries from Amamzon for about $87.00 (for two).

My question: Planning on hooking it up to vehicle DC power. There is a black wire, and a white wire from the connector. Stupid question, but which one is hot?

(Getting confused between AC and DC here... AC White is usually neutral...running to ground, and black is hot. Is DC opposite?)

 

[DieselAddict]

With DC black is typically ground and red is hot.

With AC black AND red are hot.

 

[Floridianson]

The frig will be mounted in my "S250" shelter which is on my M105 trailer. That way I can use 24 volts DC when driving, (I have a dedicated 10 gauge wire for power to the trailer) and then switched to my generator (MEP-531) 120 volts AC when parked for the night. Since I can keep food frozen I can have "TV" dinners at night using my small micro-wave.

TV dinners? Bring the big gun and look for four foot/hoof/paw fresh meat!!!!!!!!!!
I was a T rex in a past life give me real meat.

 

[Magilla]

Thanks! If it were a red wire, I would be fine... But with a white wire on the pigtail, I was thrown for a loop...

 

[DieselAddict]

Is there a way you can check for ground continuity between the black and something that should be grounded (maybe the ground side of the battery connection)?

White is likely the hot wire.

I should have a couple in a few days and can do more checking for you at that time.

 

[Storm 51]

In my truck (M37 / M42) the black wire is always the hot wire. White or green is the ground wire.

That is just me however. Military uses (or used) black for hot on my truck so I didn't want to confuse the wiring with different colors on the hot wire.

YMMV

 

[Aussie Bloke]

G'day everyone,....

I've got an Acutemp fridge as well! Ordered new 22ah batteries from Amamzon for about $87.00 (for two).

My question: Planning on hooking it up to vehicle DC power. There is a black wire, and a white wire from the connector. Stupid question, but which one is hot?

(Getting confused between AC and DC here... AC White is usually neutral...running to ground, and black is hot. Is DC opposite?)

Ok, this may sound like a silly question but why not just connect to the fridge's battery leads if your going to connect to your vehicles power?
Keep it simple.


Aussie.

 

[Magilla]

Thanks! I thought of that, too, but it would require opening the top, removing the cover plate and running leads to the internal battery.

Not that hard, and a great idea - but when you have a dedicated DC connector going to the controller that then recharges the internal batteries, I figured why not use it...

The other thing is, (and the only way you'd know it is if you had it in front of you) with just internal batteries, you can not change mode on the fridge from freeze to chill or vice versa, and the control board and readout isn't powered... meaning you only have a flashing LED light telling you if the battery is above 15% (green), 10-15% (amber) and below 10% (red).

I'm going with standard DC convention that black is ground...

Thanks again for all the replies.

I will tell you, this is a stout piece of hardware. It weighs 148lbs empty, including case and batteries. Not quite as versatile or "portable" as an Engel, but for half the price, I can't beat it.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Have you tried hooking a dvm up to the input leads? Never know till you try if voltage will be present.

 

[Magilla]

Great idea. Will try it when I get home.

 

[DieselAddict]

I've looked though the user manual and the maintenance manual and I can't find any info on wiring the DC plug. In several places I did read (including the battery install info) where it has said things were reverse polarity protected. Glancing through the circuit diagrams I can see plenty of protection diodes.

I personally would do some checking with a meter first to see if there are any indications which lead is ground. I will be checking those things out when the ones on the way to me arrive.

 

[LiveFreeOrDieTryn2B]

I hope you get to go Rusty. I hope you take lots of pics we all love them here you know that my friend