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Icetug · 08-09-2008, 19:25

To all, I have been using a twinbied unit for a about a month. I have installed it in an existing icebox on my sailboat. It is right now just sitting on top of the box with some insulation to seal up the opening. Far from the optimum but a test run anyway.

The existing box is not highly insulated and there is some leakage at the top. The small fan on the unit runs all the time and is marked on it that it draws .47 amp 12VDC so the unit will ALWAYS use this amount, even if the box gets cooled down. The company did tell me that the unit would shut down if it overshoots and gets a little too cold but don't bet on this ever happening if your box is very big. The box I have is a typical deep, approx 3 feet x 3 feet with some ood shapes more like a triangle that follows the hull. There are 3 temps available, refer, freeze, and deep freeze. I leave mine on refer and it holds about 38-45F even when the boat is 93F inside. Of course, it is running pretty much flat out all the time. There is an 8 amp fuse in the unit so total draw must be lower than that. I don't have a meter on the unit so I can't monitor performance all the time.

Bottomline is this so far. The twinbird will do the job. I am sure if I divide the box into two areas I can get it to freeze a small area and refer cool the other using an air bleed from the freezer. The fan runs all the time, so if you want total quiet then pass on this one (it isn't that loud though). It is a package unit so you must have the room to install it, although it isn't picky on how you orient it. Being a package it is very easy to install, no refrigerant lines to run, no thermostat lines, just poke it in an insulated box and plug it in. Obviously, the better your box the better it will run. It is expensive, however it is about the same cost as a compressor type unit if you figure in everything. It will run even if it is hot inside the boat without loss of efficiancy, something an air cooled compressor won't do.

As far as running this on a 15 ah battery and solar panel. Hey you can try it but I would have a good return policy so you can get a bigger one when you find out it doesn't work. The only way you could possibly get that rig to work is if your box has 4" of tight foam insulation and is about as big as an ice chest inside, and that would still be pushing it.

Hope this helps.

08-09-2008, 19:25	#89
Icetug Registered User Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 21	I am using one now To all, I have been using a twinbied unit for a about a month. I have installed it in an existing icebox on my sailboat. It is right now just sitting on top of the box with some insulation to seal up the opening. Far from the optimum but a test run anyway. The existing box is not highly insulated and there is some leakage at the top. The small fan on the unit runs all the time and is marked on it that it draws .47 amp 12VDC so the unit will ALWAYS use this amount, even if the box gets cooled down. The company did tell me that the unit would shut down if it overshoots and gets a little too cold but don't bet on this ever happening if your box is very big. The box I have is a typical deep, approx 3 feet x 3 feet with some ood shapes more like a triangle that follows the hull. There are 3 temps available, refer, freeze, and deep freeze. I leave mine on refer and it holds about 38-45F even when the boat is 93F inside. Of course, it is running pretty much flat out all the time. There is an 8 amp fuse in the unit so total draw must be lower than that. I don't have a meter on the unit so I can't monitor performance all the time. Bottomline is this so far. The twinbird will do the job. I am sure if I divide the box into two areas I can get it to freeze a small area and refer cool the other using an air bleed from the freezer. The fan runs all the time, so if you want total quiet then pass on this one (it isn't that loud though). It is a package unit so you must have the room to install it, although it isn't picky on how you orient it. Being a package it is very easy to install, no refrigerant lines to run, no thermostat lines, just poke it in an insulated box and plug it in. Obviously, the better your box the better it will run. It is expensive, however it is about the same cost as a compressor type unit if you figure in everything. It will run even if it is hot inside the boat without loss of efficiancy, something an air cooled compressor won't do. As far as running this on a 15 ah battery and solar panel. Hey you can try it but I would have a good return policy so you can get a bigger one when you find out it doesn't work. The only way you could possibly get that rig to work is if your box has 4" of tight foam insulation and is about as big as an ice chest inside, and that would still be pushing it. Hope this helps.