Beier 12V Compressors

[belizesailor]

We all know that both Waeco and Domectic compressors are efficient engineering marvels. I've owned, and currently own, a few of each and been very impressed.

But, I recently had to replace a 12V fridge unit quickly and the unit available had a "Beier" compressor. I own a couple of other fridges/freezers ashore which have 120V Chinese compressors in them (not Beier I don't think), they do make some funny noises sometimes, but they have been running with no problems for several years.

The Beier unit is running and cooling just fine. It makes some odd noises like the others do, but is working just fine. My only concern is "will it last"?

Any one have experience with the reliability of these compressors?

(Please refrain from general Chinese product bashing...that really does not contribute any solid information)

[cat man do]

Good to hear you have had a result
I have been keeping an eye on this line of off the shelf 12v fridge freezers from them
BEIR Refrigerators-Freezers 12v

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by cat man do

...
I have been keeping an eye on this line of off the shelf 12v fridge freezers from them
BEIR Refrigerators-Freezers 12v

Yep, looks like the same products. Although those on eBay say they have a "Domus" compressor, but the company logo on the fridges are "Beier".

The off-road camping crowd seems to be a big market down under.

I will take a peak in the AC driven units I have here ashore and see whats in them too.

[foggysail]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Yep, looks like the same products. Although those on eBay say they have a "Domus" compressor, but the company logo on the fridges are "Beier".

The off-road camping crowd seems to be a big market down under.

I will take a peak in the AC driven units I have here ashore and see whats in them too.

My old (junk!) Norcold used the Danfoss compressors. They were not a true DC compressors (one for the freezer, one for the fridge section) and I am not sure if any of them are. I forgot the actuals on the compressor but I think the AC was about 60v.

My point-- it used an integral inverter. That was one of my main thoughts when I junked the Norcold and replaced it with a Summit 8.3 cubic feet that operates on 120 AC. I have it set up to run on dock or generator when available with an automatic switch over to a 1kw true sine wave inverter when AC is absent.

Foggy

[belizesailor]

A response from an Australian vendor of Beier products to my email:

...The Beier product has been very good. We have the had the odd thermostat issue, that is about it....

My fridge, with Beier compressor, has been working just fine for a couple of months now. The "odd noises" it made initially have settled down quite a bit. It is still noisier than other 12V compressors I have owned, but is cooling just fine here the tropics.

[foggysail]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

A response from an Australian vendor of Beier products to my email:



My fridge, with Beier compressor, has been working just fine for a couple of months now. The "odd noises" it made initially have settled down quite a bit. It is still noisier than other 12V compressors I have owned, but is cooling just fine here the tropics.

That is good news to share! My above post was made only to emphasize that one should not overlook using an inverter to escape from 12vdc machines because many so called 12vdc machines actually power their compressors with AC.

Foggy

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by foggysail

That is good news to share! My above post was made only to emphasize that one should not overlook using an inverter to escape from 12vdc machines because many so called 12vdc machines actually power their compressors with AC.

Foggy

Danfoss makes a very wide range of compressors both AC & DC. To my knowledge, the BD25 and BD50 which I have owned, are actual direct DC compressors. They are also amazingly efficient, whereas many AC compressors (like those in residential systems) draw dramatically more juice.

[belizesailor]

Finally got around to checking amp draw on this fridge. When chilled down and just normally cycling it draws about 5.5 amps at 12V DC or a bit less (lowest I've seen is about 4.5). When initially cooling down it can get close to 7 amps.

Not as efficient as some DC Danfoss/Waeco compressors I've owned, but certainly manageable.

Here in a tropical climate duty cycle is about 20%, but I have not tracked that accurately. However it is certainly not cycling excessively.

Space configuration is a bit awkward in the box -- it has a tall and skinny profile. Removed some of the "accessories" (shelves, bins, etc) and find the space to be much more usable. We find deeper/broader space to be more usable.

Still running fine...

[cat man do]

Thanks for the updates
I am thinking one of the chest freezers linked to above, with their thicker insulation would be more efficient, especially if wound down to the lowest setting and used as a very cold fridge in the tropics

[belizesailor]

Oh, and learned early this AM that the cut out voltage is about 10.50 volts...oops.

[belizesailor]

Still going....

Fridge quit on me recently so I thought it had run it's course, but it turned out to be an electrical connection issue. Did learn while troubleshooting that the electronic control module is just like a Danfoss. So problem diagnosis is the same. I did not confirm that LED status light patterns are the same, but I strongly suspect they are.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

To my knowledge, the BD25 and BD50 which I have owned, are actual direct DC compressors. .

The BD35 and BD50 Danfoss compressors are both 3 phase AC compressors. The elecronic control module takes your 12v or 24v DC input and converts it to 3 phase AC for efficiency purposes. Note, we are talking 3-phase AC and not normal AC 120v here.

The 10.5V DC cut-out is the exact same for the Danfoss BD35 and DB50 controller as well as the Cubigel used by Technautics CoolBlue.

[Boatguy30]

Technautics no longer uses the BD 35? Or they just use a different control module than the danfoss one?

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

Technautics no longer uses the BD 35? Or they just use a different control module than the danfoss one?

About 2006 Technautics CoolBlue switched away from the Danfoss DB35 to the Cubigel Compressor out of Spain. They do use the DB35 from time to time so there are some post 2006 units with BD35's but most are Cubigel compressors.

[belizesailor]

Interesting. Will have to research that a bit for my own education.

Given that any conversion involves some amout of energy loss why would they convert to AC?