I am going to set up this website with details of the project and links to relevant information.
In the mean time you may find this useful.
Header photos above show condenser unit on left (this is in the storeroom behind the fridge space). The fridge (right hand photo) is situated in the coolest space in the house.
The unit is based around the Ozefridge Marine package which can be built into any container. We chose to install the unit in a Tecniice 200 litre ice chest which was just the correct size for the space we wanted to use. It has 50-60 mm of polystyrene foam packed around all sides of the unit with all the gaps sealed. You can get an idea from the pictures.
We are running the unit directly from our 12 volt DC batteries. The unit has a built in regulator which allows for the variations in battery voltage at different times of the day and night. When the condenser is running it draws about 6-7 amps and has been running about 3 cycles a day (up to 24 amp hours). The very hot day yesterday (4th Jan) combined with a lot of use and the fact that I tweaked the controls to switch on at a lower temperature, meant that it ran for 4 cycles and used 31 amp hours.
You can find a graph (in a new window) of the current usage versus eutectic settings by clicking on the following image
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The numbers at the bottom are the number of days in operation (140 now) and the two lines at the bottom show the upper and lower temperature settings for the anti-freeze in the stainless steel tank in the fridge. The condenser switches on when it reaches the upper value. The two wobbly lines are 5 and 7 day averages centred on the actual day being referenced.
Averaged over the 140 days the fridge has been operating at the equivalent of 8 watts continuous.
Our installation is not ideal as the space was very cramped for the installation however we are very happy given the comparison with our previous tiny gas powered caravan fridge. Although we got another solar panel when we installed the fridge it has turned out that we did not actually need it.