Date:         Wed, 8 May 1996 16:25:55 CST6CDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Dan Houg" <fairwind@northernnet.com>
Subject:      Additional fridge fan  & wiring 


Rising to the bait Derek offered, i'll detail what i did :)   after many 
contemplative hours of cipherin' the wirin', i do think it is a good method.

all the wiring can be done thru the cabinet vent tho it does get 
frustrating due to lack of space.  pulling the fridge isn't that hard 
and you get to do some maintenance besides.  obviously, if a fan 
needs to be replaced, the fridge comes out.

i highly recommend the addition of 2 fans:
- one being placed on the interior and blowing on the evaporator.  
this pulls temps down nicely.  see Derek's post on this but have this 
on a separate switch as it will be used independently of the 
condensor fans.

- the second one should be placed to supplement the condensor fan. 
i placed one in the cabinet vent, leaving the grill off.  i think
one mounted to blow on the condensor would do as well, if not
better.  ideally, it would be ducted to pull cool outside air inside
the fridge cabinet and blow it on the condensor.

i wired the condensor fan (well, cabinet fan) so that i can activate it AND the OEM fan 
together yet have the OEM fan operate thermostatically as needed.  to 
do this involves bypassing the thermostat, which is what may be 
confused with as a 'green resistor'.  i don't recall any resistor.

so.....
1.  wire the negative of your additonal condensor fan to ground.
2.  wire the positive of the additional fan to one side of a SPST 
switch.
3.  wire the 'hot' side of the thermostat (bolted to the cooling 
fins) to the remaining terminal of the SPST switch.
4.  wire the SPST terminal mentioned in step #2 to the 'fan' side of 
the thermostat wiring.

you're done.  now when you close the switch, both the OEM fan and 
your fan come on, greatly increasing your cooling power (defined in 
Dometic terms, mind you).  do this during the day or when traveling 
to keep fridge temps in line.  i think the OEM fan thermostat comes 
on too late.

be forwarned, that the additional condensor fan will also now come on 
when the thermostat closes.  this is okay but you need to watch for 
little fingers if it is mounted in the cabinet vent.

with this setup, it pulls a draft of air from the vents at the bottom 
front of the fridge.  this is a good thing for maintaining a temp 
differential on the condensor.

if you don't tell anyone, you *can* use those 3M splice connectors to 
tie into the wiring but NEVER admit it on this list.  solder and 
shrink tubing is the way to go.

also, i really like the digital 'indoor/outdoor' thermometer i added. 
 i just mounted mine on the front of the fridge and ran the sensor 
wire thru the door seal.  i DID poke a hole into the interior of the 
fridge for the evaporator fan wiring and simply sealed it with 
silicone to prevent moisture from invading the insulation.

good luck.

-dan