Many people that
shop on ebay would have come across this fridge and wondered if it was all that the seller raved about, or if it was only a cheap piece of junk.
So, myself i did what most of us do and Googled it and found nothing very usefull at all. Then i weighed up the cost verse the risk and bidded on one and its here now.
Because the unit has a case that is used by other fridges, that use cheap, power hungry compressor; i figured the first thing i would do before i give the seller feed back, was to
test it out fully.
The first step was to take the cover off the side and
check out its compressor, condensor, control unit and how
well it was made. To my surprize it wasn't to bad. The best part that impressed me most was that the MAKI compressor is driven by a DC Brushless motor. This means the motor will last up to 10 times longer than a brushed type motor and is about 15% more efficient.
Its very quiet in operation and the compressor also has a soft start. It will pull
6.5amps for the first 30seconds and drops to 3.7amps over the next 2mins.
I then went and did some tests.
With the ambient temperature @ 24c and the inside temp @ 25c on start up.
1) I set the temp. setting on the display to -13c - current drain 3.8amps
After 23 mins it was @ 5c - current drain 3.75amps
After 27 mins it was @ -1c - current drain 3.65amps
After 40 mins it was @ -13 - current drain 2.95amps
2) I then let it warm up to -4c and set the temp. to -4c to measure the duty
cycle of the compressor.
At the above ambient temp. the compressor was on for 8.5 mins and off
for 25mins. * These are averages. That is about a 35% motor on time.
3) With the fridge holding -4c @ 25c amb. Its average current drain is
3.5Amps. as stated.
Which averages @ 21mins every hour and 8.4hrs a day, compressor run
time. Thats about 29Amps/hour a day for operation.
All in all thats not bad. The biggest
test will be to see how long it lasts and
if it will take a bit of rough treatment in use.