Coleman Stirling Power Coolers

[tvengineer]

Just to follow up..

My cooler is working great again...

I took the side panel off and the sterling unit was pretty well full of dust..
blew it out with some compressed air and cleaned the filter good and all is well again.

Love my sterling coolers.. I do believe they work better than conventional refrigerators and use way less energy.
Only small drawback is that they make a little more noise than a conventional refrigerator.

[cc6538454]

Just noticed a "Coleman Sterling Power Cooler" - $350 (Port Townsend)on craigslist in case anyone still wants one.
Date: 2011-08-21, 7:52AM PDT
Reply to: sale-59zbb-2558115061@craigslist.org

[slrrls]

I just placed my spare on ebay. I have not ever used it just kept it aside as a spare. Time to recoup a little back.
Figure I'll let you guys have first dibbs.
ebay item 280752828479

[captsam54]

Gone already.... Love those things...

[Tom Hildebrandt]

I am sure you got a good price for it, both of mine are working beautifully! In fact a fellow boater hear in the yard just told me last night he saw the discussion of the units on the forum, he is coming this morning at what one looks!

Cheers

Tom

[Minggat]

For those of you with the SC JS05, how do you get along with the constant noise. I bought one a couple of years back and have never really used it because the noise level is simply unacceptable for where I had to install it. Cut up my counter top and a duct into my reefer box and have nothing but regrets for doing it. I am about to redo my counter top to repair the damage.

Minggat is not so big a boat that I could get away from the noise or had a lot of options to choose from in the installation.

So my basically unused SC JS05 is for sale. Wish it had worked out better for me.

[Tom Hildebrandt]

I have the unit (actually units) installed between two crew bunks, and although I normally sleep forward; I have had the occasion to sleep aft beside these for extended periods; the noise did not disturb me! And several crew have not complained!

But we all have our own level of tolerance for these things; what are you asking for your unit?

Tom

[aboutgone]

Tom: I will sell you my SC JS05 for 600$ and I'll pay shipping.used mine for a month.took it out due to amp draw..Ed

[Minggat]

Sorry I didn't get back to respond sooner. Spent the rest of that day in a Mexican hospital. But I got out without a single loss of life.

Tom. I do have a low tolerance level for people with low tolerance levels.

Trying to be nice to my little Asian wife and make the whole experience attractive to her, I may have reduced my tolerance level. But in reality, I had it on all day without a problem. Then I turned it off. It was the silence that then made the noise unattractive.

As you well know, the difference between a 36 ft boat and a 40 foot boat can be significant. The fact that you have 2 of the SC-JS05 units running hints that you have a touch more space. And I'm thinking that your 2 crew bunks are further away from my daytime living space in the salon/galley. But you have given me an idea. I can sleep with the white noise that is offensive during the day. Sleeping quarters are further away from the galley. I can try running the silent Adler Barbour during the day with "free power" (solar) and then conserve power during the night with the Twinbird. Since I already own it and have already chopped up my counter top to accommodate the unit, I had better try it before giving up.

But... Aboutgone. You found the amp draw to be higher than a conventional unit?

[Minggat]

No idea whatever happened to Global cooling or Jesse Edwards, so I've got a question for anyone who also bought a SC-JS05.

I never did get an English version of the instructions for the digital thermometer/alarm that came with my unit. So if anyone got one and is willing to share, please let me know.

[aboutgone]

The draw was 6 amps continuous.....half that would be Ideal!!

[Minggat]

There is either something wrong with your box insulation or your unit. The fact that it is continuous, to me points to the unit. The highest mine ever draws is 5 when it's working hardest. It should cycle down to nothing and then back up again.

[MakeLifeFun]

I have one of the original Coleman units, and it's worked like a champ for 6 years! I, like all of us, don't know why Coleman abandoned such a terrific unit.


But, alas, today my cooler died, and it was my fault! I pulled on the power line and broke the connector. No big deal, I just spliced on a new one. But that didn't work.. power switch did nothing. So I reversed the leads, thinking they were backwards. No dice.. still power switch does nothing. (Yes, I'm kicking myself now.)

I hoped it was just some internal fuse, but I opened it up and it doesn't seem to have one. I verified that 12V was going in from the socket to the board, but it still acts dead (no reaction from the power switch).

So I'm almost crying here.. like my dog died. This cooler is just terrific!


Some questions:

Has anyone had one of these coolers die like this? Did you solve it?

Think I could get Global Coolers (or Coleman, but fat chance) to fix it (for a fee!)

Does anyone have a dead cooler I could try to swap the electronics board with to see if that can resurrect mine?


Thanks, guys!

[witzgall]

MLF;

All is not lost. The cord design is poor, and I had the same thing happen. Then, I reversed the leads as well. I blew an internal fse. All you need to do is open up the case, and wire in a replacement fuse. I just used a automotive type fuse pigtail from Radio shack. Worked great. The internal fuse is not designed to be replaced, a cost cutting measure to be sure.

Chris

Originally Posted by MakeLifeFun

I have one of the original Coleman units, and it's worked like a champ for 6 years! I, like all of us, don't know why Coleman abandoned such a terrific unit.


But, alas, today my cooler died, and it was my fault! I pulled on the power line and broke the connector. No big deal, I just spliced on a new one. But that didn't work.. power switch did nothing. So I reversed the leads, thinking they were backwards. No dice.. still power switch does nothing. (Yes, I'm kicking myself now.)

I hoped it was just some internal fuse, but I opened it up and it doesn't seem to have one. I verified that 12V was going in from the socket to the board, but it still acts dead (no reaction from the power switch).

So I'm almost crying here.. like my dog died. This cooler is just terrific!


Some questions:

Has anyone had one of these coolers die like this? Did you solve it?

Think I could get Global Coolers (or Coleman, but fat chance) to fix it (for a fee!)

Does anyone have a dead cooler I could try to swap the electronics board with to see if that can resurrect mine?


Thanks, guys!

[Tom Hildebrandt]

I have two coolers, and a power surge blew both fuses. As noted this is an easy fix.

Pull out the circuit board, the fuse is either a small light brown square or a yellow one, at the lower left of the board near the power in lead.
You can find it by taking a multimeter and check the continuity from the leads going in, just check each section and you will find that pesky fuse where the continuity stops.

I took my soldering gun to the solder joints and just pulled out the faulty fuse. I purchased a 10 amp auto motive fuse, soldered some wire to either end (one end being half again as long as the other, leaving the insulation on), and resoldered the wires to the holes in the circuit board. Ju st to be certain their would be no short, I put some tape around the fuse.

Fixed these in the Dominican Republic two years ago, still going strong

Tom