Ice Machine

McDee22 · Jan 5, 2023

Hi all and happy new year,

My friend bought me an ice machine for Christmas to ensure a steady supply of cocktails at my next party. I looked at the power ratings and it's 100W/230V - will this work in the campervan on the leisure batteries if I use the three pin plug? I believe it will.

I'm going to a festival in the summer where ice is a highly valued commodity so this could make me very popular.

NETTA Ice Maker Machine with 1.8L Tank - Makes 12KG of Ice per Day - Stainless Steel

This NETTA counter top ice maker will have ice cubes ready in 10 minutes with no plumbing required. Simply fill with water and wait, this small ice machine will have fresh ice cubes ready whenever you may need them.

nettadirect.com

Stu@rt · Jan 5, 2023

McDee22 said:
Hi all and happy new year,

My friend bought me an ice machine for Christmas to ensure a steady supply of cocktails at my next party. I looked at the power ratings and it's 100W/230V - will this work in the campervan on the leisure batteries if I use the three pin plug? I believe it will.

I'm going to a festival in the summer where ice is a highly valued commodity so this could make me very popular.

NETTA Ice Maker Machine with 1.8L Tank - Makes 12KG of Ice per Day - Stainless Steel

This NETTA counter top ice maker will have ice cubes ready in 10 minutes with no plumbing required. Simply fill with water and wait, this small ice machine will have fresh ice cubes ready whenever you may need them.

nettadirect.com

Your inverter under the T6.1 driver's seat is rated upto 300w so you should be fine.

yossarian · Jan 5, 2023

McDee22 said:
Hi all and happy new year,

My friend bought me an ice machine for Christmas to ensure a steady supply of cocktails at my next party. I looked at the power ratings and it's 100W/230V - will this work in the campervan on the leisure batteries if I use the three pin plug? I believe it will.

I'm going to a festival in the summer where ice is a highly valued commodity so this could make me very popular.

NETTA Ice Maker Machine with 1.8L Tank - Makes 12KG of Ice per Day - Stainless Steel

This NETTA counter top ice maker will have ice cubes ready in 10 minutes with no plumbing required. Simply fill with water and wait, this small ice machine will have fresh ice cubes ready whenever you may need them.

nettadirect.com

It's worth a shot, typically an ice machine is just a compressor and some plumbing. Your batteries are good for 10 hours of running this thing if it's correctly labelled. Solar suggested as solar capability is typically correlated with the demand for ice.

McDee22 · Jan 5, 2023

Fantastic! We're going to give it a go this weekend and see.

johnyboy · Jan 5, 2023

Can confirm

SamSara · Jan 6, 2023

Let me know your festival itinerary, please

SamSara · Jan 6, 2023

SamSara said:
Let me know your festival itinerary, please

Was posted with winking and laughing emoji, as it stands i look a little stalkerish!

McDee22 · Jan 8, 2023

Hmm so I tried it last night but no luck. It’s rated 120W/0.8A on the sticker on the machine. I plugged it into the inverter and it came on but when I tried to start the ice cycle the van interior lights flickered, the machine sounded like it tried, and then it went back to standby mode. After doing this a couple times the light on the inverter plug started flashing red. My battery was almost full.

So I guess the device might be mislabelled?

Hawthorn37 · Jan 8, 2023

The onboard inverter gives a fairy rough AC output and not all devices will react okay. Tried it on a laptop charger and it was a no go. You can get 12v powered inverters though.

Stu@rt · Jan 8, 2023

It's a modified sine wave so despite the rating, the machine might not be happy with the imperfect wave.

kurienp · Jan 8, 2023

McDee22 said:
Hmm so I tried it last night but no luck. It’s rated 120W/0.8A on the sticker on the machine. I plugged it into the inverter and it came on but when I tried to start the ice cycle the van interior lights flickered, the machine sounded like it tried, and then it went back to standby mode. After doing this a couple times the light on the inverter plug started flashing red. My battery was almost full.

So I guess the device might be mislabelled?

Oh no! I was getting all ready for the party. Now we have to find a solution to this ...

Ok, one thing you could try - see if someone has a correctly rated sine wave inverter ... One of those you plug into the cigarette lighter and gives an output of clean sine wave 240 v (many available on Amazon. Use that to run the machine and see if it will work. That will at least give some indications on what's causing the issue.

Baldrick · Jan 13, 2023

As I understand it, the pump draws a lot of current initially, perhaps that’s the issue. We’ve got both, an ice machine and a clean sine wave inverter which hopefully has ample wattage. We’re away this week but we get back I’ll try to carve out time to give it a try and report further.
A current monitoring plug would be handy to see what actually happens when it’s first switched on.

WelshGas · Jan 13, 2023

McDee22 said:
Hmm so I tried it last night but no luck. It’s rated 120W/0.8A on the sticker on the machine. I plugged it into the inverter and it came on but when I tried to start the ice cycle the van interior lights flickered, the machine sounded like it tried, and then it went back to standby mode. After doing this a couple times the light on the inverter plug started flashing red. My battery was almost full.

So I guess the device might be mislabelled?

One of those plastic ice-cube bags, filled and hung against the rear wall of the Cali fridge will freeze, even on a mid range setting. That's what I use.