JUKA has consolidated its home and light commercial solar refrigerator range onto one 12/24 V DC platform that starts at 50 litres and ends at 338 litres. The models share a single cooling architecture: a DC brushless compressor driven from the battery bus, a controller with a wide input window, and a two compartment cabinet in which the fridge and the freezer are controlled separately. What changes between one size and the next is the cabinet, the coil and the charge, not the electronics.
That last point is the practical one for distributors and installers. A spare controller, a spare door seal and a spare fan travel between models. A technician who has commissioned one cabinet on this platform can commission the next size without relearning the wiring.
The photographs in this release come from current production: the data plate of a BCD-198, the rear of a small single door unit, the terminal block and control panel of a BCD-338F, and finished cabinets on the packing line. They show what the specification sheet cannot, which is how the parts are actually arranged once the cabinet is on the ground.
AT A GLANCE
Every model in the range runs on 12 V or 24 V DC, or on 220 V AC through the supplied adapter. The compressor is a DC brushless unit, so the cabinet never converts battery voltage up to mains voltage and back down again. Fridge and freezer set points are independent, and the freezer holds minus 18 °C in ambient conditions up to the climate class on the plate.
|
50 L smallest cabinet |
338 L largest cabinet |
83 W compressor draw |
-18 °C freezer holding |
01 A DC compressor is not an AC compressor with an adapter
The usual way to run a domestic refrigerator off a battery is to put an inverter between the two. It works, and it costs the owner twice: once in the inverter, and again every hour in the conversion loss and the standby draw. An inverter also has to be sized for the compressor start, which is several times the running load, so the inverter is bigger and more expensive than the average draw suggests.
A DC cabinet removes that stage. The compressor motor is wound for the battery voltage and commutated electronically, so the controller can ramp it instead of switching it hard. Two consequences follow. First, the start current is bounded, which is why a 12 V array of modest size can start a 338 litre cabinet. Second, the compressor speed can follow the load, so a cabinet that has just been loaded with warm product runs faster for a few hours and then settles.
A BCD-198 in a small shop, with the array visible through the window. The cabinet sits in shade; the panel does not.
That is also why the siting rule matters more than the panel size. A cabinet in direct sun at 40 °C ambient asks the condenser to reject heat into air that is already hot, and the compressor runs longer for the same box temperature. Shade the cabinet, ventilate the compressor compartment, and tilt the panel at the latitude angle.
02 What arrives on the pallet
The range is supplied as a working kit rather than as a cabinet on its own, because the three parts have to match. A 250 Ah battery on a 50 litre cabinet is wasted money, and a 100 Ah battery on a 338 litre cabinet will not carry a bad weather week.
Cabinet, PV panel, gel battery and charge controller as shipped. The controller and battery are matched to the cabinet and to the site, not chosen separately.
| Item | What it does | What to check on arrival |
|---|---|---|
| Cabinet | DC brushless compressor, two compartments, mechanical or digital thermostat depending on model | Data plate model and refrigerant charge match the order |
| PV panel | Charges the bank through the controller during daylight | Wattage, Voc and frame integrity; no cracked glass |
| Battery | Carries the cabinet through the night and through cloud | Capacity, terminal torque, date code |
| Charge controller | Regulates panel to battery, protects against overcharge and deep discharge | Voltage setting 12 V or 24 V, load rating above compressor start |
| DC harness | Cabinet to battery, fused at the battery end | Cable gauge, fuse rating, polarity of every connector |
03 Reading the data plate before wiring anything
Every cabinet carries a plate on the back with the same eight lines. Reading it takes a minute and prevents most of the commissioning calls that follow a first installation.
Data plate of a BCD-198: 83 W rated input, 12 V and 24 V, 6.9 A and 3.45 A, R134a charge of 140 g, total storage volume 198 L, climate class N/ST, CE marked, with the circuit diagram printed alongside.
| Line on the plate | Reading on a BCD-198 | What it decides on site |
|---|---|---|
| Rated power input | 83 W | Compressor draw while running, not daily consumption. Multiply by duty cycle to estimate energy |
| Power source | 12 V / 24 V | Which bank the cabinet is built for. The controller accepts either, the wiring does not |
| Foaming current | 6.9 A at 12 V, 3.45 A at 24 V | Fuse and cable sizing, and the current the controller load output must carry |
| Total storage volume | 198 L | Gross cabinet volume. Usable volume is lower once drawers and shelves are in |
| Refrigerant | R134a, 140 g | Charge weight for service. Never top up without finding the leak |
| Climate class | N/ST | Ambient band the cabinet is rated for. N stops at 32 °C, ST at 38 °C |
| Protection class | III | Safety class of a low voltage appliance, which decides how the DC side is earthed |
| Marking | CE | Declaration for the European market, with the circuit diagram printed on the same plate |
04 The back of the cabinet decides the service life
The condenser on these cabinets is a static wire grid on the rear panel, not a fan blown coil hidden behind a grille. That choice suits dusty sites: there is no fan to seize and no plenum to pack with flour dust, and the coil can be brushed in place.
Rear of a single door unit: static condenser grid across the whole back panel, compressor compartment below with its own ventilation slots and cooling fan.
Two rules follow from the photograph. Leave at least 100 mm between the grid and the wall, and never pack cartons against the back of the cabinet in a shop. The compressor compartment below has its own fan and slots; if those slots are blocked the compressor runs hot, the current climbs and the controller eventually trips on undervoltage because the battery is working harder than it should.
Cleaning is a brush and a vacuum, top to bottom, with the cabinet isolated. Do not hose the compartment. The terminal block sits inside it.
05 The numbers that matter are on the terminal block
The DC input is a three way terminal block under a small cover: ground, negative, positive. The label above it states the window rather than a single voltage, and that window is the most useful number on the whole cabinet.
DC input terminals on a BCD-338F: 12 V input accepted from 9.6 V to 17 V, 24 V input from 21.3 V to 31.5 V, 20 A maximum, with ground, negative and positive marked on the cover.
| Parameter | Value | Why it is set that way |
|---|---|---|
| 12 V input window | 9.6 V to 17 V | Allows a lead acid bank to sit at 14.4 V on charge and sag to 10 V under load without tripping |
| 24 V input window | 21.3 V to 31.5 V | Same headroom on a 24 V bank, including equalisation |
| Maximum current | 20 A | Terminal and internal harness rating. Size the cable for this, not for the average draw |
| Fuse | 30 A at the battery end | Protects the run between battery and cabinet, which is where a short would happen |
| Polarity | GND, minus, plus | Reversed polarity is the one mistake the controller cannot survive |
Keep the run from battery to cabinet short. On a 12 V system a long thin cable drops voltage under start, the controller sees a sag, and the compressor is protected by refusing to start. If the battery has to live outside the room, put the cable in conduit and go up a gauge rather than adding length to the thin one.
06 OV ALM and UV ALM are information, not faults
The control panel on the two door models has two alarm lamps beside the normal indicator, marked OV ALM and UV ALM. They report the state of the supply, and most first visits end with the installer explaining that the cabinet was doing what it was told.
Control panel of a BCD-338F: power and hold to switch, normal indicator, overvoltage and undervoltage alarms, fridge and freezer selector, and a display reading minus 18 °C.
| Indication | What the controller has decided | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | Supply inside the window, compressor free to run | Nothing |
| OV ALM | Bank voltage above the window, usually a 24 V bank on a 12 V setting or a charger stuck at equalisation | Check the voltage setting and the charger output before touching the cabinet |
| UV ALM | Bank below the cut out, so the compressor is held off to protect the battery | Recharge, then check panel yield, cable drop and how much warm product was loaded |
| Display blank, compressor running | Panel dimmed, not a fault on this series | Press power to wake the display |
The undervoltage cut out is the reason a solar cabinet appears to stop on the third cloudy day. It is not a cooling failure. It is the controller choosing the battery over the load, and the answer is usually more panel or more battery, not a service call.
07 Capacity, layout and what actually fits
The two compartment layout puts the evaporator in the top section and the fridge below, or the reverse depending on model. In the larger cabinets the freezer is a stack of drawers, which keeps cold air in when the door opens and stops a bag of ice from burying the thermostat.
A fully stocked BCD-218: freezer shelf and door trays on top, three glass shelves, a crisper drawer and four door balconies below.
BCD-338 side by side with a second unit opened: three freezer drawers below, three glass shelves and a crisper above.
Loading practice matters as much as capacity. Leave the gaps between shelves open so air can move, keep warm product out of the freezer until it has cooled in the fridge, and never block the evaporator grille with a bag. A cabinet loaded to the door line with ambient product will run for a day before it settles, and on a small array that day is exactly when the undervoltage cut out appears.
08 The range, by the numbers
| Model | Total volume | Freezer | Cabinet W x D x H | Net weight | Per 40 ft HQ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BC-50 | 50 L | 5 L | 480 x 445 x 500 mm | 10 kg | 573 |
| BC-70 | 70 L | 6 L | 450 x 405 x 845 mm | 15 kg | 414 |
| BC-90 | 90 L | 8 L | 480 x 445 x 845 mm | 20 kg | 352 |
| BCD-108 | 108 L | 41 L | 450 x 460 x 1250 mm | 29 kg | 240 |
| BCD-118 | 118 L | 39 L | 480 x 490 x 1105 mm | 28 kg | 184 |
| BCD-142 | 142 L | 39 L | 480 x 490 x 1265 mm | 32 kg | 184 |
| BCD-178 | 178 L | 39 L | 500 x 565 x 1290 mm | 37 kg | 160 |
| BCD-198 | 198 L | 80 L | 520 x 550 x 1515 mm | 42 kg | 136 |
| BCD-218 | 218 L | 45 L | 550 x 575 x 1390 mm | 40 kg | 142 |
| BCD-268 | 268 L | 55 L | 550 x 570 x 1619 mm | 45 kg | 106 |
| BCD-298 | 298 L | 69 L | 595 x 666 x 1525 mm | 60 kg | on request |
| BCD-338 | 338 L | 98 L | 595 x 695 x 1860 mm | 65 kg | on request |
All models are 12 V / 24 V / 220 V capable except the BCD-298 and BCD-338, which are supplied as DC 12 V / 24 V cabinets with a 99 W and 103 W compressor respectively. Refrigerant is R134a or R600a by configuration, and the BCD-298 and BCD-338 are frost free while the smaller models are manual defrost.
09 Choosing by site rather than by litres
| Site | What the load is | Starting point |
|---|---|---|
| Single room, one or two people | Drinks, vegetables, a little frozen food | BC-50 to BC-90 |
| Family house, off grid | Weekly shop for four, a freezer drawer in daily use | BCD-178 to BCD-218 |
| Small shop or kiosk | Cold drinks and ice cream, door opened all day | BCD-268 to BCD-338 |
| Clinic or pharmacy | Temperature stability matters more than volume | BCD-198 or BCD-268, with a digital thermostat |
| Farm or fishing site | Freezing incoming product, not just holding it | BCD-338, or a chest freezer from the BD/BC series |
The deciding number is not litres but the daily energy the site can collect. A cabinet that runs 8 hours a day on a 100 W compressor needs roughly 0.8 kWh at the compressor, before conversion and controller losses. Match that against measured panel yield in the worst month, not against the panel nameplate.
10 One line, one set of checks
Finished cabinets on the packing line, each one run and checked before the carton goes on.
Every cabinet is evacuated, charged by weight to the figure printed on its plate, and run before packing. The charge weight is the reference for service: if a cabinet needs gas, the question is where the previous charge went, not how much to add. Cabinets are supplied with a manual, a spare parts list and, on request, a CKD or SKD configuration for assembly in the destination country.
About the manufacturer
JUKA builds solar refrigerators, chest freezers, display coolers, ice makers and solar air conditioners for off grid and weak grid markets, and supplies OEM, SKD and CKD programmes from its own lines. The range in this release is part of the same solar cold chain catalogue as the BD/BC chest freezer series and the LC display cooler series, so a distributor can fill a container with matched DC equipment and one spares policy.
Sizing a cabinet for a specific site?
Send the ambient temperature range, the daily load, the panel wattage you can install and the backup you need. We will return the cabinet, the battery and the array size as one calculation, with the wiring diagram for the voltage you are using.
Contact the JUKA export team for the current range sheet and lead times.
Questions we are asked most
Can a 12 V solar refrigerator run directly from a panel without a battery?
Only while the sun is up, and only if the panel and controller can carry the compressor start. In practice a battery is part of the system: it carries the night, absorbs cloud, and gives the controller the current the compressor needs at start.
How long will the freezer hold temperature in a power cut?
It depends on how full the cabinet is, how often the door is opened and the ambient temperature. A full freezer holds far longer than an empty one. Keep the cabinet closed and do not add warm product during the outage.
Does the cabinet work on 220 V as well?
Yes on models rated 12 V / 24 V / 220 V, through the supplied adapter or directly on the AC input where fitted. The BCD-298 and BCD-338 are DC only.
What maintenance does a DC solar refrigerator need?
Brush and vacuum the rear condenser every six months, more often in dusty or coastal sites. Check the door seal with a paper test, keep the compressor compartment vents clear, and check battery terminal torque twice a year.
Can the fridge and freezer temperatures be set separately?
Yes. The two compartments are controlled independently, and the freezer holds minus 18 °C while the fridge stays between 0 and 10 °C.
Is the cabinet available as CKD or SKD?
Yes. Cabinets can be supplied as complete units, as semi knocked down kits or as full knock down kits for local assembly, with the tooling list and process sequence provided.