skipbee
Glen Arm,Md. 21057 USA
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You might explain to your wife that in harnessing energy we use several potentially dangerous substances which can be utilized safely when following proven techniques. Hence we are able to obtain insurance. Propane and gasoline are the most common and of course traffic, are among the dangerous elements we deal with. If you have a used rig, it might be worthwile to have the propane systems inspected by a certified tech at an RV shop. There is deterioration of components that can be inexpensively renewed and repaired, seals,hose, and "O" rings etc. Along with a working propane detector fitted in your rig. Propane is by far the most economical and reliable way to operate the fridge when AC current is not available. Running a gasoline generator all night is not very practical or reasonable. I used to use 12 volt for the fridge when underway but switched to propane because if I failed to change over when stopped, The TC batteries died quickly. Our old fridge would go to propane from 12 volt on auto the new one does not.
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skipbee
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mkirsch
Rochester, NY
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Your refrigerator will not run long at all on 12V only from a Group 27 battery.
A figure was given of 5 hours... That's if you drain the battery nearly completely empty.
In reality, you won't even get close to that, and your battery will be dead and useless by the time you get to your destination.
If you've got the truck wired to charge the battery while on the road, your fridge will run off the battery, and the battery will stay charged due to the truck's alternator.
Propane is by far the best option, but if your wife is afraid of it, and you get her past her irrational fear, then you've got no choice.
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Steve_in_29
29 Palms (SEMPER FI), CA 92277
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DGrid39 wrote:My wife is really afraid of propane..Will the fridge start up automatically in the gas mode or is there something else I need to fire up other than turning the propane bottle on... To placate your wife (and at the same time upgrade to a much better fridge) you might consider swapping out your absorption fridge for one of the 12VDC compressor types from brands such as Tundra or NovaKoool. They function EXACTLY the same as the fridge inside your house except they run on 12VDC instead of 120VAC.
The fridge will pull about 2A when running and only runs about a third of the time under normal conditions. The most mine runs is about about 50/50 when the ambient temps are over 100degrees.
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Alschott
Connecticut
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I brought my battery down to useless in one 6 hour run on 12VDC. (I have the 3 cu.Ft. size without the freezer.) Best to cool it down and pack ice inside it. As others have stated, it works the best on Propane, then on 117VAC, and way behind last on 12VDC. Pre-chill food, and don't open the door unless you are fixing lunch.
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Jeepers92
Stockbridge, GA USA
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I run mine all day on the road all the time...with 12VDC.
I have 2 good batteries in parallel. I normally put 4 or 5 bottles
of water in the freezer and let them freeze before we start out on our trips. This helps keep the temps down. We were just out for a week with temps in the 90's and it worked fine.
The 12VDC is not as efficient as the 120VAC, so it will not cool to the same levels. Also, you need to recharge your batteries fully each night. If you plug into AC...it should be fine. And then you will find yourself asking...how much solar do I need to keep my batteries charged with the fridge running???????
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drhutch
Centennial, CO
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I checked the book on my Dometic and it needs 12.8v to run or it will shut down. This means batteries alone will not even run it, it needs the truck alternator running in order to provide enough voltage to keep it from going into fault mode. On mine the only way to run the fridge on batteries is to use an inverter and run it on AC mode.
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pianotuna
Regina, SK, Canada
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Hi drhutch,
Did you happen to notice what the upper limit for voltage is?
I find it strange that your fridge shuts down at 12.8--mine is quite happy at a lower voltage than that.
Regards, Don
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AnEv942
CA
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Ok Im REALLY curious...
I think this has generated more questions than I have opinions/answeres..
Your 1st 2 questions have been answered-fridge off battery with no charge-not very long (certainy not 8 hours), and the fridge runs off camper battery (charged by truck when running) when in 12v.
MY question- the 8 hours? Is that like in transit or parked/overnight? But then you said you WONT be using ANY propane this trip -no stove, heater, water heater? or just the refer?
If the 8 hours is travel time then if fridge precooled-12v on road you should be ok-(just turn off fridge when engine not running so as not to kill your battery when stopped for more than a few minuets, turn back on when ready to go).
Ive never tried to use our refer as an ice box- I would think a good ice chest would be a better simpler option for the critical stuff-least for 'this' trip.
which leads to last question. youve had this camper for a while-is this your wifes 1st trip?
Mark
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