Boondocking with an AC Refrig???

[joes2901]

Bfrisbee, The 2015 Ventana LE brochure lists a residential refrigerator with a 2K inverter and 6 batteries as an option but fails to state the AH rating of the battery bank and the brand and model of the inverter/charger. If you are a do it yourselfer who reads for content all the manuals that came with the RV and appliances then you may be able to upgrade your system. If you have a Magnum inverter/charger then make sure you have the advanced ARC-50 controller and the firmware versions that support the available Automatic Generator Start (AGS) and Battery Monitoring Kit (BMK) from Magnum. Read the Magnum manual to find out how to extract this information before ordering parts.

If you have the 200AH 6 volt golf cart batteries then you have a 600 AH battery bank with 300 usable AHs and will probably need to run the generator for 2 to 3 hours a day to keep the batteries from going below 50% SOC. The above ARC-50, AGS, and BMK will enable the system to monitor your battery bank and run the generator during approved hours in order to maintain the SOC you want and relieve you of the chore of baby stitting the batteries if everything is properly programmed. The programming requires knowing the content of the manuals so you can monitor the system to see that it is operating properly and how to respond to a malfunction or tweek the system to maximize it. For a long life your batteries need to be recharged to 100% at least weekly; that is where solar power is a blessing. Check battery charts and you will see how much longer the charger must run to bring the SOC from 90% to 100% and that is the savings in fuel and wear on the generator from solar.

I am planning on attending the Newmar Gathering in the Desert in Jan 2017. There will be venders who can help you with the installation, but you must know how to make it work after you leave Quartzsite in order to be satisfied with the system.

[newmarpusher]

Originally Posted by Bfrisbee

We haven't boondocked with our Newmar. Were planning to go to Quartzite this Janurary and wondering how my 6 batteries will perform with our residential frig. I do not have the auto start generator. Any advice please!
Bob Frisbee

We have an all electric Ventana with 8 AGM batteries, so it is not a direct comparison.

We just spent 3 days at the Watkins Glen racetrack with no hookups. We do car races like this often. We "could" get by with one 2 hour generator run in the morning. The days were warm this past weekend so the auto-gen kicked on many times for the air-conditioning.

The fridge is a very small draw compared to our other AC needs (lights, TV, fans, etc). I don't feel we run the generator any more than we did with previous propane fridges.

[WYRon]

We have an all electric, 8 AGM (Lifeline) batteries, and about 1,000 watts of solar. I can leave the coach in storage with pretty much only the refrigerator active (which mostly means turning off everything in the AV cabinet) and can run indefinitely without the generator starting. However, when dry camping with reasonable DirecTV and television watching, as well as our Router and some other electronics/lights/appliances, we need to run the generator about 2 hours a day. We usually run it in the evening during dinner when we also need the microwave/induction cooktop, etc. Short answer...it depends on how much electrical use you have in addition to the refrigerator. I'm installing a lot more individual switches in the AV cabinet to be more selective about shutting down devices, at least overnight, when dry camping.

[twinboat]

Originally Posted by WYRon

We have an all electric, 8 AGM (Lifeline) batteries, and about 1,000 watts of solar. I can leave the coach in storage with pretty much only the refrigerator active (which mostly means turning off everything in the AV cabinet) and can run indefinitely without the generator starting. However, when dry camping with reasonable DirecTV and television watching, as well as our Router and some other electronics/lights/appliances, we need to run the generator about 2 hours a day. We usually run it in the evening during dinner when we also need the microwave/induction cooktop, etc. Short answer...it depends on how much electrical use you have in addition to the refrigerator. I'm installing a lot more individual switches in the AV cabinet to be more selective about shutting down devices, at least overnight, when dry camping.

I'm very surprised that you need any generator time with that setup.

I have 8, GC2 batteries, 675 watts solar, 7.5, c.f. residential fridge and Sat TV, phone chargers and all the 12 volt stuff. I only need the generator in dead winter every two days. The other 3 seasons I store it.

If your batteries came with the MH, they could have been damaged by the dealer.

Lifeline has a procedure for testing their batteries. May be worth a look, if still covered.

[ghaynes754]

Ron, dito to what twinboat said. Something doesn't sound quite right. Unless some settings are wrong in either the solar controller or your inverter/charger controller I would suspect that batteries aren't fully functional.

[WYRon]

I think there's a misunderstanding about our generator use. No need to run it if we don't want to, but if we use the microwave, coffee maker, TVs, router, etc then about two hours a day during dinner time, and that's to be fairly conservative with battery SOC above 70%.

[oatmeal]

I posted about this in another thread, but it's pertinent here, too, because it's a nice comparison of an RV with a propane refrigerator and one with a residential refrigerator.

We fulltime and have 1,050 watts of solar, with six golf cart batteries. If we're in the sun, we can go pretty much indefinitely without running the generator, but we have a propane refrigerator. I worked through some numbers and concluded we wouldn't be able to do that if we had a residential refrigerator.

There's a guy who fulltimes and has 1,000 watts of solar, with six golf cart batteries, on the same model and year of motorhome we have, but he has a residential refrigerator. He reports that he runs his generator every 2-3 days. That comports with what my numbers told me.

[WYRon]

Originally Posted by oatmeal

I posted about this in another thread, but it's pertinent here, too, because it's a nice comparison of an RV with a propane refrigerator and one with a residential refrigerator.

We fulltime and have 1,050 watts of solar, with six golf cart batteries. If we're in the sun, we can go pretty much indefinitely without running the generator, but we have a propane refrigerator. I worked through some numbers and concluded we wouldn't be able to do that if we had a residential refrigerator.

There's a guy who fulltimes and has 1,000 watts of solar, with six golf cart batteries, on the same model and year of motorhome we have, but he has a residential refrigerator. He reports that he runs his generator every 2-3 days. That comports with what my numbers told me.

I think the key point here is average solar power versus average electric power used. There's a minimum size/capacity of batteries necessary to see you through the night, but beyond that they makes no difference for average usage. With 1,000 watts of solar panel, mounted flat, you're only going to get about 500 watts peak (sometimes more, sometimes less), and then only for about 12 hours a day. That means you're only going to get 250 watts average power at best, which a quick calculation of various appliances and devices shows you can easily go over that **on average**. A 22cf frost free refrigerator (which we have) uses about 50-55 kwhr/month which corresponds to about 75 watts average, which is fine, but then add TV's, electric toaster, coffee maker, and you get the picture. Those who only go a night or two can let their batteries run down a bit, but longer term the averages will be all that matters.

[ByeTheWay]

Once you get a new rig w/ a RR, its too late to change your mind. You can't just add it in w/o adding roof and sidewall venting, and an LP line.

Here is a iRV2 link to a RR w/ a problem: http://www.irv2.com/forums/f54/resid...vs-307375.html

I prefer options over shine !!

[oatmeal]

Originally Posted by WYRon

I think there's a misunderstanding about our generator use. No need to run it if we don't want to, but if we use the microwave, coffee maker, TVs, router, etc then about two hours a day during dinner time, and that's to be fairly conservative with battery SOC above 70%.

I understand running your generator to coincide with using the microwave, etc., for dinner, but it's not the "best" time to run it for charging your batteries if you have solar. Ideally, you'd use the generator in the morning, when it can be putting the maximum output into the batteries, and let the solar top the batteries up during the rest of the day.

I bet that with your amount of solar, when you're running your generator in the evening, your batteries are pretty close to full from solar charging all day and are therefore taking only a small portion of what your generator could be putting in.

Originally Posted by twinboat

I'm very surprised that you need any generator time with that setup.

I have 8, GC2 batteries, 675 watts solar, 7.5, c.f. residential fridge and Sat TV, phone chargers and all the 12 volt stuff. I only need the generator in dead winter every two days. The other 3 seasons I store it.

Yours is a relatively small refrigerator. Ron's residential refrigerator is 22 cubic feet--about 3 times the size of yours.