Running systems while driving - questions

[Audrey & John]

I did some searches and I didn't come up with much, so I guess I'll ask my questions! I'm trying to anticipate what kind of things we might have running while we are driving the Alpine Coach.

How many of you run your generator to power your roof air while driving? I read recently that when the engine is working hard (like hill climbing), turning off dash air reduces the load on the engine and it's better to run roof air instead. Do you find that you use roof air a lot in warmer weather anyway? Does the dash air work worth a darn? Interested in any comments on this.

Those with residential fridges have the inverter powering the fridge while underway - at least that is my understanding. Probably the reason why WRV has put such a massive house battery system in the RV (up to 8 house batteries now in the 2006). I assume it is possible to run the Dometic 2-way fridge off the inverter too. Does anyone do this?

Thanks for any info and recommendations!

Audrey

[Audrey & John]

I did some searches and I didn't come up with much, so I guess I'll ask my questions! I'm trying to anticipate what kind of things we might have running while we are driving the Alpine Coach.

How many of you run your generator to power your roof air while driving? I read recently that when the engine is working hard (like hill climbing), turning off dash air reduces the load on the engine and it's better to run roof air instead. Do you find that you use roof air a lot in warmer weather anyway? Does the dash air work worth a darn? Interested in any comments on this.

Those with residential fridges have the inverter powering the fridge while underway - at least that is my understanding. Probably the reason why WRV has put such a massive house battery system in the RV (up to 8 house batteries now in the 2006). I assume it is possible to run the Dometic 2-way fridge off the inverter too. Does anyone do this?

Thanks for any info and recommendations!

Audrey

[SteveS]

Audrey - Your new Alpine is NOT short on power and there is absolutely no need to be concerned about the dash air affecting performance (climbing mountains or not). It will keep the cab area sufficiently cool while driving through the desert. However, the genset will need to be turned on if you want the roof air to keep the rest of the coach cool.

[Trehcub]

Yes it is more efficient to run the genset and the roof air. It will cost you about .5 mpg in fuel econemy. The genset is designed to be ran. the worst thing you can do to a generator is not run it reguarly. I start my engine then my generator. If currently have over 16oo hours on the generator and have had no problems.

This allows me to run the refrig on 110, the water heater on electric and any other device I need. One of the reasons I prefer to run the generator is that, I turn my propane tank off when traviling since there is a saftey factor in not having the tank on when moving.

[Audrey & John]

Yes, one reason that I wondered about the fridge is that I don't want to have the propane on while driving either.

If I'm not running the roof air, the inverter should take care of the fridge while driving, right? I don't have to run the generator for the fridge?

Regardless - we know the generator needs to be run regularly - at run at least once a month is one rule I've heard.

FWIW, the Hydro Hot already provides hot water as a result of driving down the road from what I understand.

Audrey

[Trehcub]

If you have the residential refrig then the inverter will run the refrig. If not then the refridge runs on propane or shore power/generator it is not hooked up to the inverter.

With a hydro hot you will get hot water without propane.

[Audrey & John]

Oh too bad - that seems like a pity.

Audrey

[EngineerMike]

Not really an issue. If you have the residential (110VAC) fridge, the 160 amp alternator should make enough 12VDC electricity for the inverter to convert to 110 for the fridge while driving. IIRC, the fridge is on an inverter-driven circuit, and when there's a low batt/power problem from a fridge call (compressor isn't always on but comes on periodically), there is a auto-on call to the genset which fires up to power fridge & charge up batteries. W/160 amps from the alternator, low batt's shouldn't be a problem.
If you have the propane/110V fridge, same thing. The alternator handles the generation. Roof air is the only thing that overpowers the inverter capacity, if I understand the setup.
We run our propane fridge all the time when not hooked up. Never had a problem, even back to the old '84 Winnie. Sometimes a good gust of wind, or when passing a semi, the fridge "check" light comes on meaning the flame blew out & fridge circuit board shuts off the propane valve. A click of the control will re-ignite it, and as long as you haven't been into the fridge a coupla times without noticing (its a red or orange light so its hard to get into fridge & not notice), everything inside is still cool.

[Audrey & John]

EngineerMike:

We don't have the residential fridge. Not an option in the 36ft and with our anticipation of boondocking, not a good choice for us anyways.

So you are saying that the propane/110V fridge can use the inverter when driving?

Audrey

[Trehcub]

Yes, you can but you have to make some changes in your coach is wired in the breaker box. You have to move the wire from the breaker that runs the 110 frig plug to a breaker on the inverter. This will allow the frig to run off of the inverter when the coach is running down the road or boodocking. You will have to remmeber to manually swithc the frig to propane when you are not running the coach or it will run on the inverter all the time.

[Wayne R]

There is a side benefit to running the fridg off the inverter. Your icemaker will work while boondocking on propane.

[Audrey & John]

OK - some good tips, thanks! We'll see how our 2006 is configured, and perhaps make some changes after a while.

Audrey

[EngineerMike]

If you ordered the optional 100 watts of solar, the 12V generation should keep up w/(non-res.)fridge needs w/out the alternator running, except at night & under significant clouds. Although, since you ordered the HHot, IIWY I'd just run the fridge on propane. You'll have 30+ gallons on board w/nothing for it to do; might as well cool the groceries.

[Audrey & John]

We did order the 100 watts of solar. I didn't think the fridge was able to use 12V directly since it was only 2-way. Our old trailer had a 3-way Dometic fridge and that was great - ran off DC from the tow vehicle.

The thing is I prefer to keep propane turned off when driving for safety reasons. I don't want to have to worry about turning it off when entering fueling stations, etc.

I'm sure that unless it's hot, the fridge would do fine with no power at all if we don't open it. And if it is hot, we would be likely to run the roof A/C in which case the generator can help the fridge cool.

We will definitely use the propane when boondocking though. Yes - we have excess propane capacity for sure!

Audrey