Was the residential fridge a mistake?

[frozen]

I have a new coach with residential refrigerator and 4 house batteries. I'm just beginning to learn how things work. We spent a night at Walmart without the generator running. Refrigerator, a ceiling exhaust fan running all night, and a few lights. By morning I got a low voltage notice; 12.1 volts. I don't know the point where the frig shuts down.
Was hoping for a little better than this, but it is what it is !

[pvcampbell]

Originally Posted by frozen

I have a new coach with residential refrigerator and 4 house batteries. I'm just beginning to learn how things work. We spent a night at Walmart without the generator running. Refrigerator, a ceiling exhaust fan running all night, and a few lights. By morning I got a low voltage notice; 12.1 volts. I don't know the point where the frig shuts down.
Was hoping for a little better than this, but it is what it is !

As a similar point of reference - my 36' Tiffin MH also came with a large residential refrigerator, 2000W inverter and 4 GC2 6V batteries. I learned quickly that our power usage far exceeded the capacity of the batteries - the inverter would shut down by morning due to low votage (which is very bad for the batteries). The overall draw on the batteries with the fridge running and only "background" electric usage (i.e., computer charger, phone chargers, ceiling fan, etc.) is about 9 amps. Add lights and 1 TV on, and the batteries don't last. In cold weather when the furnace is running, forget about it.

3 years ago, I added 2 more GC2 batteries and 320W of solar power. That has helped, but we still aren't able to boondock without serious conservation efforts. So, I've got 6 100AH LiFePO4 batteries on the way, and am upping the solar to 700W. That will hopefully be enough juice to let us boondock for acopule of nights.

[Sbrownstein]

Originally Posted by pvcampbell

..I learned quickly that our power usage far exceeded the capacity of the batteries - the inverter would shut down by morning due to low votage (which is very bad for the batteries). The overall draw on the batteries with the fridge running and only "background" electric usage (i.e., computer charger, phone chargers, ceiling fan, etc.) is about 9 amps. Add lights and 1 TV on, and the batteries don't last. In cold weather when the furnace is running, forget about it.

Something else is wrong. Based on your data you should have at least 450 AH of total battery capacity. 9 amps for 10 hours is only 90 AH which should have left you at about 80% SOC in the morning. Maybe your bank wasn't charged and maybe your batteries are weak. I do this all this time with the same battery capacity, adding satellite receiver, CPAP and a bunch of chargers and my batteries are 5 years old. I agree that the added 7 amps for the furnace hurts, but I still do it without even coming close to shutting down the inverter.

[NY24]

He REALLY needs MORE batteries. My Dynamax DX3 had two 12VDC batteries to power a 22 cubic foot residential fridge. Starting from a full charge, they'd be dead in <12 hours. I upgraded to SIX 6VDC batteries and more than quadrupled my amp hour capacity. I can now go 48+ hours on batteries. I hope to do an upgrade to solar with lithium batteries soon.

[oketex]

Originally Posted by ascdds

What about when boondocking? Without an autogen start, how will he know when he needs to start his generator to recharge his 2 batteries? Don't want him to let them run down but don't want to run the generator all the time.

We have the residential frig in our 5th wheel and have no problems keeping things cool/frozen. Truck batteries keep everything running, we only drove 350 to 400 miles a day

[StageCoachDr]

His truck should be charging the batteries when he's driving. My neighbor has a Mobile Suites with an LG reffer. He says it's stays cold, even when he's on the road (and makes ice!).


What I find hard to believe is, his dealer (CW?) let the unit off the lot with a single deep charge battery (Interstate Marine?). When I bought my Monty, my dealer tossed that single 12V deep charge battery Keystone put in the unit and replaced it with a pair or 6V Trojan deep cycle batteries. These are $400+ batteries (each), but worth the dollars.

[dadnjesse]

Originally Posted by StageCoachDr

His truck should be charging the batteries when he's driving. My neighbor has a Mobile Suites with an LG reffer. He says it's stays cold, even when he's on the road (and makes ice!).


What I find hard to believe is, his dealer (CW?) let the unit off the lot with a single deep charge battery (Interstate Marine?). When I bought my Monty, my dealer tossed that single 12V deep charge battery Keystone put in the unit and replaced it with a pair or 6V Trojan deep cycle batteries. These are $400+ batteries (each), but worth the dollars.

I just bought a pair of those trojan T105 for $159.99 apiece not $400
https://usabatterysales.com/pd-new-t...-48-states.cfm

[captrcurtis]

I don't know what type of vehicle Paul R. Haller is running but I can say as a matter of fact that Chevrolet and GMC vehicles run 10ga, wire for the charge line and will send 20-30 amps back to your trailer batteries depending on load.
Also, as a matter of practice one should never try to cool a residential refrigerator down while using the inverter because you will draw your battery bank down very quickly. Keep the rig plugged in to shore power to cool the unit down, once cooled down a typical 10.5cf unit should only run approximately 12-15 minutes out of every hour.
While I still have an electric/propane unit in my trailer (soon to be converted) I have had several boats with residential fridges and inverters with 2 255ah 6 volt deep cycle batteries and have been out for as long as 15 days and have never run the batteries dead. Typically we cruised everyday for 4-6 hours and ran the engine another 2-3 hours a day to keep the house bank charged.

[walt_embree]

Originally Posted by 2Yung2 Quit

I don't think the tow vehicle will typically keep the RV batteries charged unless you specifically wire that way.

If the trailer has electric brakes, law requires a backup battery system to activate the brakes in the event of [unplanned] separation from the truck. Most towable RVs meet this requirement with the ‘house’ battery system. However, if the truck is not charging the trailer batteries, the the breakaway safety system is also not reliably functional. If the brakes on his trailer are other than electric, I’m not familiar with how breakaway braking would occur.

[Yoders2Go]

We have a controller and one solar panel that feeds the house batteries that run the domestic fridge while parked and not on shore power.

[paul65k]

Originally Posted by StageCoachDr

What I find hard to believe is, his dealer (CW?) let the unit off the lot with a single deep charge battery (Interstate Marine?).

Oh my gosh.....now that's funny......thinking that CW would know better......and even funnier that they would do something about it!!

Stop it....you're killing me man

[WayneInFL]

I had a 43' boat (before Hurricane Michael). It had a Norcold (Nevercold) AC/DC refrigerator. I measured the ambient temperature in the galley and then behind the refrig. There was a dramatic difference (I forget the exact numbers). I installed 2 4" 12V DC muffin fans (like computer fans) in the wall at the top behind an attractive grill and installed a large grill at the bottom of the wall. The fans were hooked up to the refrig side so that they only ran when the compressor did. After this modification I had all the ice I wanted from the freezer and had to turn the temp controller in the refrigerator part down to less than half of what it had been set to. From then on we had no problems with refrigeration, even on hot Florida afternoons.


I suggest that folks with Norcold or other brands of refrigerators that do not operate properly to investigate and if possible, to modify heat removal, to assure proper cooling.

[cletesingler]

"I suggest that folks with Norcold or other brands of refrigerators that do not operate properly to investigate and if possible, to modify heat removal, to assure proper cooling."

Been there done that..... The Norcold 1210 in my RV is running perfect, seals are good and fans run when they should. I tried the continuously running external fans and they kept the fins cool - not a smart idea as the engineers said the ammonia works best at very hot temperatures. So, with inside RV temps at least 100 (feels like 110) on a normal TX towing day, then the 1210 fridge gets above 40 and during a defrost cycle even higher - duh, I gotta plan my defrost cycle for midnight when no one opens the dang door! When inside RV temps are below 80, I also have to lower the temp setting!

I'm looking at a good Residential Refrigerator to replace the 1210 some day, and this week with DFW being forecast above 100, my BIG question: Will an RR keep the fridge temp below 40 with a surrounding temp above 100? (I have a cheapo fridge in my garage and it tries but does not quite make it!)

[Sbrownstein]

I do know that Energy star ratings are done at 90 degrees ambient. 100 isn't much more. Modern inverter driven compressors seem to have a lot of surplus capability. I would bet that 100 degrees is quite achievable. A/C units commonly work in 100 degree or higher ambient temperatures.