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Old 04-04-2020, 06:02 AM   #1
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Inverter/Residential refrigerator question

We just purchased an Open Road 32SA and have not taken possession of it yet. Not sure when we will with current conditions and the dealership is closed so I have plenty of time to read. The model we purchased has a residential refrigerator and does NOT have the upgraded inverter. The specs from Tiffin simply say the standard inverter operates the TV's, Surround Sound and Residential Refrigerator. We are new to RV'ing and my question is if this inverter will be enough to power the unit given the residential refrigerator requirements or should I consider an immediate upgrade. It's primarily for my wife and me however there are times we'll have our grandkids and family with us. Also, how do you cool the refrigerator down prior to a trip without draining the battery? We're storing it about 20 minutes from our house and plan on taking about 2 trips a month during the summer (if the world gets back to normal).
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Old 04-04-2020, 06:36 AM   #2
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This may help answer your questions:
https://sinetech.co.za/select-inverter.html
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Old 04-04-2020, 07:17 AM   #3
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A residential refrigerator draws far less power then you think. Your main limitation will be your storage batteries and not the inverter. The design intention is to keep your refrigerator running up to 24 hrs before you either start the engine or plug into shorepower.

I think you will find that the whole design will work fine.
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Old 04-04-2020, 07:23 AM   #4
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Many newer rigs have residential style refridges, lucky you have inverter, many donot.

Regardless,, if store it,, do they have a place you can plug it in prior to leaving the nite before

If not

I can think of 2 options..

Make sure your batteries are fresh, have proper charging. And you have enough AmpHours. and run the refridge the nite before off batteries and while you travel.
Residential units do not use alot of power .

Now the can of worms may open - Battery capacity.. This is alot to take in. beware..

You can have Solor added to roof even a 200 watt system can help charge ,keep charged when sitting ..
If you want to update or add,it is all about cost and your use.

1. Good Batteries is top list.. all depends on what you have in unit.. You may be ok, you may need to change to higher AH of same size,space..or add

2. Lithium, as replacements is pricey .you can get more use per charge cycle ,they last longer but require special chargers.

3. cost senarios vs expected use..

Ok a FYI in my old RV bus,, I had a 8 cuft resi frid/ freezer, smaller yes.

Thursday nite 8-9 pm I would turn on inveter, run fridge on a low setting to start cooling. Friday 5 AM, I would fire up RV, set fridge to normal cold.., Drive from storage place to my Work lot by 7am. So itgot 2 hours of quick charge into the 2-27 deep cycles from my 235amp altenator.
Fridge would stay on till wife stopped and packed food by noon , stil on. I would start it up at 4, drove to town, got wifeand dogs and we off by 5..
arriving to venues by 9 -10pm ..
.PARK , run a few lights,freshen up, watch TV till 12 or 1am.. Up at 5:30am. put kuerig on for a cup of joe.. take dogs out.. Fire up smally genny .Some times when i got back the low volt just chirped after the coffee..

So my long story is good batteries of size,it can work, I use my rig 12-18 times a year..

Now my newer minnie has abosrbson fridge,powerHOG.. propane only. I have 300+ AH in baterisand can expect 6-8 hours at best if I have to use when temps are less that 70-75ambient...
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Old 04-04-2020, 07:29 AM   #5
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we do not have electrical power where we keep our trailer and we have a residential refrigerator. we we leave for a trip here is what we do.

keep your batteries fully charged while in storage!

fill some old milk or water bottles with ice and freeze them at home several days before the trip. on the morning of the trip we take them over and put them in the refrigerator and freezer sections. this really helps!!!!

we do have a generator. on the morning of the trip we start it while we are loading the trailer (perhaps a half hour). but his give the refrigerator a head start in getting cooled down. turn off all features you can on the refrigerator such as ice maker and quick freeze. load up the refrigerator and freezer with what ever you are taking with you. turn the inverter on, generator off, hook up and go. we have found that it takes less than an hour to get the freezer down below freezing and perhaps 30 minutes more to get the refrigerator section down to the desired temperature. we can tow all day with the batteries / inverter running the refrigerator and the batteries will still have power in them. when you get to where you are going if you have electricity you can turn the ice maker back on.

we only have a couple of generic marine / rv group 27 12 volt batteries.
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Old 04-04-2020, 07:31 AM   #6
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The best part of residental fridges is that they cool down fast.

You could probable turn it on, drive from the storage to your home, load it with cold and frozen food and be fine.

Your inverter is fine for what it powers. The upgrade would be if you wanted to run a coffee maker, hair dryer or microwave with out starting the generator.
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Old 04-04-2020, 07:33 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EcoRick View Post
We just purchased an Open Road 32SA and have not taken possession of it yet. Not sure when we will with current conditions and the dealership is closed so I have plenty of time to read. The model we purchased has a residential refrigerator and does NOT have the upgraded inverter. The specs from Tiffin simply say the standard inverter operates the TV's, Surround Sound and Residential Refrigerator. We are new to RV'ing and my question is if this inverter will be enough to power the unit given the residential refrigerator requirements or should I consider an immediate upgrade. It's primarily for my wife and me however there are times we'll have our grandkids and family with us. Also, how do you cool the refrigerator down prior to a trip without draining the battery? We're storing it about 20 minutes from our house and plan on taking about 2 trips a month during the summer (if the world gets back to normal).
What model of inverter? What year is your Tiffin?

It sounds like you can't bring the coach home to park overnight to connect to power.

A residential fridge cools down much faster than an RV fridge. If you have fresh batteries you should be able to run the fridge overnight and load it up the next day and then start your trip.

KJR
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Old 04-04-2020, 07:48 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KJR View Post
What model of inverter? What year is your Tiffin?

It sounds like you can't bring the coach home to park overnight to connect to power.


KJR
It’s a 2020. Tiffin’s specs on standard equipment are not detailed. We don’t even have the manuals yet since the dealership shut down before we could take delivery.

Our driveway has a brutal turn in and incline. Even seasoned UPS, Fed-ex and tow truck drivers dread our neighborhood. We’ve had more mailboxes knocked over and landscaping damage than I can count over the years. Maybe in a few years but for now we’ll have to rely on going to the storage area before any trip.
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Old 04-04-2020, 07:54 AM   #9
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The best part of residental fridges is that they cool down fast.

You could probable turn it on, drive from the storage to your home, load it with cold and frozen food and be fine.

Your inverter is fine for what it powers. The upgrade would be if you wanted to run a coffee maker, hair dryer or microwave with out starting the generator.
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Old 04-04-2020, 07:59 AM   #10
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If the RV comes with a residential fridge than the inverter is sized to run it and the TV and sound outlets. Up graded inverter means a larger inverter to run other things and it requires upgraded wire to and from the batteries and upgraded batteries.
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Old 04-04-2020, 10:20 AM   #11
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Here is the manual for a 2020 Open Road. I believe it is pretty much the same as my 2019 32SA. Your inverter will be fine for the residential refrigerator. It would have been nice if the dealer / salesperson had explained that there was an option for the 2000 watt Pure Sine Wave inverter, since you were having the coach built, but what you have will work - just cant run as much off it as the lager unit.
https://tiffinmotorhomes-rcgarkskyk9...anual_2020.pdf
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Old 04-04-2020, 10:48 AM   #12
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I would have to make the [pretty safe] assumption that Tiffin is providing.an inverter of adequate capacity...
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Old 04-04-2020, 02:34 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HighDesert View Post
It would have been nice if the dealer / salesperson had explained that there was an It would have been nice if the dealer / salesperson had explained that there was an option for the 2000 watt Pure Sine Wave inverter, since you were having the coach built, option for the 2000 watt Pure Sine Wave inverter
https://tiffinmotorhomes-rcgarkskyk9...anual_2020.pdf
Our sales rep was very good. We purchased one from stock and we did discuss additional options. Surprisingly he didn’t try to up sell us at all. He said what most posts here state, that what Tiffin supplies is fine.
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Old 04-04-2020, 02:54 PM   #14
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As counter intuitive as it sounds, a larger inverter that has more capacity than you need is liable to cause you more problems than a lower capacity one. This is because no inverter is 100% efficient. Running a higher capacity inverter, even with the same draw as a lower capacity one will pull more power than the lower capacity one due to it's overhead. If this power is only being furnished by your battery bank just using a higher capacity inverter will draw down the battery bank faster.
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