Community Forums

redcatcher · 03-20-2017, 07:01 AM

I'm wondering how much battery power is used with my refrigerator running on propane when I am dry camping? I believe the power used is very small and my batteries in my National Tropical will handle it for a few days. Any thoughts? Thanks for your help.

ModestMonk · 03-20-2017, 07:03 AM

pcurt23 · 03-20-2017, 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redcatcher

I'm wondering how much battery power is used with my refrigerator running on propane when I am dry camping? I believe the power used is very small and my batteries in my National Tropical will handle it for a few days. Any thoughts? Thanks for your help.

You should have a panel somewhere that shows how many amp/hours you are drawing from your battery. How many batteries do you have? Are they fairly new? I have 4 house batteries that hold 480 amp/hrs. Because you should not discharge the batteries more than 50% that results in 240 amp/hrs available. Then you factor in that the batteries are seldom 100% charged you get to about 200 amp/hrs available. I might get 2 days without recharging the batteries. Of course living in the dark is not that much fun.

Do a little more investigating or just wing it.

4x4van · 03-20-2017, 04:40 PM

Not enough info. How many batteries? 12v or 6v? Standard RV fridge? TV/DVD? Inverter?

Lights are typically your heaviest 12v draw (other than furnace); LED conversions will make a huge difference. An RV fridge running on propane takes very little current, typically 1/2 Amp to 1 Amp.

If you're not using the furnace or an inverter (for TV, microwave, space heater...), then most RV's could easily handle a few days on battery power.

scenic route · 03-20-2017, 05:06 PM

We had the NorCold 1200 and while on propane, there was minimal 12 V power that is for panel control only. This thing ran for 10 days with no hook ups or generator power and still kept the ice cream in the freezer hard as a rock. No appreciable loss in battery power so it really must be minimal.

slickest1 · 03-20-2017, 09:10 PM

Our Norcold 1200 uses very little battery power when running on propane. That is in our M/H.
We had a travel trailer that we used for rougher camping and when we bought it the fellow had put in a new Dometic fridge. When camping and running on propane it would drain the battery in 24 hrs. I thought the battery was weak so I replaced it with a new deep cycle and it still would drain the battery quickly.
I was told that some of the newer fridges do draw alot of current even when running on propane. Whether that is so or not that was my experience with it.

dons2346 · 03-20-2017, 09:33 PM

We had a Tradewinds and ran the refer for a week on propane and batteries. Now, if you are running more stuff with the batteries, you should take that into consideration

vsheetz · 03-20-2017, 09:49 PM

Yes, a propane/electric refrigerator consumes very little 12vdc power when on propane. Conversely, when on electric they consume a lot from 120vac (typically much more than a typical electric only residential refrigerator). So the best way to operate a propane/electric refrigerator when dry camping is on propane and not on a 120vac from an inverter.

Ray,IN · 03-20-2017, 10:29 PM

Not to disregard your question, but the best source for your question is:
Obtain your make/model refrigerator, then find your service manual at Bryant RV.
It will have all the information you desire about your specific model refrigerator.
For instance, my refrigerator uses 1.6ADC when running on propane or 120VAC, yours may be substantially less.