Community Forums

caissiel · 02-08-2016, 11:07 PM

My neighbour has a residential fridge with dry cell batteries and after driving he has not enough voltage left to operate the slides and leveling system kills the relay.
I suggested he install 400 watt solar panels to supply enough charging power while traveling.
Any residential fridge installation needs 400 watt of solar panels with comparable batteries to work efficiently. Any less is trouble waiting to happen.
If the residential fridge is such a great idea the propane units would all be obsoleted and manufacturers would specialize in making heavy duty elevtric RV fridge instead resorting to light duty cheap residential fridges that fails in household use.

RussOnTheRoad · 02-08-2016, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glennwest

We are full time and a residential fridge is sweet. Our DRV had a Dometic fridge and we hated it. Our current unit, Teton, has a residential. Was a requirement for our current unit when shopping.

How do you power the fridge when you don't have shore power? Do you boondock? Have solar? If so, please describe your system briefly. Thanks.

glennwest · 02-09-2016, 03:01 PM

We don't boondock. All our system is factory installed. Have large inverter. 4 batteries. It will run 2 days without shore power. We went that long on a trip once. I still work full time so don't have option of chasing cooler temps.

RussOnTheRoad · 02-10-2016, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by caissiel

My neighbour has a residential fridge with dry cell batteries and after driving he has not enough voltage left to operate the slides and leveling system kills the relay.
I suggested he install 400 watt solar panels to supply enough charging power while traveling.
Any residential fridge installation needs 400 watt of solar panels with comparable batteries to work efficiently. Any less is trouble waiting to happen.
If the residential fridge is such a great idea the propane units would all be obsoleted and manufacturers would specialize in making heavy duty elevtric RV fridge instead resorting to light duty cheap residential fridges that fails in household use.

Thanks. Knowing how much juice it takes to power a residential fridge is useful information.

I think a residential fridge might be fine for people who camp with hookups and have some way to charge their coach batteries while traveling. On that second point, do people ever wire their coach batteries to the alternator of their tow vehicles so that they charge from the engine as they would in a motorcoach?

wingnut60 · 02-10-2016, 09:32 PM

Just about every tow vehicle of newer heritage has the system setup to charge the fiver/TT batteries as they drive--given that it is only set to keep the batteries from running down, not charge them like a battery charger/generator would. There should be enough power to keep up with the fridge draw while driving, unless something else isn't right.
You can run a separate wire of larger diameter to replace the factory 14ga wire--that would help.
If he doesn't have enough power to run slides and/or leveling system, that tells me the charge wire is not working, and at least he should be able to do all that with the tow vehicle running.
Residential fridges will be making great strides in the future to replace the adsorption units in all but the most demanding of boondocking situations--until then, solar and generators will have to do for battery upkeep.
I will change my current Dometic 1292 to a residential unit if it goes out--a residential unit will be half the cost of a new 1292 and the other half of the cost will go towards the solar setup...and having firm ice cream.
Joe

clifford j · 02-11-2016, 05:37 AM

I would agree with Joe that the tow vehicles 12 volts should supply enough supplemental power to operate slides. But I also think that the tow vehicle should be capable of floating the RV batteries traveling down the road and keeping them at full charge. The power cable back to the RV needs to be of adequate size, 14 ga may be marginal but the biggest threat to power loss is the connectors between units. Contacts should be bright and shiny with good spring pressure to ensure against voltage drop. MHO

CLIFF

glennwest · 02-11-2016, 02:24 PM

I have no problem operating slides with battery. We do have 4 batteries though.

RussOnTheRoad · 02-11-2016, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glennwest

I have no problem operating slides with battery. We do have 4 batteries though.

I think you may have misunderstood the point. It wasn't about there being enough power to operate slides off battery power, but rather if there was enough battery power remaining to operate them after the batteries had been powering a residential fridge for a number of hours. Am I wrong?

drfife · 02-11-2016, 06:15 PM

I drive all day with the residential fridge on inverter. The batteries stay at full charge. No problem running out the slides and hydraulic jacks. I have four 6 golf cart batteries.

RussOnTheRoad · 02-11-2016, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drfife

I drive all day with the residential fridge on inverter. The batteries stay at full charge. No problem running out the slides and hydraulic jacks. I have four 6 golf cart batteries.

So, your batteries are charged by your tow vehicle?

Terry Jay · 02-11-2016, 07:38 PM

The Tow Vehicle should keep the batteries on charge during driving. How much charge is a different issue. If my batteries are too low to move the slides (common if in storage for a while) hooking up the electric to the truck will provide enough power to move the slides. In looking at 110v appliances running off the RV batteries, how much draw for how long? See Jack Meyer's site for electrical and solar details Jack and Danielle Mayer

ccsvolsfan · 02-12-2016, 07:05 AM

Lots of windows, patio, sliding door, LG residential appliances, 6 pt hydraulic auto level, hydraulic slides, 10 gal hot water, etc., etc.
PDEK MODELS

glennwest · 02-12-2016, 03:02 PM

The fridge doesn't use a lot of energy during a day of towing. Compressor only operates when temps come up in fridge. Now if you stop and eat out of fridge, it will operate more. We do stop and eat sandwiches sometimes and still no problem with batteries. We do have 4 though. If you have less batteries, may be issue.