12 volt refrigerator, yes or no

[Mgtv53]

Originally Posted by Joe-Camper

About to pull the trigger on a newer camper. I don't have any idea if a 12volt frig is a good idea or not. Want to do some boondocking but am leery. The rig I'm looking at only comes with a 12volt frig and is a 10 cubic inch model.

I would think a couple solar panels would be a big help, but have no experience in that area. I do have a generator for topping off but don't want to have to rely on it all the time.

What say those of you than have any experience?

Joe

12 volt fridge? No way must have propane too

[Mgtv53]

Originally Posted by Joe-Camper

About to pull the trigger on a newer camper. I don't have any idea if a 12volt frig is a good idea or not. Want to do some boondocking but am leery. The rig I'm looking at only comes with a 12volt frig and is a 10 cubic inch model.

I would think a couple solar panels would be a big help, but have no experience in that area. I do have a generator for topping off but don't want to have to rely on it all the time.

What say those of you than have any experience?

Joe

12 volt only? Trouble needs propane too

[Mgtv53]

Originally Posted by tuffr2

Gary - how long do you stay out boondocking and how many hours do you run your generator.

I am thinking I would add some solar panals to help.

Cannot park underneath trees with solar panel so you need propane I have a12 volt fridge I use it on propane when traveling I don’t even use 12 volt when plugged in,
When using air conditioning and microwave

[Don Juane]

Originally Posted by paul65k

Has anyone ever thought about why there are ZERO absorption refrigerators installed in on-grid homes??? It's because a compression based refrigerator is simply safer and more efficient.

Comparing apples to oranges here....

If I had several kW of solar and stacks of lead acid batteries in my tow-behind trailer to emulate the facilities that off grid houses have, then I would not consider propane fridge either. A smaller RV simply doesn't have the real estate for giant home-size solar arrays or weight capacity or room for giant battery banks, so you can't compare off-grid homes to RVs. The real reason the RV mfgs are doing a "snow job" selling these compressors fridges and that is that new inexperienced customers don't know better and are buying them, plus it allows the price to remain the same with the profit going up from the cheaper refrigerator. The RV for years has been sold with a propane fridge and the stock model you drove off the showroom floor would maybe run self-contained off battery power for about 36 hours if you were lucky. Add a compressor fridge to the mix and you are looking only a fraction of that time.

[Monkey Run]

I had a 12 volt/120 volt fridge in my boat and loved it. Provided the best of both worlds without having to use propane.

[Don Juane]

Originally Posted by Monkey Run

I had a 12 volt/120 volt fridge in my boat and loved it. Provided the best of both worlds without having to use propane.

Again, an apple to oranges comparison.

How many propane filling stations do you come across while sailing the world? I'd venture to say very few. The weight capacity of any reasonable sized boat as far as batteries will well outnumber the load capacity of an already overloaded RV. And solar is about the same capacity as a very small RV so while that might be a close match, propane is just not stored on a boat or available at any port, so you are pretty much "sunk" even if you wanted a propane fridge and you are stuck "amp packing" or converting petro to chemical energy and thus you are still relying totally on fossil fuels, only the liquid kind instead of gas.

Other reasons you might shy away from propane on the boat:
https://www.boatus.com/app/views/201812/how-to-handle-propane-on-a-boat.asp

[twinboat]

Boats don't have propane fridges because insurance companies will not allow them.

The ABYC does not allow any un-attended gas appliances in boats built now days.

Stoves and ovens are exempt, as attended appliances. You stand there and use them.

[Mgtv53]

Originally Posted by Joe-Camper

About to pull the trigger on a newer camper. I don't have any idea if a 12volt frig is a good idea or not. Want to do some boondocking but am leery. The rig I'm looking at only comes with a 12volt frig and is a 10 cubic inch model.

I would think a couple solar panels would be a big help, but have no experience in that area. I do have a generator for topping off but don't want to have to rely on it all the time.

What say those of you than have any experience?

Joe

You mean 10 cubic ft

[Goodspike]

What's the draw of a 12 volt refrigerator when running? I would view converting an LP fridge to 12 volt to be like converting an LED light to incandescent, but I'd like to have some idea of how many bulbs that would be.

And as to being in 106 degree temperatures, who isn't going to be plugged in during such a spell, and thus able to use 120 volt electric on the fridge? As a practical matter, who isn't going to hook up and leave that area? ;-)

[astrocamper]

I have the 6 cubic foot Unique Appliance 12 volt DC fridge. The spec says 520 Watt-hours in a 24 hour period at 77 degree ambient. The spec for the 10 cubic foot fridge is 584 Watt-hours in a 24 hour period.

I removed a 6 cubic foot Norcold and the Unique 6 cubic foot version was the only one short enough to fit in the existing space.

[KanzKran]

Originally Posted by astrocamper

I have the 6 cubic foot Unique Appliance 12 volt DC fridge. The spec says 520 Watt-hours in a 24 hour period at 77 degree ambient. The spec for the 10 cubic foot fridge is 584 Watt-hours in a 24 hour period.

The 584 watt-hour would make it 2A continuous over 24 hours at 12V, or more like 4-6A at 50-33% duty cycle. That's pretty good, IMO.

Mine is a shade under 6A, and it runs about 40% of the time with an 80F van interior and the sun not shining on the outside wall where it's mounted. So mine draws about 58 Ah in 24 hours, or 700 Wh. Good thing my 300W of solar makes a decent dent in that, even up here in the north. When the sun is shining during the day, solar keeps up just fine and puts a lot back into the battery, but when it's cloudy, there is a net draw from the 600 Ah battery. But even then, I can go days without having to do something about it.

[Don Juane]

Originally Posted by KanzKran

mine draws about 58 Ah in 24 hours

Having 600aH/day available power would be a luxury for many. In contrast when speaking of the smaller "dual-inline house-battery chamber" campers, assuming a couple of GC2's the aH will be a little over 200aH in most cases, which with lead/acid we assume with the 50% recommended daily drain-down would yield a budget of 100aH/day for this camp of campers. I have been living 4 years full-time with 100aH as a daily energy supply and I use close to the full 100aH every day with 2 laptops, phones, tablets, water pump, LED and furnace in the winter and many fans in the summer. Sure my energy usage goes way down on the 77 days and at 80F, I scarcely open a window so in this example, a 77 degree day would not require many fans if at all and of course no furnace. Adding a compressor fridge to my own rig and telling me to deal with 42aH (100-58) a day instead of 100aH would be a "blow" that I could not handle personally and thus this would drive me into thousands spent for a lithium upgrade to enjoy an additional 58aH battery supply to drive a compressor fridge.

[tuffr2]

Agree that if you boondock a lot then a 12v compressor refrigerator probably is not a good idea. But there are a large percent of campers that have electric hook-ups most of the time. For those campers the 12v refrigerator makes sense.

I own property that I camp on in the summer so no other campers are around. In this case I would use my generator because I am under trees. If I end up like I used to do is summer on this land I could easily have electric added like I had before.

I see Sunset Trailer and Wildwood trailers now have 12v refrigerators in them.

[bneukam]

Let’s just hope campgrounds don’t turn into a sea of generators running.