gheicher
Pennsylvania
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Your fridge will draw less than 2 amps from your battery, so for an hour that would be 2 amp-hr draw. Most trailer batteries are capable of 70 amp-hrs, so you theoretically could run only the fridge for 35 hours before draining the battery. If you have the trailer connected to the tow vehicle's charging circuit, the fridge should not drain the trailer battery at all when towing. Make sure the trailer battery is disconnected from the to vehicle's battery when the engine is not running for a substantial period of time or you could run the risk of the engine not starting. Most factory wired trailer hookups automatically disconnect when the ignition switch is turned off.
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rrupert
NW PA (Oil Heritage Region)
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I do not believe that running the refrigerator on propane while traveling is a safe practice and I think there are laws that address this type of thing. First, while fueling up there are fumes that could be ignited by the pilot light. Second, in the event of an accident, the hose to the open gas bottle could become damaged and allow propane to escape. I also think there are prohibitions about going through tunnels with open propane tanks.
Read this: http://www.gypsyjournal.net/traveling_with_propane.htm
Please anyone, correct me if I am wrong.
I have run on 12 volts for many years and it has worked fine. As stated before, just make sure you have the refrigerator precooled and have your food cold when you put it in.
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mike4947
N. Syracuse, NY
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gheicher wrote:Your fridge will draw less than 2 amps from your battery, so for an hour that would be 2 amp-hr draw. Most trailer batteries are capable of 70 amp-hrs, so you theoretically could run only the fridge for 35 hours before draining the battery. If you have the trailer connected to the tow vehicle's charging circuit, the fridge should not drain the trailer battery at all when towing. Make sure the trailer battery is disconnected from the to vehicle's battery when the engine is not running for a substantial period of time or you could run the risk of the engine not starting. Most factory wired trailer hookups automatically disconnect when the ignition switch is turned off.
Incorrect. You are familiar with larger RV fridges that have 12 volt powered thermostatic controls. Our small fridges when on 12 volt power the heater and will draw between 9 and 15 amps depending on the make/model/size. Also a good many of our TV's do not come with factory wiring so do not have a key controlled 12 volt aux line. Even with factory wiring our smaller TV's have a less than 50% chance of the line being key controlled.
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gheicher
Pennsylvania
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mike4947 wrote:Incorrect. You are familiar with larger RV fridges that have 12 volt powered thermostatic controls. Our small fridges when on 12 volt power the heater and will draw between 9 and 15 amps depending on the make/model/size. Also a good many of our TV's do not come with factory wiring so do not have a key controlled 12 volt aux line. Even with factory wiring our smaller TV's have a less than 50% chance of the line being key controlled.
Mike, You are correct about the larger RV fridges that have 12 volt powered thermostatic controls. I actually measured the 12 volt current draw on the absorption heater in my 5 cu ft Dometic 3-way and it measures 4 amps. This is considerably lower than the 9-15 amps that you state? Its difficult to find any published technical specs from the manufacturer of RV fridges.
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mike4947
N. Syracuse, NY
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You can find the amperage(watt) ratings in the service manuals which there's a lot of at http://bryantrv.com/docs.html
For example the Norcold N300.3 3CF fridge is rated at 150 watts@ IIRC 14 volts on 12 volts. Which would be apx 11 amps.
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belemnoid
Roseville, CA
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I precool with shore power for a day or two and then throw a couple cold packs in with the food for transit. Don't bother with either 12v or propane while traveling and the food has stayed cold.
2000 Starcraft Spacemaster
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GotLift
Albuquerque, NM USA
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I ran into a problem the last time I ran the fridge on 12V during transit. My battery was completely dead when we arrived at the camp ground 2 1/2 hours later. I couldn't pop up my roof with the electric winch and I couldn't do it manually because the crank was locked in the Pup to which I forgot the keys at home. Luckily, my wife's cousin was there with a booster pack.
I don't think I will run it on 12v again. I usually run it on propane, but needed to stop for gas on the way out. I still don't have a clue why our TV didn't keep the battery charged on the trip.
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daveskis
Maryland
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What you do will vary with the camper. On our "old" fleetwood utah we carried our food to the first set up and then stocked. We have a new Niagara and now stock it at home.
We used to use it on 12 volt and then switch to electric when we arrived and plugged in. On one of our first long trips this year we got to the first site to find the pup battery dead, as there must have been a connection problem with the TV. So the roof would not go up except I carry a battery jump start kit. Woohoo.
We now always travel on propane and have never had a problem. It uses very little propane.
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MrPressure
Texas
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rrupert wrote:I do not believe that running the refrigerator on propane while traveling is a safe practice and I think there are laws that address this type of thing. First, while fueling up there are fumes that could be ignited by the pilot light. Second, in the event of an accident, the hose to the open gas bottle could become damaged and allow propane to escape. I also think there are prohibitions about going through tunnels with open propane tanks.
Read this: http://www.gypsyjournal.net/traveling_with_propane.htm
Please anyone, correct me if I am wrong. I've been looking for that side of the discussion. Here is a different take (long and informative with explanation of code changes over time and the saftey features in the ACME nut (Quick Closing Coupling type 1).
http://www.rvingoutpost.com/articlespecs.php?jobnum=21
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