Newe style RV fridge

[LUCKY 7]

I found a new trailer that we might purchase. We have a permanet campsite but no hook ups. All solar. So the new trailer has a new style fridge that is 12v only. The trailer comes with a 165w monocrystaline panel with a 25amp charge controller. 16g wire. The trailer has shade for part of the day. We start camping May 15th and use the trailer till around October 15th. my understanding is these new fridges work quicker getting to operating temp than the propane system. They are cheaper to supply and install in the trailers than the propane ones. Will it be a pain in my azz with not having a power site? will I need to run a generator and be constantly worried about that batteries going dead? I typically run 2-6v RV batteries. any advise would be great. Thank

 

[ABMax24]

I found a new trailer that we might purchase. We have a permanet campsite but no hook ups. All solar. So the new trailer has a new style fridge that is 12v only. The trailer comes with a 165w monocrystaline panel with a 25amp charge controller. 16g wire. The trailer has shade for part of the day. We start camping May 15th and use the trailer till around October 15th. my understanding is these new fridges work quicker getting to operating temp than the propane system. They are cheaper to supply and install in the trailers than the propane ones. Will it be a pain in my azz with not having a power site? will I need to run a generator and be constantly worried about that batteries going dead? I typically run 2-6v RV batteries. any advise would be great. Thank

Having a quick look I'm not sure that's the best fridge for your application. If it's similar to this one it will use about 1.8kwh per day, which isn't going to operate on a 165 watt panel, at least not without recharging the batteries some other way on a daily basis.

It is doable if you want to be offgrid, but I'd recommend starting with at least 800 watts of panels in full sun, and 6 6volt batteries to go a couple days if its cloudy. At this point you might as well go with a bigger inverter (if the trailer doesn't have one) to power 120volt appliances as well.

16 cu. ft. Furrion Arctic® 12 Volt Side by Side Residential Style Refr

Furrion Arctic Black - Compact and efficient, the build-in design and large capacity delivers flexibility while elevating the aesthetics of your kitchen.

furrion.com

 

[ABMax24]

This one uses 1.08kwh/day, and might let you get away with 600 watts of panels. I guess you could run on 2 6 volts too, but if its cloudy you would need to run the generator at least some to keep the batteries full.

16 cu. ft. Furrion Arctic® 12 Volt Side by Side Residential Style Refr

Furrion Arctic Black - Compact and efficient, the build-in design and large capacity delivers flexibility while elevating the aesthetics of your kitchen.

furrion.com

 

[LUCKY 7]

Dealer told me its a 8cu. ft fridge if that helps

 

[ABMax24]

I see I posted the big one twice, I meant to post this the second time as I'm assuming it's this one:

At 1.08kwh per day you are using most of the capacity of 2 6 volt batteries. And in full sun a 300watt panel will be just borderline to power the fridge everyday. Myself I'd go with 4 6 volts and 2 300ish watt panels. Unless you plan to run a generator anyway for an hour or 2 per day.

But I'd also cost check the price of the propane fridge, I can't imagine the 12 volt is cheaper overall.

https://furrion.com/collections/refrigerators/products/8-cu-ft-furrion-arctic®-12-volt-built-in-refrigerator

 

[ctd]

We have new rig soon to arrive, I've read a reasonable amount on the 12v fridge vs prop/elect vs residential. I stayed with prop/electric, in the past it was 30lb bottle to run the fridge for a month. Not sure how this new outfit will be, I'm hoping the same with a much larger capacity.

The 12v fridges look to have 4-5ah draw, seems to be average. Using 4ah that is 96ah per day, if your 2 6v batteries are 110ah ea you only have 110ah available. With lead acid & AGM batteries you can only discharge to 50% of their capacity. Your 165 watt panel @ best will average about 9ah, that would have to be a blue bird day.

You have problem.

I suspect you have poor quality solar charger, they are not all equal. I'm guessing that because of your 16g wiring comment, way to small. As a suggestion, correct the wiring, add a second 160wat panel that is portable so you can chase the sun.

Have a look @ lithium batteries, I just went with two of these for our new fifth wheel. You can discharge 100%, I plan for 80% normally. One of these @ 80% gives you 160ah usable, 100% discharge you have 200ah. You don't damage these batteries @ 100% discharge unlike LA or AGM.

Premium 12V 200 AH Lithium Battery with Bluetooth and Self Heating

12V 200 AH Lithium (LiFePO4) battery with BLUETOOTH and SELF HEATING

ionicelectronics.ca

 

[LUCKY 7]

the lithium batteries are HUGE money. They might come down in time but who knows

 

[Teth-Air]

As the previous poster said, get another large portable panel and put it on a stand in the sun. I have an old cooler with a spare battery in it that has a male and female trailer plug connected straight through with the battery connected. This cooler also has a solar panel on its lid and a controller and inverter inside. I can leave it at the trailer to assist the onboard batteries or put it in the back of my truck to charge as I drive. Or plug the trailer into it if I need 120 vac for short usage. Just turn off your trailer battery charger if you plug into one of these.

 

[ctd]

the lithium batteries are HUGE money. They might come down in time but who knows

You should do some research, the link I posted gives you 200ah of battery power. To get that with AGM or Lead Acid you need 400ah, that would be 4ea batteries. If you go with good deep cycle that will potentially give several years of usable life how much will they cost?

The link I posted is the extreme cost of lithium, there are two features these batteries have that are important in my application. The first being you cannot charge lithium below 0*C or you will permanently damage the battery. These are protected from that & will charge below 0*C. The second feature is these batteries have a blue tooth feature showing state of charge so I know immediately available power In % & other important things such as charge current or discharge.

Then there is something called life cycles, that is the number charge & discharge counts. In your RV application that is similar to mine, runs from Apr. to late Sept. you will easily see 10 years of life.

My current rig I upgraded the solar system to 300 watts of solar, 1500w inverter, a 4 stage charge controller & battery monitor. I went with 2ea Concord 6v 220ah batteries, that is 110ah of usable power. After 8 seasons the batteries are toast, $900.00 for the pair. Very rare I every ran a generator.

We had been planning on a new rig for approx. a year, having a well thought basic solar system for the last several season I had a very good idea what direction to go. Many hours of battery research, cost vs benefits, long term vs short.

The short answer is lithium is not "HUGE" money, it can be if you don't do some homework. Such as a 12vdc fridge, there is an application for it & it's logical. Your requirement might not be the best choice nor the intent.

 

[blubbles]

Lithium has come down a ton in the last few months. You can get 200ah of lithium with internal heaters for like $1000.00. Which honestly is pretty impressive.

At the end of the day, trying to run fridges off batteries is just a plain bad idea. It can be done yes, but it takes an incredible amount of planning and you are going to have to be monitoring your batteries on those cloudy days etc. There is no chance that a fridge will only pull 4 amps @12V. I expect its double or triple this. If I run my RV fridge off batteries (through an inverter) it pulls 21amps. That eats away at your batteries pretty quick. Honestly if you can go to a propane setup its the way to go. You can buy a lot of propane for the amount you will have to oversize everything.

These fridges always post these crazy low currents, but the moment it gets warm out, (or you throw a full case of warm beer in) they running pretty much flat out. Even my buddies overlanding Dometic pulls like 7-9 amps continuously.

 

[ABMax24]

If your looking at lithium check out these, they're some of the cheaper ones I've come across. You have to preorder usually though to get one.

products

Canadian Company LiFePO4 Lithium Batteries and Chargers - products

www.ablithium.ca

 

[LUCKY 7]

Lithium has come down a ton in the last few months. You can get 200ah of lithium with internal heaters for like $1000.00. Which honestly is pretty impressive.

At the end of the day, trying to run fridges off batteries is just a plain bad idea. It can be done yes, but it takes an incredible amount of planning and you are going to have to be monitoring your batteries on those cloudy days etc. There is no chance that a fridge will only pull 4 amps @12V. I expect its double or triple this. If I run my RV fridge off batteries (through an inverter) it pulls 21amps. That eats away at your batteries pretty quick. Honestly if you can go to a propane setup its the way to go. You can buy a lot of propane for the amount you will have to oversize everything.

These fridges always post these crazy low currents, but the moment it gets warm out, (or you throw a full case of warm beer in) they running pretty much flat out. Even my buddies overlanding Dometic pulls like 7-9 amps continuously.

I don't want any issues or trying to make the system work so yes I will pass on any 12V fridge systems. For me I like is simple. Get to the campsite. Open everything up, turn the propane on, then the fridge, then wait about 6-8 hours then take the food from the cooler and put all of it in the fridge. simple. Or leave the fridge on if we are coming back within a week. My 100# propane tank is sweet

 

[bjd68]

If your looking at lithium check out these, they're some of the cheaper ones I've come across. You have to preorder usually though to get one.

products

Canadian Company LiFePO4 Lithium Batteries and Chargers - products

www.ablithium.ca

Great find that is the best deal I have seen for lithium batteries.

 

[X-it]

This is the battery i ordered in but it was the 150ah one, it runs a 30lb thrust electric motor for 6 hours at full thrust. The gauge was not accurate it died at 64%

822.0US $ 40% OFF|Lifepo12v 300ah Battery Pack Lifepo4 12v 300ah Lithium Ion Battery Pack 12v Lifepo4 Batteries For Inverter,rv,boat,solar System - Battery Packs - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com