Our first motor home had the propane/electric refrigerator in it. We never experienced any issues with thawing or warm food after a 5 hour drive in the heat of the day, I simple turned it off and made sure the door was secured.
My 2022 Coachmen Spirit had installed a 12v/electric fridge as an option. Due to needing to be level when operating the electric/propane absorption kind of fridge, I thought this would be good to try. So far we love it!!! Tho admittedly I used to drive with my propane turned on to keep the fridge cold, now I keep it off and the battery keeps the fridge nice and cold. This is the first time I've had a 12v fridge. It's 10" cubic in size; well it's actually a wee bit larger than that, and has a feature to put it in conserve mode when we are dry camping. I have 200 watts of solar on the roof and have no issues with the battery running to low. I purchased a 200w solar suitcase from Renogy for when we go dry camping, just in case we are parked in full shade.
I've had solar on the roof of our trailers for years. I've also had 2,000 watt inverters hooked up as well. I finally decided to try leaving our old two-way fridge on AC as we were on the road. Worked fine - until the ten year old fridge died. We replaced it with a purely AC fridge (best thing that ever happened). The solar panels keep the batteries at 100% all day, once the recharge is over. Cold beer. Non-sticking ice cubes. Ahhh.
Mike, I have a similar question. Do you know about how much power a 2.3 cf 12 V DC draws and about how long can it run on 200Ahrs of Lithium Batteries?
Another possibility, for owners of motorhomes, is to use an inverter to supply the 300 watts of AC power to run the fridge while underway and the engine alternator is working. It would require 25-30 amps of 12 volt DC power. A voltage-sensing relay could disconnect the fridge from the inverter to prevent the battery from being quickly discharged when the engine alternator is not working.
Yes, that can work in a motorhome. But a trailer would require a DC/DC charger and a heavy wire with an Anderson connector between the TV and RV. The 7-way plug can’t supply enough amperage.
Our first motor home had the propane/electric refrigerator in it. We never experienced any issues with thawing or warm food after a 5 hour drive in the heat of the day, I simple turned it off and made sure the door was secured.
My 2022 Coachmen Spirit had installed a 12v/electric fridge as an option. Due to needing to be level when operating the electric/propane absorption kind of fridge, I thought this would be good to try. So far we love it!!! Tho admittedly I used to drive with my propane turned on to keep the fridge cold, now I keep it off and the battery keeps the fridge nice and cold. This is the first time I've had a 12v fridge. It's 10" cubic in size; well it's actually a wee bit larger than that, and has a feature to put it in conserve mode when we are dry camping. I have 200 watts of solar on the roof and have no issues with the battery running to low. I purchased a 200w solar suitcase from Renogy for when we go dry camping, just in case we are parked in full shade.
These 12-volt Danfoss compressor refrigerators are great.
I agree with Mike. 12 volt DC dan foss compressor fridge for the win. A much better option than running an inverter. Great article.
I've had solar on the roof of our trailers for years. I've also had 2,000 watt inverters hooked up as well. I finally decided to try leaving our old two-way fridge on AC as we were on the road. Worked fine - until the ten year old fridge died. We replaced it with a purely AC fridge (best thing that ever happened). The solar panels keep the batteries at 100% all day, once the recharge is over. Cold beer. Non-sticking ice cubes. Ahhh.
Mike, I have a similar question. Do you know about how much power a 2.3 cf 12 V DC draws and about how long can it run on 200Ahrs of Lithium Batteries?
I’ve already written an article about that which I’ll update and repost tomorrow…
Another possibility, for owners of motorhomes, is to use an inverter to supply the 300 watts of AC power to run the fridge while underway and the engine alternator is working. It would require 25-30 amps of 12 volt DC power. A voltage-sensing relay could disconnect the fridge from the inverter to prevent the battery from being quickly discharged when the engine alternator is not working.
Yes, that can work in a motorhome. But a trailer would require a DC/DC charger and a heavy wire with an Anderson connector between the TV and RV. The 7-way plug can’t supply enough amperage.
In that case, I would consider installing the inverter in the tow vehicle and running a much lighter gauge 120 volt circuit back to the fridge.