My Trailer Power System

[01tundra]

with such megar power needs, why'd you throw nearly $3k into your electrical system?

To circle back to my OP - to be able to leave the generator at home.

 

[Alloy]

I think you would find that the current generation of LP fridges is much less finicky about level than the old ones. We've camped a lot in our Pod and although I strive to get it level, it's not always there. Still, never had an issue with our fridge and it stays icy cold (cold enough that I have to keep the controller on 3 bars out of 5, otherwise our soda and beer freezes solid and explodes in the fridge!)

We are on year 3 with the Pod and (fingers crossed) no major issues so far.

Absorption technology hasn't changed in 50 years. If the refrigerator is not level the boiler runs hot and possibly overheat. Running the unit while it is hot/overheating causes sodium chromate (prevent ammonia from corroding the inside of the steel tubes) particles to crystallize and to eventually block the pipes. Crystals never turn back in liquid.

Instead of worrying about the fridge being level I installed a ARP to turn the fridge off before it gets to hot .The ARP also control fans at the back of the fridge to increase air circulation.

Fridge Defend by ARP Protects your Dometic or Norcold

Fridge Defend by ARP® controls the high temperatures that can lead to fridge failure and safety issues, our fan controller improves efficiency and repairs fan problems without removal of the fridge in most cases for Dometic, Norcold & Amish RV Refrigerators.

www.arprv.com

 

[Alloy]

Ours cools just fine on either 120vAC or propane. Battery is only used in-transit after the fridge is already cold. A couple of times when we were boondocking I forgot to change the fridge from propane to battery and drove home on propane with no issues. As I said, we have to keep our fridge setting on 3/5 bars or else the food in our main fridge freezes. Food in the freezer compartment is always frozen solid.

Ours is a Dometic 3 way. From what I've seen on the R-Pod Facebook groups, there are people who have issues with the Dometic fridge but we've been fortunate to not have any.

I LOL at the instruction that says "run the fridge on electric if you are over 5500'" We live in CO we are almost never below 7,000' when we camp and we've camped above 10,000' on several occasions with no issues.

At altitude it's a good idea to make sure there is a blue flame.

An orange flame makes carbon which blocks the nozzle and insulates the evatorator tube.

 

[Alloy]

Yeah there's now doubt we're heavy on propane, that's just how it came from the factory. I thought about going to two 20# tanks, but we're sitting right around 12-13% tongue weight so we're in a sweet spot now.

We rarely use the furnace all year here, if it's down in the teens we'll set it to 45F or so, but with two adults, a child and three dogs we stay pretty warm. I The Buddy heater knocks the edge off pretty good as well. If we were fortunate enough to live in CO I would have to rethink my plan a little.

The heaviest user of propane on our trailer is this by far -

Keep an eye on the Lithium when the temp drops...take the cupboard door off or leave it open. RV trailers are famous for having freeze temps inside closed cupboards while the inside of the trailer is 60-70F.

......and I won't run a buddy heater inside ....even if you paid me to .

 

[Buddha.]

I wish my RV fridge was a three way. It’s only 120v or propane. While on the road the propane won’t work(flame blows out?). We arrive at our destination with a warming fridge.

Ive never noticed any problems with our fridge not cooling. We can’t/won’t get our 30’ trailer in too many off camber situations though, lol.

 

[Alloy]

Just run the ’fridge on 120V. Supplied by the car.
My ’fridge draws about 150W.

May depend on the fridge. Our 8cuft has 300W@120V element.

On 120V while driving down the road the fridge draw 22-25A of 12VDC through the inverter. I installed a separate 120V circuit off a 600W inverter for the fridge.

 

[Buddha.]

Just run the ’fridge on 120V. Supplied by the car.
My ’fridge draws about 150W.

You mean run the fridge off of an inverter that mounted in the travel trailer? Power draw off the batteries isn’t much of a concern because I’ve got 400w on the roof and a 40amp DC to DC fed from the tow vehicle

I’d have to buy an inverter, would it have to be a good one(pure sine) to run the fridge?

 

[Alloy]

You mean run the fridge off of an inverter that mounted in the travel trailer? Power draw off the batteries isn’t much of a concern because I’ve got 400w on the roof and a 40amp DC to DC fed from the tow vehicle

I’d have to buy an inverter, would it have to be a good one(pure sine) to run the fridge?

People at Dinosaur Electroncis could answer the question regarding sine wave but all I used are sine wave inverters so there is no worries about plugging anything in.

Dinosaur Electronics Home. High quality circuit boards for RV appliances.

www.dinosaurelectronics.com

Two years ago I bought our 600W Prowatt Xantrex with remote for $180.00 on sale.....98% of the time it is power by the roof top solar.

Xantrex 806-1206 PROwatt SW 600 Watt 12 Volt DC True Sine Wave Inverter

Xantrex 806-1206 PROwatt SW 600 Watt 12 Volts DC True Sine Wave 120 Volts AC Inverter

www.solar-electric.com

 

[dreadlocks]

at 150-300W for these LP Fridges I'd want a bright af strobing indicator light or something wired in to remind you that its running off battery power and you needa switch back to LP.. compared to my 30W DC fridge thats a massive friggin load, far more than I see through my OEM Trailer plug from the tow vehicle.. so if your not careful you could show up with a good chunk of your battery bank depleted before you even set up camp.

 

[Buddha.]

at 150-300W for these LP Fridges I'd want a bright af strobing indicator light or something wired in to remind you that its running off battery power and you needa switch back to LP.. compared to my 30W DC fridge thats a massive friggin load, far more than I see through my OEM Trailer plug from the tow vehicle.. so if your not careful you could show up with a good chunk of your battery bank depleted before you even set up camp.

Yea but as long as I remember to hook up my 2awg 40amp feed from the truck I’d be fine.

 

[Alloy]

at 150-300W for these LP Fridges I'd want a bright af strobing indicator light or something wired in to remind you that its running off battery power and you needa switch back to LP.. compared to my 30W DC fridge thats a massive friggin load, far more than I see through my OEM Trailer plug from the tow vehicle.. so if your not careful you could show up with a good chunk of your battery bank depleted before you even set up camp.

Yeah I'll admit I've arrived at the campground and didn't pay attention to 20++ amp load on the battery meter unit the next morning......think of all the propane I saved

Being grossly oversize on solar& batteries (alarm set at 11.9V didn't go off) plus the extra 1" of insulation around the fridge it wasn't a big screw up and the solar had the batteries up the next day

 

[dreadlocks]

BlueSea makes some nice flush mount 120VAC LED Indicator lights you might be able to tap into the fridge power and put somewhere you'll notice sooner than later.. I used one on my circuit box to indicate the presence of 'shore' power, because my generator at the end of 100ft extension cord cant be heard at all and there was a few times I thought it was charging up the battery bank when it had ran out of fuel.. now I just glance over at circuit box and if indicator is green we've got power.

 

[01tundra]

Keep an eye on the Lithium when the temp drops...take the cupboard door off or leave it open. RV trailers are famous for having freeze temps inside closed cupboards while the inside of the trailer is 60-70F.

......and I won't run a buddy heater inside ....even if you paid me to .

I added insulation inside that cabinet, but if it's really cold I will open the cabinet door.

I've considered routing a few slot vents in the cabinet door.

The only time we use the buddy heater is if it's really cold and we're camping without hook-ups. And even then we only run it in the evening while we're awake with the roof vents cracked and then it's turned off for the night. I'm not a fan of running one while we're asleep personally, even though a lot of people do.

 

[01tundra]

Absorption technology hasn't changed in 50 years. If the refrigerator is not level the boiler runs hot and possibly overheat. Running the unit while it is hot/overheating causes sodium chromate (prevent ammonia from corroding the inside of the steel tubes) particles to crystallize and to eventually block the pipes. Crystals never turn back in liquid.

Instead of worrying about the fridge being level I installed a ARP to turn the fridge off before it gets to hot .The ARP also control fans at the back of the fridge to increase air circulation.

Fridge Defend by ARP Protects your Dometic or Norcold

Fridge Defend by ARP® controls the high temperatures that can lead to fridge failure and safety issues, our fan controller improves efficiency and repairs fan problems without removal of the fridge in most cases for Dometic, Norcold & Amish RV Refrigerators.

www.arprv.com

We're running then ARP Fridge Defend system as well, with dual outdoor fans and I've also added three fans inside, plus put the door sill heater on a switch to be able to turn it off while dry camping.

 

[Alloy]

I added insulation inside that cabinet, but if it's really cold I will open the cabinet door.

I've considered routing a few slot vents in the cabinet door.

The only time we use the buddy heater is if it's really cold and we're camping without hook-ups. And even then we only run it in the evening while we're awake with the roof vents cracked and then it's turned off for the night. I'm not a fan of running one while we're asleep personally, even though a lot of people do.

If venting is provide per mfg recommendations there is some heat through radiation but none from convection. Lighting an oven and leaving the door open will provide the the same amount heat and CO.