Hi,
Yes the Hughes Autoformer is the solution for many. I built my own with a 12 volt 500 watt (40 amp) transformer. Just about as expensive once I bought all the wiring and fittings.
One time I was at a race track in Bowling Green with about 100' of extension cord, and was getting 108 volts after the 12 volt boost. So you still need to keep checking the voltage just not as often.
105 volts is fine for running the air conditioner, it will still draw a normal amperage, but lower than that, I would shut it off and suffer.
CHanging the refrigerator on hot days will help by reducing your amperage into the RV by 3 amps, sometimes increasing the voltage by 2 volts. Also the refrigerator will have about 30% - 40% more cooling capacity on gas than on electric. This is due to a larger capacity burner, than the electric heat element heat output.
The gas/electric heating element will actually last longer and put out less wattage on a lower voltage. At 122 volts, then the amperage will increase (compared to 117 volts) and is more likely to be damaged over the long time, due to increased amperage through the heater, making it run hotter.
When I was using my voltage booster and ran the refrigerator all summer long in one place, I plugged in the refrigerator via a small 120 volt extension cord under the RV into the outside vent of the refrigerator. This allowed it to run on 108- 118 volts while I ran my A/C at the boosted voltage.
Fred.
