No Generator

berreez wrote:
After a lot of research we thought we were going with a class A. Now we’ve changed our minds and going with a 5th wheel.
The one we like is the Forest River 377FLIK. The only issue is it does not come with a generator. Since we want a residential refrigerator I’m not sure how long the unit will run on the batteries. I also know there are portable generators you can get and I probably will too but was just wanting to see how others deal with this. Is a 2000 or 3000 watt the best way to go?

We have a Whirlpool residential refrigerator with two six volt batteries in our fifth wheel. While you can't go for days the batteries will last about a day or so depending on the temp outside and how often the doors are opened. We had a salesman at the RV show two years ago tell us "the batteries will last about 3 or 4 days without a charge". NOT! I should've known he was lying, his lips were moving!

I installed three one hundred watt solar panels on the roof last fall just before putting the rig down for the winter. I can say with honesty that so far this season with the solar our batteries have faired pretty well. We have to keep our RV at a storage lot and the lot has no hook ups for RVs. I've been able to run the refrigerator all of the summer 24/7. On cloudy days or stormy days with little to no sun I have had to run our Honda generator a bit BUT since early June I have not shut down the fridge and we've only had to run our generator a total of maybe fifteen hours. Now we have gone on a few camping trips in between June and now but so far I'm pleased with my solar investment and performance.

I am seriously considering adding two more six volt batteries to our rig which would give us longer running time in between cloudy/stormy days.

This has been our experience here in south eastern Wisconsin. Good luck in YOUR decision. BTW, we LOVE our residential fridge!!!! :B

Dan