bob_nestor wrote:
booster wrote:
35 amp hours per day for that stuff? We would be closer to 6 amp hours per day to run that stuff in our Roadtrek, as our resting load is under .3 amps. With our compressor frig running, we may get close to 35 amp hours per day, depending on the weather.
Wow! 6 amp hrs per day?? About half the camping I do in my Roadtrek is dry camping, so power is an issue. I recently upgraded my coach batteries and I'm looking at adding some solar. I haven't measured what I really use, but I've noticed I can go 3 or 4 days before needing to run the generator with the fridge on propane. I've modified Gale Scholten's solar power calculator spreadsheet for the 210 Roadtrek using best guess estimates. If anyone is interested in using it, or updating it with actual measured numbers, it can be found here. It does require Microsoft Excel but I also have a version that works with the Mac using Numbers.
The 6 amp hours per day is just the "resting" loads which are primarily the propane and CO detectors, plus a little on the control panels. The compressor frig will take another 17 to 40 amp hours per day, and our other use is usually about 10 amp hours. So we average about 50 amp hours or less per day depending on how hot it is for the frig. We have 200 watts of solar, which will give us 80 amp hours a day in good conditions and about 1/2 of that in worse conditions, so we can stay off grid almost as long as we want.
We had a 3 way absorption frig and switched to the 2 way compressor frig. The compressor frig does take more power, but not all that much when compared to the newer style 3 ways that take 12 volts to run, unlike the old ones that didn't need 12 volts. We really like the the compressor frig doesn't care about leveling, isn't generating all the heat like a propane one does, and is still able to cool well when it get hot out.
Now that solar is on the minds of the rv manufacturers, and larger battery banks, I think you will see the 3 way frigs nearly disappear in the future.
