Boondocking with a "residential" (compressor) refrigerator

Dometic has just released a compressor model that runs on either AC or DC (no propane). Same size as the Americana series. Draws 8.5 amps.

But, jplante4, that's if it runs for the full hour. In the real world at a max outside temp of say 80, what would it use? 3 average per hour (20 minutes per hour) x 24 hours? That's still 72 ah.

The average amp draw I see for a 12 volt fridge is 7 amps with a 100% duty cycle. Realistically, this averages out to 3A depending on a number of factors.

At 72 amp-hours a day, to keep the fridge from draining the batteries, and using rough guesstimates and no other major loads, two 12 volt solar panels at 216-300 watts each, wired in series and hooked to a PWM (or even better MPPT) charge controller should do the job.

It does cost something to beef up the solar install on the rig, but the return is never having to worry about propane or being level, and if your rig is stored, assuming the panels get reasonable sun, the fridge will always be cold.

Seems like a bunch of trouble for a res fridge. I'm just not unhappy with my current fridge.

theoldwizard1 wrote:

Any other special things to consider/do when boondocking wit a compressor refrigerator ?

People these days WANT what they WANT and often don't want to hear about options.

BUT it seems to me like just a slight change in life style or food preferences could easily eliminate the "need" for a huge fridge. Especially if you have a toad and won't be too far from civilization most of the time.

Regarding some complaints about absorption RV refrigerators:

- "Need to be level when camped." We want to be level, anyway, in camp for walking around inside the coach and for sleeping .... so we always level our RV.

- "Don't cool well in hot weather." Our Norcold propane refrigerator has a slider switch on the front with five coldness settings. We just use switch position 4 or 5 in hot weather and it does just fine. We normally have to use only switch position 3 to keep the fresh food section at 36-38 degrees, and the freezer section at around 10 degrees. Maybe not all RV propane refrigerators have a coldness-setting switch? (The Dometic propane refrigerator in our friends RV doesn't ... for instance.)

FWIW, I recently installed a wall mounted digital indoor/outdoor temperature instrument in our RV back by the bed so we can see the coach interior air temperature back there. It also reads outside temperature via radio link to an outside mounted battery powered sensor. Instead of mounting this outside sensor outside the RV, I instead velcro'd this sensor inside the refrigerator, and now we can see interior temperature of the refrigerator by just glancing at the "Outside" reading on the face of the temperature instrument's panel. This works like champ to help us know when or if we have to change the coldness control switch on the refrigerator in hot weather.

Above all we need flexibility in our RV and it's propane refrigerator offers this ... dry camping or hookup camping it just sits there doing it's thing either sipping propane or automatically switching over to 120V AC ... no huge battery bank, or inverter, or solar, or sun, required.

I'll bet that propane refrigerators are getting the cheap-out treatment by RV manufacturers in that they don't install them with the proper ventilation such that they don't cool correctly ... just like they're cheap-out installing built-in generators poorly such that they're too loud to use.

pnichols wrote:
iInstead of mounting this outside sensor outside the RV, I instead velcro'd this sensor inside the refrigerator, and now we can see interior temperature of the refrigerator by just glancing at the "Outside" reading on the face of the temperature instrument's panel. .

Nice idea man!

theoldwizard1 wrote:
Clearly a 120AC refrigerator is NOT optimal for folks who boondock a lot, but I am sure many do ! Good batteries, inverter, solar and a generator make it possible.

Any other special things to consider/do when boondocking wit a compressor refrigerator ? Do you turn it off at night to save the power in the batteries ?

We don’t generally turn off the fridge at night although I know some who do. Robust solar (500 Watts additional over what you have) and add a couple 100 amp hours of AGM battery capacity. We would never go back to absorption. Solar is cheap nowadays.

If you are going to be boondock/dry camping a lot, with the larger electrical requirements in modern RV's, whether you have a compressor or absorption fridge, you will need good batteries, inverter, solar(this impacts genny run time) and a generator.

With a compressor fridge, you plan from the beginning, not everyday before going camping, what you think your extra electrical requirements will be(over an absorption fridge).

From experience in our case, an extra 2 batteries and 200W of solar were sufficient.

98% dry/boondock camping 2011-16 with a compressor fridge, 3 times genny use, all power coming from alternator/solar.

Dave