12 volt Refrigerator

I have two portable ac/dc fridge/freezers,and Engel(most efficient) and an Iceco..They easily run for a week on a 100ah LP battery in refer mode..One 100 watt panel keeps one,charged..Right now I am experimenting with one in freezer moder(0 degrees) and one in refer mode(32 degree's) with one 100 watt panel..On a sunny day it barely keeps up replacing used AH,on cloudy days usually two 100 watt panels are needed and sometimes it takes three 100 watt panels to do so..But it does and two of my 100 watt panels are portable..

I am at 20% this morning on my primary battery with a cloudy day forecasted..Rather than mess with portable panels I will just hook up my 10 amp Norco charger to get it back abone 50%..

So yes you can run a DC refer off of solar if you choose one that is easy on the power,not a power monger..The 10cf I saw use about 84 ah a day,that is way to much for me and my setup needing maybe 400 watts of solar at a minimum..

If you are doing a lot of boondocking (ie: no shore power), I would lean toward propane but the industry is moving towards 12v fridges.

With 2 full propane tanks, going a month or two without refills is very realistic, so not a huge burden for most to keep them full.

That said, with a decent battery/solar system, it's quite workable to go 12v.

Ignore people who simply pronounce a size for the solar array and battery bank. Do an assessment of your consumption and production capabilities. While the fridge is a major consumer of battery power, there are other items along with how you expect to live while boondocking. When someone pronounces 200w solar, that might be overkill or it might not be enough.

Also consider where you will be camping. If it's in dense forest, solar is not very useful.

Sandia Man wrote:

Do not know personally if they consume more power as compared to same size 120 volt fridge, ...

This is really the question that needs to be answered !

In both case (12VDC vs 120VAC) the DC battery voltage is inverted to AC and stepped up. 12VDC refrigerators actually use a 3 phase motor which is more efficient than a typical 120VAC motor.

Personally, I camp in warm weather, 70°F and above. My next RV will have a compressor refrigerator !

An adequate solar system mated with a dc to DC charger and some excellent batteries.

Depending on who you ask there pros and cons just like residential and absorption fridges when used in RVs. If you are plugged into shore power you should be good to go unless unit is faulty. Do not know personally if they consume more power as compared to same size 120 volt fridge, but if without power hookups upgrades to replenish consumed amphours will be needed. Many manufacturers at least give options on fridge choice, 12 volt/120 volt are less costly, we prefer absorption for RVing.

I guess we have been lucky over 3 decades as as all our Dometics and Norcolds have performed well across 6 different RVs, it is well over 80 degrees today and I was just out in our RV and had a big glass of Coke with ice from the freezer, even 95+ degree temps have been no issue for our Norcold 4 door fridge. Without a doubt the biggest issue with absorption fridges is improper installation, on a few RVs I made modifications to both interior and exterior of fridge greatly improving cooling efficiency.

Well, to save propane I would lean towards the compressor refer, but only IF you have a sufficient battery bank of at least 400 usable amp/hrs and a minimum of 400w solar…By ‘usable’ I mean Lithium (meaning LiFePO4…), a Lithium compatible SOC (state of charge) shunt- based battery status meter (so you can accurately arrive at true SOC), and that you understand how to charge them…

This latter item simply means, not to exceed 14.6v, no equalizations (as required with wet cell types), and once charged, not to leave them on the charger for an extended period of time…And since the voltage plateau remains nearly constant and flat, there’s no real need to keep them fully charged (as you would normally strive for with acid wet cell types)…An ‘occasional’ full charge is all thats really needed, this just to allow for periodic cell re-balancing…Also, (upon edit) know that Lithium cannot be charged if below 32d/f ( but can be safely discharged down to about -04d/f) so there are different strategies used to address this issue such as, interior mounting, heated basement, batteries with built-in charging heaters, or external, retrofitted electric battery blankets…

3 tons

corvettekent wrote:
You would be much better off with a propane refrigerator.

That is debatable ! You could be in big trouble if you run out of propane and there is no refill station nearby.

With adequate solar and batteries a 12V compressor refrigerator is far superior to any propane evaporative refrigerator, especially when the outside temps are in the 80s or above.

I certainly would have a generator, even a 2000W portable. Also a DC-DC charger.

You would be much better off with a propane refrigerator.

camper_ron wrote:
Looking to purchase a small moterhome to go to Alaska. Some of them have exclusively 10CU 12 volt Stainless Steel Refrigerator. I have no information or experience with this type of refrigerator any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks !

You'll need solar panels of at least 200w and an upgraded battery bank, if you plan on dry camping or Boondocking.