Battery or 110v?

Oh brother...

Just check the wattage on your refer. No absorption fridge I've ever heard of takes 10 or more amps at 120v. Yes, it will run your batteries down quickly because it draws 30-40 amps from the batteries.

But that's not the OP's question...or is it? Right now I'm not sure.

KD4UPL wrote:
The ref. will NOT draw 10 or 15 amps on 120v ac. More like 2 or 3. I would leave it on 120v AC or go to propane if you want.
12v doesn't work that well and will only make your power problem worse. It gets it's 12v from the converter which draws 120v AC to make the 12v DC. It's not 100% efficient (nothing is) so running the ref. on 12v DC while plugged into shore power will actually use more electricity than having it on 120v AC.

2 or 3 AMPS....NOT

When I first aquired my Pace Arrow I could not figure out why my inverter sucked the batteries down in under 45 minutes....

Found that one of the outlets on the inverter was connected to the fridge. I know from experience that when the fridge is on the inverter is drains the batteries QUICK.

I'll have to check the draw and get back to this post.

My Suggestion, Inverter for a few lights, NOT the fridge, leave it on gas.

RM



Thnaks

The ref. will NOT draw 10 or 15 amps on 120v ac. More like 2 or 3. I would leave it on 120v AC or go to propane if you want.
12v doesn't work that well and will only make your power problem worse. It gets it's 12v from the converter which draws 120v AC to make the 12v DC. It's not 100% efficient (nothing is) so running the ref. on 12v DC while plugged into shore power will actually use more electricity than having it on 120v AC.

It will use so little propane for a couple of nights just do that so you don't have to worry.
Most will go close to a month on a tank if they have 12volts for the board.
Have fun :)

I'd experiment. A friend of mine with a small Dometic in his TC gets far better results on 120VAC than propane. I get very good results on gas, so I just leave the fridge on that, since every weekend during my boondocking run I exchange propane bottles anyway (unless they are completely full.)

The small 3 way fridges are in the 100-150 watt range for either 120v AC or 12v DC. @ 10A DC, that's 4 hours or so on one battery. Not all were wired for 12v via the power converter and required the vehicle alternator spinning to run off the vehicle 12v. If it gets cold enough on 120v, use that or try the propane.

donn0128 wrote:
On less than 30 amps the refer should be on gas. The electric heating element can draw 10-15 amps alone.

No. Fridges are not 1200w. A 15a service is fine for one.

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Most 3 way fridges do not work well on 12 volts. The fridge only draws about 325 watts on 120 volts, so a 15 amp (1800 watts) shore power will handle that easily.

X-2 I think you'll be fine too.

Hi,

Most 3 way fridges do not work well on 12 volts. The fridge only draws about 325 watts on 120 volts, so a 15 amp (1800 watts) shore power will handle that easily.

On less than 30 amps the refer should be on gas. The electric heating element can draw 10-15 amps alone.