Dorm Fridge for Trailer
I am thinking of adding a dorm style fridge to my small trailer. The fridge cubic feet size ranges from 3.1 to 3.3 depending on brand/model. Most of these fridges pull 1.3 to 1.5 amps @ 110 volts....
Forum Discussion
I've run a dorm fridge in a small home built toyhauler for over 10 years. My observations.
1) rated current draw on 120V is the MAXIMUM under worst case conditions, typical draw is about 75% of the rated.
2) figure a 30-50% duty cycle on the compressor, 50% only if it is REALLY warm inside the trailer, otherwise 30% max.
3) 12V draw will be about 10% of ACTUAL current draw
I can run the fridge, and other stuff in the trailer usually for at least two days on a pair of Trojan 6V GC batteries before I'm down to 50%SOC.
When mine is running it typically draw 8A from 12V, so 8A*6Hrs/day= 48AH/day at 8Hrs/day it's 64AH/day. My trojans are 240AH, so over typical 2 days, I'm probably running a 25% duty cycle or less.
1) rated current draw on 120V is the MAXIMUM under worst case conditions, typical draw is about 75% of the rated.
2) figure a 30-50% duty cycle on the compressor, 50% only if it is REALLY warm inside the trailer, otherwise 30% max.
3) 12V draw will be about 10% of ACTUAL current draw
I can run the fridge, and other stuff in the trailer usually for at least two days on a pair of Trojan 6V GC batteries before I'm down to 50%SOC.
When mine is running it typically draw 8A from 12V, so 8A*6Hrs/day= 48AH/day at 8Hrs/day it's 64AH/day. My trojans are 240AH, so over typical 2 days, I'm probably running a 25% duty cycle or less.
