Fridge power consumption and operation
Hi there,
I am in the process of installing an inverter and making some automatic circuitry to make the transition between shore power and battery power fully automatic. In this process, I am going to turn off certain circuits that have a high drain on power.
What puzzles me a bit, is the fridge: there is a switch that has 3 positions: auto, off, and gas. So far, I figure the way to go is if you are on shore power, stick it to "auto". If you aren't, then stick it to gas. What I don't is what happens if the shore power goes out while it's in the "auto" position. I'm concerned that it will draw too much current from the 12 VDC side of things, and will quickly drain the battery.
Does anyone have any figures on what the fridge should be drawing from the 12VDC side? I understand that in the gas position, the fridge still required 12 VDC to operate the ignition and possibly gas valve. I assume that when it is in the "auto" position, that it uses an electric element to replace the heat from the propane flame.
Here is a wiring diagram of what I am proposing. As you can see, it will automatically switch to inverter power if the power drops off on the shore power side (and if the inverter's on/off switch is in the "on" position).
I am in the process of installing an inverter and making some automatic circuitry to make the transition between shore power and battery power fully automatic. In this process, I am going to turn off certain circuits that have a high drain on power.
What puzzles me a bit, is the fridge: there is a switch that has 3 positions: auto, off, and gas. So far, I figure the way to go is if you are on shore power, stick it to "auto". If you aren't, then stick it to gas. What I don't is what happens if the shore power goes out while it's in the "auto" position. I'm concerned that it will draw too much current from the 12 VDC side of things, and will quickly drain the battery.
Does anyone have any figures on what the fridge should be drawing from the 12VDC side? I understand that in the gas position, the fridge still required 12 VDC to operate the ignition and possibly gas valve. I assume that when it is in the "auto" position, that it uses an electric element to replace the heat from the propane flame.
Here is a wiring diagram of what I am proposing. As you can see, it will automatically switch to inverter power if the power drops off on the shore power side (and if the inverter's on/off switch is in the "on" position).
