Fridge/freezer amount of 12 volt?

riven1950 wrote:
SoundGuy...No I didn't. Don't want to steal this thread but can you explain about the element you are talkng about? Where is it? How would I turn it off? Showing my ignorance here. Thanks

You say you have a Dometic fridge but haven't mentioned the model. That said, one of the most common Dometic gas absorption fridges has been the DM2652 (and larger DM2852) which does have a climate control heating element but in recent years no switch that allows turning this power hungry element off when running on battery power alone. Some of us have added our own switch.

riven1950 wrote:
I can tell you that my Dometic running on lp was killing a battery ( down to 12.0 volts ) every 24 hours when I had it parked in Jax Florida when we were evacuated from Florence. We were not staying in it and I pulled the fuse for the monitors so it was the only draw, at least that I could think of.

SoundGuy wrote:
Unless you also turned off or disconnected the fridge climate control heating element no wonder your batt was drawn down in just 24 hrs. :R

Did you? :@

BFL13 wrote:
The OP's Norcold doesn't even have one of those, so who cares? It will still want about 15AH a day as previously explained, based on actual measurements.

My post was clearly directed at riven1950 who has a Dometic fridge which well could have a climate control heating element. :S

Something terribly wrong with Riven1950's Norcold if its drawing down his batteries!
Ok, if its a 3-way then its possibly cooling using 12vdc. If its cooling via propane, as stated above the amp draw on the 12vdc side should be very low.
Also, what's the condition of his batteries?
Anyone that owns FLA batteries should own a REAL glass battery hydrometer! Not one of those very cheap inaccurate plastic ones with the arrow or those colorful balls.
My Xantrex Freedom 458 will NOT properly charge my four interstate deep cycle batteries.
I tweaked my Midnight solar charge controller and the interstates are floating by noon on a sunny day.
Verified by checking with glass hydrometer.
Not trying to hyjack post, just adding my 4 cents.
Thanks all

SoundGuy...No I didn't. Don't want to steal this thread but can you explain about the element you are talkng about? Where is it? How would I turn it off? Showing my ignorance here. Thanks

SoundGuy wrote:

riven1950 wrote:
I can tell you that my Dometic running on lp was killing a battery ( down to 12.0 volts ) every 24 hours when I had it parked in Jax Florida when we were evacuated from Florence. We were not staying in it and I pulled the fuse for the monitors so it was the only draw, at least that I could think of.

Unless you also turned off or disconnected the fridge climate control heating element no wonder your batt was drawn down in just 24 hrs. :R

Did you? :@

The OP's Norcold doesn't even have one of those, so who cares? It will still want about 15AH a day as previously explained, based on actual measurements.

riven1950 wrote:
I can tell you that my Dometic running on lp was killing a battery ( down to 12.0 volts ) every 24 hours when I had it parked in Jax Florida when we were evacuated from Florence. We were not staying in it and I pulled the fuse for the monitors so it was the only draw, at least that I could think of.

Unless you also turned off or disconnected the fridge climate control heating element no wonder your batt was drawn down in just 24 hrs. :R

Did you? :@

I can tell you that my Dometic running on lp was killing a battery ( down to 12.0 volts ) every 24 hours when I had it parked in Jax Florida when we were evacuated from Florence. We were not staying in it and I pulled the fuse for the monitors so it was the only draw, at least that I could think of. It was parked in full sun and it was HOT. Same frig parked in Jax in Dec or Jan will last 2 days on the same battery. So my theory is the outside temp / sun makes it work harder and use more power. I know nothing about amp hours etc. but this is from actual use. Yes, the battery was good.

Boon Docker wrote:
"Almost nothing" would depend on how big the battery bank is. If the battery bank is 600ah then even 15 amps is "next to nothing".

Compared to what else you're expecting from your batteries, it's pretty small. If you have to plan for that kind of minuscule use, perhaps you need more batteries.

SoundGuy wrote:
Too funny - replies from "almost nothing" to 15 amps a day. :S

"Almost nothing" would depend on how big the battery bank is. If the battery bank is 600ah then even 15 amps is "next to nothing".

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