help me decide on a refrigerator purchase
I am restoring a old camper and the absorption fridge that is in it is shot. In my opinion not worth throwing money at it so I will be purchasing new. Due to space limitations I am limited to a 3.1 cu...
Forum Discussion
Propane fridge actually uses a lot of propane. Can't say about truck camper fridges, but a typical 6 cu.ft fridge in trailer eats 1.2-1.5 lb a day. The stove will eat that much in a week.
A small 2.0-2.2 cu.ft 12V compressor frig will need 20-30 AH over 24 hours, depending on the weather and how good is the ventilation where it's installed. You will need one 200W panel to serve the frig alone - 100W is enough when its' sunny, but 200W will be handy on cloudy days. With total 300-400W solar it will be enough for all other equipment as well (you might have to limit the use of microwave though), with no or very occasional generator use.
You will need more than 2 batteries if you want avoid the generator use - or almost avoid. Say, in 2 days of rain the frig draws 50 AH and few bulbs and radio draw another 50 or 60 AH. It is difficult to live on less than 25 Ah a day excluding the fridge, even for a die-hard minimalist. So your 2 batts are discharged to 50% after 2 days. So if it still rains on the day 3 - either the genny kicks in, or you go home.
A small 2.0-2.2 cu.ft 12V compressor frig will need 20-30 AH over 24 hours, depending on the weather and how good is the ventilation where it's installed. You will need one 200W panel to serve the frig alone - 100W is enough when its' sunny, but 200W will be handy on cloudy days. With total 300-400W solar it will be enough for all other equipment as well (you might have to limit the use of microwave though), with no or very occasional generator use.
You will need more than 2 batteries if you want avoid the generator use - or almost avoid. Say, in 2 days of rain the frig draws 50 AH and few bulbs and radio draw another 50 or 60 AH. It is difficult to live on less than 25 Ah a day excluding the fridge, even for a die-hard minimalist. So your 2 batts are discharged to 50% after 2 days. So if it still rains on the day 3 - either the genny kicks in, or you go home.
