theoldwizard1 wrote:
rcksblr wrote:
Anyway, I had resound to just buying a new fridge and getting one equipped for Propane. After looking into that, there seems to be a good amount of options out there to stick with the residential fridge setup and just go with Lithium batteries or other upgrades. I am not interested in going solar. I do have an 120W portable solar kit that I hardwired to my battery bank to help maintain things. I am leaning toward just putting a Lithium battery for the dedicated Fridge battery as it's got long life and would charge fast. It's just a large cost initially I want to be sure its a good option.
Does anyone have any advice/input on this? Much appreciated!
Do you boon dock much ? If so for how long ?
You still have to decide if you want a DC only refrigerator or do you want a residential unit and then an inverter. The residential refrigerator will cost less, but then you have to adding in the cost of the inverter. Most DC only refrigerators have an optional AC power supply that you can use when on shore power, but that is not adequate for recharging a dedicated battery.
If you have no interest in an inverter for the rest of your coach, perhaps a separate battery just for a refrigerator but it might be a good option ! If you only boondock for a couple of nights, I think a 30Ah-50Ah refrigerator dedicated lithium battery would be adequate. Buy a dedicated lithium battery charger and wire it, the battery and the refrigerator positive leads together. Same for all of the negative leads together.
I already have the Fridge. Previous owner put in a Danby 7 Cubic Ft. It's wired to a switch for AC/DC. I also have an 1000W inverter dedicated to the fridge for that setup.
We don't get out a ton the last couple years as we are a young family. Have newborn and toddler. When we do go, about 50% of the time we boon dock. We just got back from a boon dock trip where we camped 5 days. The Fridge lasted the whole time, but I had to run the generator in the morning and then again in the evening; plus after 3 days I swapped the Fridge battery with an extra fully charged battery I new I would likely need. I can get creative and make it work, but moving forward wanted to get setup so it's a non issue.
