Residential Refrigerators
We are looking at a toy hauler which has a residential refrigerator powered by an inverter. The salespeople, their supervisor, and so on say that you can run the refrigerator on one battery using the...
Forum Discussion
Swamp Man wrote:
We are looking at a toy hauler which has a residential refrigerator powered by an inverter. The salespeople, their supervisor, and so on say that you can run the refrigerator on one battery using the inverter for 8-10 hours. What is your experience? I think that even with two batteries you would be pushing things.
I know that the refrigerator would not be running all of the time, but it would still consume power even when the compressor isn't running. Also, the refrigerator would not be accessed that much when on the road. Wondering if this is a deal breaker. I am told that a lot of the manufacturers are going to the residential refrigerators due to cost.
8 to 10 hrs on one standard issue group 24 size battery is about right.
Moving up to a pair of 6V GC batteries which nearly triples the usable battery capacity from a group 24 should get you around 24 hrs without the need to recharge.
Adding some solar will add a bit more time depending on how much solar you add and how much sun you get.
Changing out the inverter to one that tracks the AC load and inverter turns on/off with the AC load demand will gain you some additional battery time.
With one pair of 6V GC batteries (wire in series to get 12V) and a Tripplite PV1250 inverter (this inverter has a power save feature that turns the inverter on/off with a AC load), I easily can travel during the day, overnight without shore power, run the furnace all night and use some lights in the evening before going to bed and still have plenty of battery left in the morning to travel the next day.
I don't have solar, but while traveling my tow vehicle can partly recharge the batteries which helps to extend my traveling time.
I would recommend if you are planning on camping without shore power that you at least consider a small generator, 2000W generator will usually be a good choice unless you need to run high power items like a air conditioner..
Household fridges are a good alternative now days provided you are not one of those folks who are die hard weekend warriors who have an aversion to running a generator for a couple of hrs in the morning and evening..
