Rez fridge question

Many are running Samsung 18 cuft on 600W MSW inverters but it uses a DC compressor...will start off one battery. I put in a 21cuft EnergyStar Whirlpool that draws 8A (measured before the 1000W PSW inverter) ...96W and uses 1.2-1.3 KW/day. Plenty of 100-110AH 12V batteries (I added 2-110AH just for the refer). I’m good for 24 hours but rarely go that long as the house batteries need charging before then.

The JC 12V compressor replacement for the NoCold 1200 uses 110-120 AH/ day... only slight better than my 21 cuft. My EnergyStar 21 only increases 1 degree/hour shut off unlike the poorly insulated No Cold...partly why they are such POS.

DallasSteve wrote:
.......

First, I plan to follow the weather and not be camping in 100 degree sun or freezing temps. Second, I have a residential refrigerator behind me in this house and for the last 15 or 30 minutes it has been quiet. The point is, they don't run 24/7. And if you don't open the door a lot it can hold it's cold temps for several hours offline. The other day they shut off power here (in Colombia) for 8 hours and our food in the fridge stayed pretty close to normal temps.

My thought is to also supplement with some solar and run the generator when necessary. If I decide to boondock more often and longer then I may replace the original 2 12V batteries with 2 golf cart batteries, or whatever the best tech is. Maybe add more solar or nuclear. HA HA. Sound like a plan?

No it does not sound like a good plan. First the 100 watt/10 amp estimate was for use in moderate temps with cycling on and off. Again a battery will last about 3 1/2 hours in those conditions. If the temperatures go up to 80 degrees, or if you add some warm beverages or food, the units will consume more power. If you shut it off for a while, then it will run continuously for hours to make up the loss.

If you are going to boondock you will need to have a serious solar system with sun, of course, or you will need to run a generator for hours and hours and frequently. You will also need a serious bank of batteries to carry you over the night time or when the sun it not shining or when you are not allowed to run a generator. There are lots of reasons for propane refrigerators.

There is another choice. You can get a highly efficient 12 volt compressor refrigerator. Most of them are small and expensive. I have one. It is about the size of a small dorm refrigerator and cost well over $1000 several years ago. I also have a solar system and another $1000 of AGM batteries.

Never seen a 3-way fridge in any 5th wheel. What make and model number is it?

Sorry I meant 2-way

austinjenna wrote:
The reason I asked was my fiver goes to the storage lot. Currently I have the 3 way fridge and the night before we head out I go and fire it up so it cools down by the time we leave.

Never seen a 3-way fridge in any 5th wheel. What make and model number is it?
Only 3-way fridges I've seen, are in pop ups and truck campers.
I own a PrimeTime product and they have only installed 2-way RV fridges or residential fridges. Maybe a 12v DC only fridge but no 3-way fridge.

3 hours of compressor runtime
Is 6:to 8 hours real time expanse
Depending on the duty cycle

If you are going residential fridge then do it properly...four 6 volt batteries and adequate solar. Set yourself up for success, not failure.

It doesnt matter if there are 4-6V or 2-12V, the fridge will not run for 12hrs on battery.

My current scenario is going at maybe 8-9pm and start up the propane fridge and leave at 11-ish the next day. From what I read that wont happen with a residential fridge.

JimK-NY wrote:

MrWizard wrote:
........

Start up surge was 900-1000 Watts, running use was just over 100 Watts , about 10 amps battery power into the inverter use

I seems to me that the original question did not get a clear answer. As above, a small residential refrigerator will run at roughly 100 watts. That is roughly 10 amps @ 12 volts. A typical RV battery will be in the range of roughly 70 AH with a usable capacity of 35 AH. So a single battery will power the typical smallish residential refrigerator for about 3.5 hours.

The bottomline is a residential refrigerator only makes sense if you will have hookups all the time or you will need to run a generator frequently for long periods of time. You also need to consider turning off the refrigerator when you are no hooked up, for example, when traveling for several hours.

I suppose the normal solution for boondockers is to run an RV refrigerator on propane when they don't have electric hookups. The negative I've seen is that the RV refrigerators cost much more and - I forget; maybe there was another negative. The model I like also has a residential refrigerator. Most of the time I think I will have hookups, but sometimes I'd like to try boondocking sites without hookups. So how could that work?

First, I plan to follow the weather and not be camping in 100 degree sun or freezing temps. Second, I have a residential refrigerator behind me in this house and for the last 15 or 30 minutes it has been quiet. The point is, they don't run 24/7. And if you don't open the door a lot it can hold it's cold temps for several hours offline. The other day they shut off power here (in Colombia) for 8 hours and our food in the fridge stayed pretty close to normal temps.

My thought is to also supplement with some solar and run the generator when necessary. If I decide to boondock more often and longer then I may replace the original 2 12V batteries with 2 golf cart batteries, or whatever the best tech is. Maybe add more solar or nuclear. HA HA. Sound like a plan?

MrWizard wrote:
........

Start up surge was 900-1000 Watts, running use was just over 100 Watts , about 10 amps battery power into the inverter use

I seems to me that the original question did not get a clear answer. As above, a small residential refrigerator will run at roughly 100 watts. That is roughly 10 amps @ 12 volts. A typical RV battery will be in the range of roughly 70 AH with a usable capacity of 35 AH. So a single battery will power the typical smallish residential refrigerator for about 3.5 hours.

The bottomline is a residential refrigerator only makes sense if you will have hookups all the time or you will need to run a generator frequently for long periods of time. You also need to consider turning off the refrigerator when you are no hooked up, for example, when traveling for several hours.

Unless weight and footprint are factors, anything that LI can do can be duplicated with AGM at about 1/4 the cost.

To make that work well, a properly sized solar charging system is needed.

It's curious that lithium (LiFePO4) batteries have not been mentioned. They are expensive (and require a different charger), but they produce their full rated capacity and can be drawn down almost all the way without damage. They are also good for many more charge/discharge cycles. A couple of LiFePO4 batteries and enough solar to recharge them and you can keep a residential frig going for a very long time.

Rob