Running Dometic Refrigerator with an inverter
My Dometic Refrigerator doesn't run on gas, can I run it off an inverter while traveling? How many watts will I need to run it?
Forum Discussion
Such an INVERTER pulling 350WATTS will probably draw around 30AMPS of 12VDC power from your batteries. You will need to have enough batteries to produce 30AMPS for the extended travel time which is alot of juice.
A typical Trojan 24TMX 85AH GP24 battery is stated to produce 12VDC @25AMPS for only 140 minutes (2.3 hours) before it will drain down. Adding a second GP24 battery will only increase this to 280 minutes (4.6 hours). Once the deep cycle batteries get drained real low and not re-charged right away they will start their internal self-destruct and may have to be replaced.
Not a good idea to me.... If your truck alternator could keep the batteries charged up going down the road it would be just fine. That would require beefed up Battery cables feeding the battery bank and probably a beefed-up truck alternator system. My rule number one is not mess with my truck systems as this is how I get back home.
Using propane to heat the ammonia in the RV fridge for cooling is probably the best idea for long term travel mode. Some folks seem to have problems using the PROPANE as the pilot light keeps blowing out of them when in travel mode.
I have run my small off-road POPUP fridge many times on 12VDC for a couple of hours short trip with my 255AH battery bank. Just keep in mind you need to keep the batteries re-charged back up to at least 90% charge state if they drop down to the 50% charge state. I usually do around 10 of these 50% to 90% battery three hour charge cycles using smart mode charging technology when camping off the power grid before running a full 100% charge which takes around 12-hours re-charge time. Doing these cycles keeps my batteries from going into self-destruct mode. If we are on a long trip I will usually turn on my small fridge about two hours from the camp ground so it will be cool when we arrive. We use our 5-day ice chest when in travel mode to keep things cool.
Just my thoughts
Roy Ken
A typical Trojan 24TMX 85AH GP24 battery is stated to produce 12VDC @25AMPS for only 140 minutes (2.3 hours) before it will drain down. Adding a second GP24 battery will only increase this to 280 minutes (4.6 hours). Once the deep cycle batteries get drained real low and not re-charged right away they will start their internal self-destruct and may have to be replaced.
Not a good idea to me.... If your truck alternator could keep the batteries charged up going down the road it would be just fine. That would require beefed up Battery cables feeding the battery bank and probably a beefed-up truck alternator system. My rule number one is not mess with my truck systems as this is how I get back home.
Using propane to heat the ammonia in the RV fridge for cooling is probably the best idea for long term travel mode. Some folks seem to have problems using the PROPANE as the pilot light keeps blowing out of them when in travel mode.
I have run my small off-road POPUP fridge many times on 12VDC for a couple of hours short trip with my 255AH battery bank. Just keep in mind you need to keep the batteries re-charged back up to at least 90% charge state if they drop down to the 50% charge state. I usually do around 10 of these 50% to 90% battery three hour charge cycles using smart mode charging technology when camping off the power grid before running a full 100% charge which takes around 12-hours re-charge time. Doing these cycles keeps my batteries from going into self-destruct mode. If we are on a long trip I will usually turn on my small fridge about two hours from the camp ground so it will be cool when we arrive. We use our 5-day ice chest when in travel mode to keep things cool.
Just my thoughts
Roy Ken
