Running Norcold off solar & inverter

+1 for running the 90k BTU cook station with a separate propane bottle... maybe even two so it is an easy exchange and you never run out.

The fridge takes very little propane to run so I would just leave it on and let the beverages and food stay cold on location.

The timer could be mechanical or 12v or its own little batteries I suppose. Not clear on timers. Anyway, that still means taking the food home and back again.

OTOH, we never had any trouble restarting the fridge and stuffing the food in right then. It got cold enough in the fridge soon enough.

I think the one day before thing is without any frozen things inside to help it along? A bag of ice cubes would help too.

Our site is a 2 1/2 hr drive from home so it doesn't melt on the way in one of those insulated bags with some blue freezer fake ice things tossed in. The most trouble is space for the food what with all the other things we take back and forth.

You mean run a timer off the inverter, then plug the fridge into that? Interesting idea! Maybe I could program it to run only part of the day, seeing as we're into colder weather...
I guess I'd have to run the inverter continuously, but that is manageable I suppose.

What about one of those timers on the 120 so the fridge comes on the day before your get there?

When we leave the TT at the site, we leave the fridge running because I don't want to haul food back, and if I'm completely truthful, that drink on Friday night just isn't the same without some ice ;). Getting to the trailer, running the fridge for a day to get it cooled down, using it for a day and leaving seems like more hassle than anything else.
While we are there, we rarely run the furnace, but we have a whopping big camp stove that runs 90k BTU when all the burners are going (I like to cook, weekends camping is when I let loose).
Looking at the Rogue controller, when we are there, we never have any issue with running the batteries down, other than a movie or two at night, there isn't a big load - we don't run the MV off inverter or anything like that. Worst day I've seen from the solar was 60AH, was cloudy all day.
Maybe I'll just keep the camp stove hooked up to a separate 20lb tank, that way the double 20lb LP's on the tongue will more than last me for the month for the fridge and occasional furnace run.
Running the fridge off the solar was just me having a lightbulb go off while sitting around, I do that a lot, it drives the DW absolutely bonkers!

We have a summer seasonal off-grid site and when we go home for a few days we just shut off the fridge and take any food home and bring it back.

We left the fridge on for three days last year and found the daily AH consumption was about 17AH from battery while fridge was on propane. No idea how much propane it used, we had lots, not an issue. Solar would help replace some or all of that 17AH, but not the propane.

Agree, running the fridge on 120v from inverter/battery would eat up a lot of AHs and solar is kind of spotty, so very dubious as a procedure. You would have to have a very good scenario why you could not just take the food home and bring it back, or buy more at a store near the site to justify the whole business.

You would need to at least triple your solar.

Bring an extra 30# bottle of propane is much easier if propane refill is difficult due to location or the holiday.

I assume you are running the furnace if you are using that much propane.... save the solar to keep the furnace blower running.

phemens wrote:
I was hoping that the solar and batteries could keep up during the week, when we aren't there, and the only electrical consumption would be the fridge andt the parasitic loads.

Why would anybody need a running fridge in a rig where he doesn't live? Not to mention the dangers of ammonia fridge. Just disconnect the batteries or pull the fuses on anything but propane and CO detectors (if those are not on independent AA battery power).

If this is for occasional weekend camping, the same applies - shut everything off for 5 days. You won't be able to use the fridge when you arrive on Saturday because it takes almost 24 hours to cool it down. Bring a cooler or a canned food, no big deal.

The cycling time for your fridge depends on:
1. Temps in your trailer
2. How often you open the fridge door
3. How low/high the temp. setting.
You control these.

How much solar that you harvest for the batteries, thats the wild card.

Try it out without propane and monitor the batteries. If they start dropping below acceptable levels you can: borrow a genny to top them up or bring in a reserve supply of propane. Sounds like it could be a good experiment if the weather stays sunny in the day and cool at night.

BTW we have a 7.5cuft AC/DC compressor fridge that draws 4.7A on 12V, 4 batteries, 330W solar and the last 3 years, genny time can be counted at 3 or 4 hours and that is for close to 200 days of camping off the grid. I say, go for it.

Dave

thanks for the input. We're not using the site as a full seasonal, so I'm not looking to increase the on site LP or at putting any significant investment into it. I was hoping that the solar and batteries could keep up during the week, when we aren't there, and the only electrical consumption would be the fridge andt the parasitic loads. I guess I'll just haul up a spare 20lb tank every weekend and swap them out.