8 Gauge Wire

I also used welding wire due to it's flexibility as it made rewiring the inside of the TC to the batteries easier. Used split loom for the parts from the truck alternater back to the separate connector on the TC, not inside the TC.

You might consider using a separate connector at the TC for this. Anderson Power Products PowerPole can be found at a local Battery Store. They also are a source for welding wire and can crimp on connectors as well. The powerpole connectors can be panel mounted using anderson accessories.

You might install a 1/2/ALL/OFF marine battery switch inside the TC to direct where this power goes. The reason for this is that your truck voltage may overcharge your battery if it is already topped off before you leave. I found that my truck was doing this when I put a data logger on my batteries

This switch gives you the options:
1 - power directed to battery only
2 - power directed to refrigerator only
All - power directed to both
OFF - power discontected

I have found that the newer fridges with the circuit board and electronic ignition don't blow out anything like the old ones where you have to ignite them with a push button. The Dometic in my 2009 Apache has never went out on the road that you would notice anyway up to 70 MPH. The downside in the fridge draws a small amount of power all the time to keep the board alive

The old one I had before needed constant monitoring and relighting all the time.

I have 8 Ga charge wire and a 50 watt solar panel I set out and have boondocked for days with no problem.

SidecarFlip wrote:
I use stranded neoprene sheathed welding cable from the local LWS. It's sold by the foot and Tweco crimp on lugs too.

Did you put inside wire loom or just run it bare?

I use stranded neoprene sheathed welding cable from the local LWS. It's sold by the foot and Tweco crimp on lugs too.

Well, me proud of myself for getting this far on properly wiring this new truck. I spent the last 22 years arriving at every destination with a dead camper battery due to my laziness and visceral hatred for pulling wire. Maybe with the 8 ga wire I will arrive with 2 half-dead batteries. Me will consider that a success and a great improvement over what I had with the last 3 trucks. :) :) :)

I think the roof vent was too big and funneled too much air down the backside of the fridge. The roof vent on our 1996 Lance was huge; a full grown possum could have crawled into it.

BradW wrote:

NRALIFR wrote:
The problem with running my fridge on propane is that it won’t stay lit reliably.

Same here, we could never keep the pilot lit on our 1996 Lance. It worked fine up to about 45 mph, and then it went out every time. Tried every internet fix out there; nothing worked. Call me old fashioned, but I never really like the idea of having an open flame around gas pumps anyway.

Brad

I had the same problem, only 55 MPH was the magic number. I added shielding around the flame in the fridge compartment, a shield around the vent outlet on the roof, and shielding on the intake hatch on the side of the camper. Every time I got over 55 MPH, the flame went out. Got really tired of 50 or 60 degree fridge when we reached our destination. As soon as we set up for the night, I'd switch the fridge to propane and by morning it was cold again. I'd take the blue ice things out of the freezer, put them in the fridge to help keep it cool during the day, but it was a never ending battle.

I finally had enough, and bought a 12v compressor fridge. I also added a second battery, 400w of solar, and charge controller. It a fantastic upgrade! Travelling was fun again! My wife said it was the best improvement we've ever made to the camper.

When I bought my Lance, it had shields stick between back refrigerator cover fins. They look like factory made, but ugly.
I removed them and driving 9000 miles with speeds up to 75 mph never had pilot flame going out. My fridge is first unit on driver side behind the cab.
I did check and do some tests with my fridge.
When 120V element is like 250W , the 12V element is 180W, so they don't perform the same.
Test show very slight advantage of propane v/s 120V, so that is negligible.
I was getting 40/2F in the fridge with 100F outside and refrigerator side exposed to sun. Pretty impressive.
Just remember that propane burner leaves soot, what needs to be cleaned.

NRALIFR wrote:
The problem with running my fridge on propane is that it won’t stay lit reliably.

Same here, we could never keep the pilot lit on our 1996 Lance. It worked fine up to about 45 mph, and then it went out every time. Tried every internet fix out there; nothing worked. Call me old fashioned, but I never really like the idea of having an open flame around gas pumps anyway.

Brad

The problem with running my fridge on propane is that it won’t stay lit reliably. I’ve spent an unbelievable number of man hours and $$ trying to solve the problem, but I’ve only been able to improve its reliability somewhat. It still gets blown out often enough at hiway speeds that the fridge gradually gets warmer. It works fine on LP the rest of the time.

At some point I threw up my hands and went at the problem from a different direction. For several years I was running the fridge from an inverter, which worked very well in my older trucks. With my current truck, because of the “smart” charging system it has, the alternator was no longer keeping up with the draw from the inverter, so again I had to do something else. For me, the something else was a DC-DC charger.

Improving the charging performance from the truck’s alternator also has other benefits to anyone who spends a portion of nearly every day on the road, and doesn’t want to be limited to campgrounds with hookups every night

:):)