best fridges for truck camper?
Hello all! My husband and I are reno-ing a late 1970s/ early 1980s heritage camper we found on craigslist. It originally just had a fridge cooler the owner just plugged in for use while he was hunt...
Forum Discussion
Depending on your needs you should first decide which type best suits you. If you are at CG's as suggested , then a small home fridge will work for you. As long as you keep it closed, it will keep things cold enough for a few hours while traveling. It acts like a cooler.
If you do not want to worry about power, the absorption RV refrigerator will simply run – as long as you have enough gas, regardless of being on the road, connected to AC or somewhere in the wild. However,you will a battery to run on gas for electronics of that type fridge.
EX: my 5 cu ft 3 way fridge operates on gas but uses about .35 amps per hr. while running on gas . The 12 v. source is needed to operate the electronic circuit board. At this time Im using two grp 29 deep cycle batteries . I think they are rated at 122 amps each. They run the fridge for days w/o running my Honda generator to recharge things.
If on the other hand you want to be energy independent and have a solar panel on your RV, are stationed where 110V AC is available most of the time, have a genset or large enough battery bank or do not want to keep buying gas, the compressor RV fridge is right for you.
Read here fro info :
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/24598587/print/true.cfm
Don't confuse the two types of 12 volt operation. Understand that a 3 way absorbtion fridge running on 12 volts is drawing about 25 amps/ hour. It will kill your batteries before you can shower and blow dry your hair. :) Thats a lot more than a 12 v. compressor type rv fridge at a fraction of that.
RV mechanics have told me that the 2-3 amp draw on the compressor type rv fridge is only drawing 50% of the time in a 24 hr period. 12 hrs. of maybe 3 amp draw on the batteries.
You should not allow any battery to drop below 50% of its power before you recharge it. Letting it drop too low can shorten the life of a battery.
If you choose the 12 v battery route, compare your battery options before you decide.
Regards, Bob
If you do not want to worry about power, the absorption RV refrigerator will simply run – as long as you have enough gas, regardless of being on the road, connected to AC or somewhere in the wild. However,you will a battery to run on gas for electronics of that type fridge.
EX: my 5 cu ft 3 way fridge operates on gas but uses about .35 amps per hr. while running on gas . The 12 v. source is needed to operate the electronic circuit board. At this time Im using two grp 29 deep cycle batteries . I think they are rated at 122 amps each. They run the fridge for days w/o running my Honda generator to recharge things.
If on the other hand you want to be energy independent and have a solar panel on your RV, are stationed where 110V AC is available most of the time, have a genset or large enough battery bank or do not want to keep buying gas, the compressor RV fridge is right for you.
Read here fro info :
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/24598587/print/true.cfm
Don't confuse the two types of 12 volt operation. Understand that a 3 way absorbtion fridge running on 12 volts is drawing about 25 amps/ hour. It will kill your batteries before you can shower and blow dry your hair. :) Thats a lot more than a 12 v. compressor type rv fridge at a fraction of that.
RV mechanics have told me that the 2-3 amp draw on the compressor type rv fridge is only drawing 50% of the time in a 24 hr period. 12 hrs. of maybe 3 amp draw on the batteries.
You should not allow any battery to drop below 50% of its power before you recharge it. Letting it drop too low can shorten the life of a battery.
If you choose the 12 v battery route, compare your battery options before you decide.
Regards, Bob
