Residential Fridge Cool Down on Batteries

Our friends have one in their class A, takes 5 to 6 hours of gen set time after running from 4 216 Ah GC-2 batteries. It draws about 17 amps. I wouldn't hold my breath on the Grp 24's, they are typically about 85 AH. You don't say what kind of TV you have but some won't do more then trickle charge the batteries. Typically Ford and Chevy do pretty good. Refeers usually require a 24 hour cool down. Putting a couple of gals of frozen water in may help.

scrubjaysnest wrote:
Refeers usually require a 24 hour cool down. Putting a couple of gals of frozen water in may help.

24 hours? Only the regular RV ones can take that long.

This post is spot on to your question.

Your Whirlpool might draw more amps than my Samsung, but I got 17 hrs out of two hybrid batteries.

My Maytag cools down much, much faster than the Norcold running on either electricity or propane.

wowens79 wrote:

We have a Residential Whirlpool Fridge, with 2 group 24 deep cycles.

You need to specify what model to get a good answer....of fridge, that is. They all do not work exactly the same.

Once you know the model number, then you need to get an owners manual if possible.

Are you sure it is supposed to cool on batteries alone ??

wowens79 wrote:
Just upgraded to a TT from a Popup, and getting ready for our maiden voyage.

We have a Residential Whirlpool Fridge, with 2 group 24 deep cycles. I keep it in storage, so I don't have shore power. Will it run 5-6 hours on the batteries? It will be 90 degrees or so. I know I'll be ok while traveling with the truck recharging the batteries, but I'm concerned about the initial cool down.

I hate (and the HOA) to bring it over the night before since it takes up the whole driveway, and is a pain.

I can swing by the camper and turn it on in the morning, or lunch time, if the batteries can handle it.

My 10 cu ft residential fridge has no problem cooling down to normal fridge temps (34-36 F)within ONE cooling cycle. The first cooling cycle is typically about Compressor ON for 30 minutes and then OFF for 20-25 minutes.. Then the next cycle and beyond for 22 minutes ON and 38-40 minutes off.

I don't notice much difference in On/Off cycles from 70-90 F inside temps.

Most likely your two group 24 batts should give you about 5-8 hrs run time I would think. I run one pair of GC batts (a bit more capacity than your setup) and have no issue running around 12hrs without recharging and most likely could go a bit longer.

Just be aware that your tow vehicle most likely will not be able to fully recharge your rather depleted batteries while driving.. The Charge line from the vehicle might be able to supply 5A-10A of charge but that isn't going to be a lot of energy put back in to the batteries and would take many hrs of driving at that rate.

My suggestion would be to do a "dry run", assuming you are camping with shore hookups simply turn off the converter and see how long you can get before the low battery alarm on the inverter turns on (or monitor the battery voltage under load until you get to no lower than 11V).. Then turn on converter and allow lots of time for the converter to recharge the batteries..

My guess is if will be cool in under an hour easily. Compressor fridges cool down fast and they are not power hogs. Just turn it on an hour before you go and you'll be good to go.

Give it a go and I think you will be fine at least 12 hours on a good battery.
Assuming outside storage 200 watts of solar would keep the battery tip top charged and help with the draw as needed.