Switching from 12 volt to 6 volt batteries
After our third time out dry camping with our new travel trailer, we started running into battery bank issues. Our first two times out, we had no issues at all with running down our battery bank overn...
Forum Discussion
bpounds wrote:crosscheck wrote:
One of the main reasons I chose a Danfos compressor style 12V fridge /freezer was because the they are a favourite of the ultimate boondockers which are yachters....snip
Using 12VDC is by far the least efficient way to generate heat, out of the 3 utilities common on RVs.
That's not to say it isn't appropriate in some situations. You mentioned one.
If you've got enough solar and battery bank to support it, more power to you. I've noticed there isn't much shade over sailboats.
I have seen a 12vdc fridge run our truck battery down during a single overnight stop at a motel. GM truck, which did not isolate the trailer from the starting battery. So it depleted the trailer battery and the truck battery. I wasn't the owner, but I was a participant, and it was my AAA card that got us back on the road that morning.
"Compressor Refrigerators
They use a process that compresses refrigerant to draw hot air out of the food compartment and vent it out the back or top of the fridge. They are highly efficient compared to absorption refrigerators." These are not my words but taken from a technical article regarding RV's. Compressor fridges do not use heat to make cold like absorption fridges do, that is why they are more efficient in energy use. If you are set up for high efficient compressor fridges, they work much better than absorption fridges. Just read all of the posts by big rigs who are turfing their Norcold units for compressor fridges.
One last thought, as most modern houses/apartments/businesses have natural gas and could have absorbtion appliances for cooling/freezing, why is compressor technology used in fridge/ freezers in 100% of domestic and industrial applications throughout the modern world?
Check out our blog when we had our previous rv an Outfitter TC for 5 years. You will see our camping style is "dry" with very few times using genny or shore power and our compressor fridge was never a problem regarding running down the batteries.
Dave
