Switching from 12 volt to 6 volt batteries

crosscheck wrote:

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

Regarding your "one last thought". Yes it is true that most if not all modern houses use compressor fridges and freezers. And they are hooked to the grid and barring and outage, they have limitless non stop electricity. Obviously in an RV we don't have limitless electricity....but 14 gallons of propane will run my Norcold for better than thirty days........that's almost limitless....with a real small amount of planning. 12v compressor fridges are better than ever, but for real boon docking some regeneration homework needs to be done to keep one of those in check.