Resi Fridge draining batteries, please help.

[magnusson]

Hello,
Brand new Fifth Wheel owner, Just purchased a 2018 Forest River Arctic Wolf. We took our first trip last week and had a blast. Only "issue" we have is that we decided to get the residential fridge(Even though 90% of our camping will be boon docking/Dry) and the stock 2 24dc 85ah 12 volt batteries that I think are wired in parallel only powered our 1000 watt inverter/fridge for about 3 hours. Any recomendations on how to get at least 8 hours of power to fridge from batteries. I'm fine running my generator twice a day. I'm OK buying new batteries and using the stock ones for my boat. 6v vs 12v? The trailer is also solar ready. Thanks for any help while I'm researching.

[magnusson]

laknox wrote:
Check out my cousin and her husband's bus rebuild project: http://www.beginningfromthismorning.com. Juan goes into a lot of detail in what they're encountering and why they made the decisions they did for their needs. Massive solar and massive batteries. Pretty d@mn interesting...

Lyle

That was a massive project. Nice.

Im looking at solar panels now. If I hook up directly to one battery with alligator clips will it charge all 4 of my batteries?

[laknox]

Check out my cousin and her husband's bus rebuild project: http://www.beginningfromthismorning.com. Juan goes into a lot of detail in what they're encountering and why they made the decisions they did for their needs. Massive solar and massive batteries. Pretty d@mn interesting...

Lyle

[magnusson]

sorry typo, 120ac units I meant. OK I guess I gotta find where my converter is. I'm guessing it runs to the batteries but I dont see it in that compartment.

[2oldman]

magnusson wrote:
Also my inverter only powers the 210 units correct? It doesn't have to be on to charge the batteries when connected to shore power? I have no clue where my converter is.

Maybe I missed it.. what is a 210 unit? No, the inverter has nothing to do with charging batteries.

[magnusson]

Also my inverter only powers the 210 units correct? It doesn't have to be on to charge the batteries when connected to shore power? I have no clue where my converter is.

[John___Angela]

As others have said, min 500 watt solar and 4 batteries. I would personally put 4 group 31 AGM deep cycle batteries on it. After that you can literally just forget about including maintaining the batteries.

Personal experience with our fridge.

[work2much]

I like to stay above 60% for batteries which would give you about 70Ah of battery *if* the batteries were in good shape and fully charged. It's not likely that running the generator for a couple of hours would get a good and complete 100% charge. Combined with other draws on the batteries for things like lights, detectors, loss of power through wiring it doesn't surprise me that 2 small batteries wouldn't sustain the camper for more than a few hours.

I would add at least 500 watts solar and 4 GC batteries more than doubling your battery bank, but more importantly giving you enough solar to overcome the draw of the fridge/trailer during the day and keep the batteries topped off for overnight. You may still need the geneset for cloudy days.

Also I would consider a much smaller inverter dedicated to the fridge 300 watt P/S should be plenty. High quality smaller inverter will waste less power converting 12v to AC.

As mentioned above make sure that the frost free mode is off if possible. Some fridges run that heating element multiple times in a 24 hour period. Big draw..

[Sam_Spade]

jeepbluetj wrote:
That WFCO converter won't charge any better off of a genset when you're boondocking.

So to summarize a bit.......

Likely actions required to support any combination of devices that have a high battery drain....including incandescent lights.....(and your fridge):

Get better batteries and/or more of them.
Upgrade your converter/charger
Add solar, something between 200 and 400 watts should do.

Consider your next move carefully because you probably need to do ALL 3 OF THOSE THINGS to make your 12 V use mostly worry free.......and it might cost you MORE than the fridge did initially.

I am not saying it can't be done; I am saying that you need to understand what you are getting into.....beforehand.

[lynndiwagon]

2oldman wrote:

lynndiwagon wrote:
The Cross Country Batteries, in 24vdc, have a really low reserve capacity. .

Where did you get they were 24v?

I read his post and he said " and the stock 2 24dc 85ah 12 volt" batteries. Cross Country does make a 24V battery. I did say "something is funky."

[ford_truck_guy]

ScottG wrote:
Did the batteries come with the rig? If so they maybe really cheap and light.
When I replaced my first battery after 1 year I was amazed at how light it was!

That was my problem... 2 year old batteries that I paid extra for the better option were bad. Pulled them out with 1 hand, and no markings on them . .. Replaced with Lifeline

[jeepbluetj]

That WFCO converter won't charge any better off of a genset when you're boondocking.

Solar... Solar is awesome. I haven't been on shore power since I installed solar. I put 200w with a **** PCM controller on my friends trailer and they haven't plugged it in in 3 years. (Propane fridge tho). I can't stand hearing gensets running for hours when $500 worth of solar would fix that problem. (And lots of RVers have killed their batteries through too deep discharge)

As most everybody has said, 2 el-cheapo G24 batteries ain't gonna cut it with a residential fridge.

Those L16 Trojans are great batteries - But you gotta have a friend that can lift em. 4 GC2s are a tiny bit more capacity, cheaper, and in easier to handle cases. But yup, 2 more interconnects. IMHO 4D and 8D sizes are just too dang big to move around.

[magnusson]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Up to 168 hours to fully charge the battery bank WFCO is famous for not charging well. I've not researched their inverter.

magnusson wrote:
About how long on shore power when at my house would it take to charge my batteries on average? I want to test them again.

Dang! Ok ill let them sit and report back if thats the problem. Thanks.

[nightshift]

Lwiddis wrote:
Oh nightshift! If I could just lift those bad boys...with a friend!

That's what I did, Lawrence! My friend lifted the batteries and I drank the beer. Seemed like proper resource management at the time.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

Up to 168 hours to fully charge the battery bank WFCO is famous for not charging well. I've not researched their inverter.

magnusson wrote:
About how long on shore power when at my house would it take to charge my batteries on average? I want to test them again.

[Michelle_S]

We have a Whirlpool 20 cuft and 4 group 27s and can run for several days, but all our lights are also LEDs so min draw off the batteries.