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.

[ScottG]

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!

[Lwiddis]

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

[nightshift]

Even better, a couple of these.
I have a couple in my Class C, no problem boondocking for 2 weeks at a time with 300w of rooftop solar.

[nightshift]

jeepbluetj wrote:
... The duracell labelled are East Penn batteries - Trojan T105s are 'better' but more expensive....

T-145s are slightly bigger with more juice.

[jeepbluetj]

400w of solar, mppt controller, hefty battery cables, and 4 GC2 golf-cart batteries. Sam's club usually has the best price on decent batteries. The duracell labelled are East Penn batteries - Trojan T105s are 'better' but more expensive.

If you only got 3 hours out of a set of G24s, the batteries weren't fully charged. It takes all day to actually fully charge a battery. A few hours of genset won't really do it.

I have 2 GC2s, 380W of solar, a Midnight Kid controller, and a 10cuf residential fridge powered by an inverter. In sunny socal I never run out of power. Only down 30AH or so in the morning when the solar comes back online.

[Searching_Ut]

Looking at the energy star sticker for that model refrigerator and assuming 85 percent efficiency on your inverter you should only be using around 90ah out of your batteries per 24 hour day. As a result, if there were no other items being powered by our batteries you should be able to get approximately a day on the batteries before hitting the 50 percent state of charge figure.

How long do your batteries last without the refrigerator running? Do you have an amp meter by any chance so you can see what else might be drawing from the batteries, and how much they draw? Any chance the inverter is trying to power the water heater or some other high drain item?

[Ivylog]

Two batteries will run my 21 cuft refer for 24 hours BUT that is all they are powering. I do not think it's the refer that's the problem but for a lot of boondocking you need four... 2 for the light/water pump/TV and two for the refer. Adding a 100 amp charger when you add two more batteries will cut down on the generator time.

[2oldman]

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

Where did you get they were 24v?

[Sam_Spade]

magnusson wrote:
Only "issue" we have is that we decided to get the residential fridge(Even though 90 percent of our camping will be boon docking/Dry)

Sorry but that was a BAD mistake.
How do you feel about running the gen for 3 hours EVERY 3 HOURS ??

I think you should bite the bullet and go back to a propane fridge NOW while the dealer might still give you something for the trade-in.

If you don't do that, you will be screwing with this problem seemingly forever. Honestly.

[lynndiwagon]

Something is funky....the model of inverter you listed is a 12vdc inverter. The Cross Country Batteries, in 24vdc, have a really low reserve capacity. Reserve capacity is the number of minutes the battery will hold a 25A current draw. Something is definitely wrong with the fridge running down the battery in 3 hours. Let us know.

[time2roll]

4 to 48 hours depending on the battery charge level and the converter.

[magnusson]

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.

[time2roll]

+1 on 4x GC2 batteries(or more). Also 500+ watts solar. Further you probably need to upgrade your converter if charging with a generator. You need to shoot for 24 hours minimum for off-grid camping.

http://www.bestconverter.com/9200-148-Volt-Deck-Mount_c_227.html

[magnusson]

The model of the Fridge is the LG LTNC11121V. http://www.lg.com/us/refrigerators/lg-LTNC11121V-top-freezer-refrigerator

The inverter is the WFCO WF-5110HP http://wfcoelectronics.com/product/wf-5110hp/

The 2 Batteries are Crosscountry 24DC 85ah.

Im really disapointed, I must be doing something wrong but every thing else was off and the battery indicator showed full and went to 3/4 pretty quickly. The inverter starts at 118 VAC and by the 3rd hour shows about 112VAC then shuts off and the fridge shuts down. Still power for lights and slides.

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

What make and model is the fridge?

What make and model is the inverter?

Turn off auto defrost.

Add solar ***Link Removed***

Cool down the fridge before starting the trip.

Beef up the charging system.

magnusson wrote:
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.

[2oldman]

More descriptive post titles are helpful. I might suggest "Resi refer and batteries"

I'm curious what the salesman said about this refer and these batteries.