Residential refrigerators

[jimwooster]

Just purchased a 2019 Montana High Country and one of the selling points was a residential Fridge. Not having that much knowledge about new upgrades over the 2007 Jayco Designer we were excited to see suck a large fridge/freezer. The old one we could switch to gas on fridge and not worry. Of course these have no gas option so I’m concerned about travelling and worry about the thing thawing our. When we head south for the winter from Ohio we usually stay overnight at a hotel the first night. No, without being plugged into anything how long will it maintain the cold and frozen stuff before running again. We have no generator. Thanks

[hone_eagle]

'heading south for the winter from ohio'
cool it down before you leave ,dont open unnessesarly and with cool ambient temps (night time fall) you should be good.
we manage for 2 nights with 2 group 31 batteries+what ever the truck inputs

[GBuilders]

While your traveling though your truck would keep your batteries charged correct? Also some of the newer RV’s have the solor panels that also help to charge but at night it wouldn’t help. You could ask the Motel if you could use an extension cord and plug the RV in overnight.

[Big_Katuna]

It only runs on 120 VAC. You can also get that from an inverter with batteries.

How long depends on how many batteries. Most newer RVs with resi fridges have at least two golf cart batteries and most four, which translates to at least two days, depending on how much the door gets opened.

[Tvov]

Just a question about the "residential" frig... It is electric only? And it can run on the campers battery? If so, about how long?

I've always assumed "electric only" meant you had to be plugged into shore power or have a generator running.

[jimwooster]

Thanks for all the great information. Sure helps to gather info from folks with experience. The majority of the time we will be plugged in at night. The only time I can see us not doing that is our first night going from Ohio to Florida in December. We offer stay in a hotel that first night. Can’t see that would be an issue especially if it’s vold anyway. Thanks again. Jim

[Cummins12V98]

bpounds wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
If you have to stay overnight without shore power disconnect the truck.

Why? He's driving a Ford, which disconnects from the truck battery when the engine is off. I'm pretty sure your Ram does too. GM do not, or at least older ones do not, and I think new models don't either.

Did not know that.

[stickdog]

Time to get a generator. 2000 watt inverter any brand but one with companion ability.
We went our first 5yrs as fulltimers without a gen till we went to AK and then only to keep the batteries charged. Even then we only used it a few times.
Fast forward 2018, purchased our DRV MS with residential fridge headed back up to AK mid May to mid Sept. 2 1/2 months off grid used the generator daily.

[bpounds]

laknox wrote:
Could also get a remote thermometer and put the sender in the fridge with the receiver on the counter.

Lyle

Good idea! Although, I'm not sure what one would do if the alarm went off in the middle of the night. Maybe check the time, and consider starting the truck? Regardless, good way to know what's going on without opening the fridge door.

[bpounds]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
If you have to stay overnight without shore power disconnect the truck.

Why? He's driving a Ford, which disconnects from the truck battery when the engine is off. I'm pretty sure your Ram does too. GM do not, or at least older ones do not, and I think new models don't either.

[laknox]

Could also get a remote thermometer and put the sender in the fridge with the receiver on the counter.

Lyle

[Cummins12V98]

I am not sure what reason there is to turn anything off while traveling???

While traveling the truck will have no problem keeping the batteries powered for the frig to stay cold. Outside temp plays a HUGE part on how much the frig will use power. I would suggest while connected to shore power to turn off the frig circuit when you go to bed and then see what temp it is internally in the am and note the ambient temp overnight.

If you have to stay overnight without shore power disconnect the truck.

[bpounds]

jimwooster wrote:
Just purchased a 2019 Montana High Country and one of the selling points was a residential Fridge. Not having that much knowledge about new upgrades over the 2007 Jayco Designer we were excited to see suck a large fridge/freezer. The old one we could switch to gas on fridge and not worry. Of course these have no gas option so I’m concerned about travelling and worry about the thing thawing our. When we head south for the winter from Ohio we usually stay overnight at a hotel the first night. No, without being plugged into anything how long will it maintain the cold and frozen stuff before running again. We have no generator. Thanks

Can't tell you without knowing how much battery capacity you have, or how much current your inverter/fridge combo draws.

But with a little pre-trip experimenting you can figure it out. Safest thing would be to turn off the fridge when you park for the night. Then don't open the fridge door until you are ready to power back up the next day. By safest, I mean the least chance of running your battery bank too low and causing shortened life span. Not as safe for the cold food, but most fridges are insulated well enough to handle 8 hours turned off without harming food.

[DutchmenSport]

Here's a short YouTube video on the Lippert Leveling system: Click here.

My Montana also came with a video disk on how the set up works. I think the video is too much, too fast.

It just takes a little time and repeating to get it down.

Here's how I do it. Assuming you are starting after just to hitch:

To hitch:
Push on-off button.
Push the Left and Right button at the same time.
The raises the rear jacks.

When done, you want to raise the front Jacks. Just press the Front botton and raise the landing gear (front jacks).
To lower the front jacks, press the Retract button, then the Front button.

The video explains the automated process to get the trailer back to it's original height when you unhitched. (I haven't tried that yet since my manual process works for me.)

To unhitch:
Press on the On-Off button.
Press the Front button to raise the front jacks to desired height.
Pull truck out.
Now hit Auto Level and wait till the green light in the middle is on.

Here's the link to the "Level-Up" owners manual in PDF form also. I found this helpful, but also a lot of information that I haven't absorbed yet: Click here for PDF Owner's Manual.

[pulsar]

With the residential refrigerator and inverter package, does Keystone add any batteries? If not, 10 to 12 hours is you limit on the refrigerator, without recharging the battery.

Our coach has 6 12-volt group 31 AGM batteries. We have boondocked for 16 straight days with limited generator usage and some driving between Glacier National Park, Banff, and Jasper.

Tom