Refrigerator question for you class A campers

[steveandjil]

We have had a Winnebago View class C for about 5 years, and a 5er for the decade before. We think at times of a larger class A for part timing in retirement. Many have commercial refrigerators. How do you keep your food cold when camping in a no hookup CG such as a national park. Can’t run the generator 24/7.

Thanks,

Steve

[mr3117r]

Lithium batteries and solar panels will get you what you want. Get enough lithium to run the AC and fridge. I have 800 watts of solar and 600ah of lithium batteries. I purchased my batteries from Alibaba for about half of what they cost here in the states. I plan to add 600ah's more and then I should be able to power the ac for at least 10 hours.

[Mile_High]

Ours came factory with a 20 cubic foot residential fridge, (6) 31 series AGM house batteries and a 2800 watt inverter. If we are parked not using the coach, it can run the fridge about 24-30 hours. If we are using the coach inside, the generator needs to run several hours daily to keep the batteries up. The generators can be set up to do that automatically.

[buddhawolf]

Winnebago is starting to phase in all-electric compressor drive refrigerators that don’t require much electricity when you’re dry camping. These kinds of refrigerators cool down quicker, hold temperature better, and should perform better at high altitude.

[Racklefratz]

FloridaRosebud wrote:
There is just not enough roof room to run 2 A/C units in a Class A

Which makes my point. I'm not an EE, but I can connect the dots. And, even if there were room enough for solar panels for A/Cs (and my coach has 3, not 2), the cost is waaaaay out of line with the amount of power they produce.

[FloridaRosebud]

Racklefratz wrote:
My personal opinion of "alternative energies", all of them, is that they're not ready for prime time. They're still expensive and inefficient. The sun's not always out, and the wind doesn't always blow. It's also true that the only way they even stay on the market is through government subsidies, for consumers through local power companies, or through massive federal subsidies for companies. Take away the subsidies and they disappear - remember "Solyndra"? Your tax money at work.

Yeah, unfortunately you are mostly right. As an EE I sometimes work with solar farms and wind farms. Given enough real estate they can work. But for home use, the cost of a solar system, including batteries to use when the sun is not out, has an 8-12 year payback at the moment. Not cost effective for most. That said, having a system without batteries can payback in 5-6 years, but you will still be using utility power 50% or so of the time.

There is just not enough roof room to run 2 A/C units in a Class A.....

Al

[Racklefratz]

2manytoyz wrote:
The only upgrade I've done to our is to build an external digital thermostat. The stock analog dial gives no indication of what temperature "#3" setting represents!

Here's another quick and easy way to keep track of temperature remotely: Buy a SensorPush sensor for $50, download the free app for your phone, and you can check the app to see the current temperature at the location of the sensor. My understanding is that it CAN be placed inside a refrigerator or similar and still function. The app also offers the option to set high and/or low temperatures at which the user will get a notification on the phone that the threshold temp was exceeded.

[Racklefratz]

A/C usage has been brought up once or twice, but no one seems to want to discuss it. One can run a residential refrigerator on house batteries and/or "solar" for limited periods of time, but those power sources won't run air conditioners. For those of us primarily in warm climates, A/Cs are every bit as important as the frig.

My personal opinion of "alternative energies", all of them, is that they're not ready for prime time. They're still expensive and inefficient. The sun's not always out, and the wind doesn't always blow. It's also true that the only way they even stay on the market is through government subsidies, for consumers through local power companies, or through massive federal subsidies for companies. Take away the subsidies and they disappear - remember "Solyndra"? Your tax money at work.

Our Allegro Bus has two sizable solar panels on top, and all they're good for is a small "polishing charge" if the 6 house batteries are already charged. I'd never expect them to keep up with even normal electrical demands of the coach, and the cost to augment them with enough additional panels to make any significant difference would be punitive - a very poor option.

[dodge_guy]

Remember once the fridge is up to temp it doesn't run constantly! I don't have a residential fridge, but my buddy does. Neither of us dry camp. But if we were too, we would get a large amount of solar and more than 2 batteries, and definitely not wet cells! Make sure all the lights are LED, the previous owner of mine changed all of them out to LED. Power conservation will become second nature.

[RedRollingRoadb]

It seems from what I have seen most of the Class A's that have the residential fridge has at least four 6 volt golf cart (GC2) batteries with about 200 amp hour each.

I have a 2016 Bounder 34T and replaced my OEM batteries with Costco/Interstate at about $90+ each. OEM's had a very early death. It has a Magnum 2000 inverter.

I was going to add some solar this year but had an emergency repair on the S&B.

We can go overnight running the fridge, TV, few LED lights, computer, furnace and still wake up without dead batteries. Have done several night stays running the generator for a few hours in the morning and again in the evening. Several times we have had low temperature around 30 to 35°.

The fridge is a Samsung RF-18 with an ice maker and for us it has been a good unit. There is a lot of negative reviews about them but been fine for us. Really enjoy the capacity especially when we got one or more of the grandkids with us. And frozen ice cream.

One of the best things for battery care, IMO, is get watering system for them and use it. I use a Flow-Rite [ur]https://www.flow-rite.com/ several places to buy including Amazon.

Before I replaced the OEM batteries I would turn of fridge, unplug any non essential items such as chargers and internet boosters ice maker and pray my power would last the night. The fridge would keep temp good enough as the door stayed closed.

[Chum_lee]

Lwiddis wrote:
Why think only about a generator? Solar recharging isn’t experimental or a toy. Most days you’ll be completely recharged with adequate system...batteries, controller, solar panels and properly sized wire. Start with an energy survey to determine your amp hour needs.

I agree with the above. One consideration if you do plan to use solar is that using solar with a residential refrigerator limits your camp sites to those with sufficient sun to recharge the batteries. If you prefer heavily forested camp sites, that could be an issue at certain times during the season even with the most efficient residential refrigerators.

Chum lee

[2manytoyz]

Our Class A came with a very large residential fridge/freezer. It's wonderful! Cools quickly, is very quiet, has a ton of capacity, and self defrosts, unlike my previous RV with an absorption style fridge. Even makes ice.



This rig also came with a Xantrex 1800W inverter, and 4 house batteries. That will keep it operating for a day without shore power, running the engine, or the generator.

If we are planning on dry camping for an extended period, I'll bring the Engel MR040F-U1 40 Qt AC/DC Portable Tri-Voltage Fridge/Freezer.

https://amzn.to/36Yp0id



It sips power, and will run a very long time from a 12V battery bank. It can be used as a fridge, freezer, or deep freezer, depending on how cold the thermostat is set.

The only upgrade I've done to our is to build an external digital thermostat. The stock analog dial gives no indication of what temperature "#3" setting represents!

Here's the thermostat build: http://2manytoyz.com/engel-thermostat.html



The Engel doubles as an emergency fridge during extended power outages at our house in hurricane prone Florida. It got some use last year!

[Airdaile]

Dometic, Furrion and now GE are all making AC/DC fridges using variable speed compressors that fit in the same space as the old absorption units. They're running around 8 amp hours average.

[navigator2346]

All this talk about the number of batteries. It's not the nunber of batteries, it is the total amp hours that is important.

If you were to listen to a residential refer, you will find that there are periods of time when it isn't running. So, this means it doesn't need power 24/7. It is quite possible to have the refer on inverter power during the day, run the generator some in the afternoon/early evening and then (GASP) turn the refer off for the night period!

I have gone over 20 hours without power to the refer and everything was still frozen and the refer side was still within safe temperature limits for food.

[ksg5000]

If most of your camping is going to be without shore power I would not recommend a residential refrigerator unless you have plenty of solar and the requisite number of batteries to keep the fridge running.