Residential Frig / Dry camping

[jheppner]

We are contemplating a new motorhome which comes with a residential frig. Apparently it is also serviced by its own two batteries and a 1000 watt inverter. Has anyone tried dry camping for any length of time with this setup? I'm talking between five days to a week.

[jheppner]

Thanks for all the good info. I guess what it comes down to in the end is what works for our particular situation.

[wolfe10]

A separate battery bank has several negatives:

Cost

Physics of battery capacity/discharge: Peukert's law (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peukert's_law)

The faster the rate of discharge, the less amp-hrs a battery can provide. Said another way, the larger the battery bank, the more efficient it is/ the more amp-hrs it can provide on a given amount of charge.

BTW, nothing new about this-- Peukert published his findings in 1897!

[DSDP_Don]

"AllegroD" brings up a good point. I talked to a new coach owner recently that asked about my solar panels and where I got them. He explained how he camped and I suggested he just add two more batteries. He never thought of that and realized that two batteries was much cheaper than a bunch of solar and fit his needs.

So, you really need to look how you'll use the coach. If you spend weeks at a time boondocking in the desert, go solar. If you occasionally boondock for one or two nights, you might be better off with just an extra pair of batteries.

[AllegroD]

jheppner wrote:
I understand what everyone is trying to say but somehow my main question was missed. What I asked was whether we could install a solar panel and regulator dedicated only to the frig and would that keep the frig cooled properly.

Yes you can.

I would suggest that you look at whether this would be a waste, in that configuration. By that I mean that it may be more efficient for you to increase the number/size of your current coach batteries. I think of it as having one large source, instead of two smaller sources.

Key note is, as asked above, How much solar, and what do you do on a rainy day?

[Canadian_Rainbi]

jheppner wrote:
I understand what everyone is trying to say but somehow my main question was missed. What I asked was whether we could install a solar panel and regulator dedicated only to the frig and would that keep the frig cooled properly.

Yes, IF the panel and batteries are of adequate size. And of course if you get enough sun. I am considering doing that when this old fridge dies, and it's gasping now!

I am guessing 2 GCs and 200 watts of solar is a minimum. Hard to be definite without the power demands of the fridge.

[jheppner]

I understand what everyone is trying to say but somehow my main question was missed. What I asked was whether we could install a solar panel and regulator dedicated only to the frig and would that keep the frig cooled properly.

[RayChez]

Ivylog wrote:
I put off going residential partly because of the size of the refer's and we bondock often. Finally found a unit that almost fit without any modifications for my NoCold 1200... 1/2" too high and 21 cu ft. You can see my DIY install here. Having spent $1200 on a Amish cooling unit, new control board $200, ARP controller $100, auto fire system $200 over the last five years... in hind sight I should have gone residential when my cooling unit went out.

My EnergyStar Whirlpool 21 cu ft draws 7.4 amps at 13V DC and 8 at 12V... less than a 100W bulb. Before going residential I had to run my generator 1-2 hours/day even with 250W of solar so I added a new 500 AH battery bank with it's own 1000W PSW inverter, 100A charger, and a transfer switch for the refer and my Sat receiver/DVR/TV. I can go two days before the refer batteries need recharging without any solar which is longer than the 800AH on the house side can go.

OP, it's good that it has two batteries which will let you go 24 hours before needing to recharge.

NO it won't go twenty four hours before needing recharge. Like I said we have several that have two batteries for their residential refrigerators and they had to start the generators two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon when we were at Furnace Creek by Death Valley.

[Ivylog]

I put off going residential partly because of the size of the refer's and we bondock often. Finally found a unit that almost fit without any modifications for my NoCold 1200... 1/2" too high and 21 cu ft. You can see my DIY install here. Having spent $1200 on a Amish cooling unit, new control board $200, ARP controller $100, auto fire system $200 over the last five years... in hind sight I should have gone residential when my cooling unit went out.

My EnergyStar Whirlpool 21 cu ft draws 7.4 amps at 13V DC and 8 at 12V... less than a 100W bulb. Before going residential I had to run my generator 1-2 hours/day even with 250W of solar so I added a new 500 AH battery bank with it's own 1000W PSW inverter, 100A charger, and a transfer switch for the refer and my Sat receiver/DVR/TV. I can go two days before the refer batteries need recharging without any solar which is longer than the 800AH on the house side can go.

OP, it's good that it has two batteries which will let you go 24 hours before needing to recharge.

[John___Angela]

Buenos días Arturo. In your case I would suggest the UPS approach. Let me tell you how we do it when on questionable power. On both our big coach and little coach (the one you remember) we have it set up so if there is questionable power and maybe only 10 or 15 amp service available we can operate internally with perfectly regulated 117 volts. The coach has two inverters both sine wave. (The little coach only has one). We have a separate independent 40 amp charger that gets plugged into shore power directly...not through the coach shore cord. It charges the batteries constantly. The batteries feed the inverters that power the coach through your normal system. You probably already have one inverter and really you may not need the second one but we added it so there were a few more circuits on inverter. Remember, the coach thinks it doesn't have shore power so it is running on inverter mode. No special wiring. The additional converter will never draw more than about 8 amps from the shore post and the converter tolerances can handle quite high or low voltage on the input. Of course, air conditioning is out with this approach. Not sure how much you use AC.

Si te gusta, escribame por mensaje privado y podemos platicar un poco mas en español. Cuidate amigo.

[Canadian_Rainbi]

Snowman9000 wrote:
Just a reminder that solar is great until you have a few cloudy days or park in the shade. I'm a solar lover, but to commit to that much wattage draw would be tough for me.

Don't want to hijack the thread, but I'll respond to your very valid comment. We stay for three months in Zihuatanejo Mexico. Cloud is rare but not unheard of. Usually on a cloudy day we could do without the A/C until evening then recharge the batteries from shore power overnight. It would just entail some switching.

[Snowman9000]

Just a reminder that solar is great until you have a few cloudy days or park in the shade. I'm a solar lover, but to commit to that much wattage draw would be tough for me.

[Canadian_Rainbi]

Great 1st hand info! Nice to see the fridges drawing a bit less than expected. How would the power consumption be when ambient day time temps are 30C 80-90F? We are in the process of studying our options;

New heating unit;
New heating unit, new control board;
New heating unit, new control board, new doors(door seals aren't replaceable);
New Norcold 1201LRIM or equivalent;
New residential fridge, added batteries, inverter, solar panels and controller to what we have now.

Since we frequently stay where the shore power in barely adequate for the heat pump AC we would need a separate system for the fridge.

[jheppner]

Thanks for all the good info re running a residential frig while dry camping. I had another look at the brochure I have for the motorhome we're interested in. It says it has a Maytag 22 c.f. frig with a 2000 watt (not 1000 as I thought) pure sine inverter and two batteries (doesn't say what kind) dedicated specifically to the frig. We will have four 80 watt panels installed (we have them now on our present motorhome) and, yes, we will have a generator. What I'm wondering -- would it work to have a solar panel and regulator installed, specifically dedicated to the frig?

[hypoxia]

I just spent a week dry camping & never turned the generator on, the batteries were fully charged every day by solar. We did have sun all day. I used to poke fun at dry camping with a residential refrigerator but when my Amish cooling unit leaked last summer I put a 15.6CF electric refrigerator along with a 1000W Sine wave inverter dedicated to it. I do have six 6V batteries and 760W of solar. With 2 batteries you will need to run the generator.