simple newbie question , refrigerator

[lamoz1]

If using my fridge on propane how long will the battery last?
Does it draw the 12v from the chassis battery or the house batteries?

Will be dry docking for 3 days and Im wondering If i should run the engine every day for a bit or will running the generator recharge the batteries for me ?


thank you in advance.

[lamoz1]

Sorry don't know the chassis. It is a ford V10
I would have to research this as I've never worked on connecting
parallel batteries and it's separator. I will at least disconnect the inverter

thank you

[MrWizard]

lamoz1

chassis should NOThave gone down, and house should have lasted longer
especially all (3) batteries together

some how you chassis and house batteries are connected, with engine off
they are only supposed to be connected with engine running, and you have drain/load that should not be there

the battery separator aka 'charge solenoid' is bad/shorted or the wires were cross wired after it stopped working

what engine drive train
the chevy 454, in the P30 chassis, has a main power juction near the starter
the starters are know to have sticky contacts, that will drain a starting battery when setting a few days

could be you have a multiple problem situation

house batteries cross connected to chassis which is getting drained
or could be inverter drain on the house size that also brought down the cross connected chassis battery

need to get those batteries electrically separated

[Hondavalk]

Farmboy666 wrote:

Hondavalk wrote:
Between your fridge,water pump, lights, and other parasitic drawers, going 3 days with only one battery will definitely require charging the battery through some source.

He said he has 2 house batteries, one chassis battery. READ

Thank you for correcting my mistake. SORRY

[lamoz1]

MrWizard wrote:
the fridge controls are wired to the DC fuse panel
look above and below the fridge for the 110v circuit breakers and the 12dc fuses

** It's above and all breakers and fuse are fine **

your fridge should in no way be connected to the chassis/engine battery
your engine battery should not be affected by RV house systems

*** checked yesterday and both my house and chassis batteries had drained to 4.5 v. ( jump started the Rv and was getting 14.5v to all batteries

does your TV work, without the generator running ?
if the answer is yes, you have a 12v to 110v 'inverter' installed somewhere
fridge could be using that power and will suck your batteries dead

** I do have an inverter, and will check on that, Thanks!!

make sure fridge is NOT on automatic
put it on LP use the push button the 'control' above the fridge door
set to 'GAS'

*** that's how I've done it

is your fridge the side by side doors, with ice maker in the freezer ?
if yes, open outside fridge access door and unplug the 110v cable marked icemaker, if not marked unplug both 110v cables

*** Yes it is that type I will look for that cable...

Thanks for all the great tips. Will have you posted since I do want to take her camping for the holiday weekend.

[Farmboy666]

Hondavalk wrote:
Between your fridge,water pump, lights, and other parasitic drawers, going 3 days with only one battery will definitely require charging the battery through some source.

He said he has 2 house batteries, one chassis battery. READ

[Farmboy666]

kerrlakeRoo wrote:
If you just installed one battery I will point out that most folks, especially if they boondock use two.
Is there enough space where you installed the first to add a second identical battery next to it?

If so, and you only installed one, you should consider adding a second, wired parallel to the first.
It's not only the fridge that ran the battery down, use of the water pump, lights, all non driving functions are coming from the house battery, so having the second in place will prove very useful.

He installed one battery, chassis battery not house battery.

[Hondavalk]

Between your fridge,water pump, lights, and other parasitic drawers, going 3 days with only one battery will definitely require charging the battery through some source.

[MrWizard]

the fridge controls are wired to the DC fuse panel
look above and below the fridge for the 110v circuit breakers and the 12dc fuses

your fridge should in no way be connected to the chassis/engine battery
your engine battery should not be affected by RV house systems

does your TV work, without the generator running ?
if the answer is yes, you have a 12v to 110v 'inverter' installed somewhere
fridge could be using that power and will suck your batteries dead

make sure fridge is NOT on automatic
put it on LP use the push button the 'control' above the fridge door
set to 'GAS'

is your fridge the side by side doors, with ice maker in the freezer ?
if yes, open outside fridge access door and unplug the 110v cable marked icemaker, if not marked unplug both 110v cables

[LVJ58]

If you will be doing much dry camping in your RV life, I would suggest installing a 100 watt solar panel on your RV and it should keep your house batteries adequately charged then you won't need to run your generator. I have one on mine and it keeps both my house and chassis battery charged.

Best of luck and safe travels.

[midnightsadie]

if your running the frig on 12v? yes it,ll drain in a couple days, put your frig on propane and leave it there.

[lamoz1]

It's a brand new chassis battery, previous owner was using a deep cycle.
I do have 2 deep cycle batteries running parallel for the house. Reason I
bought a new battery is because it was being drained rapidly and figure
I should not be using a deep cycle as a chassis battery. Not sure if I have a 3 way fridge but it will automatically change to gas since Im not plugged in to power. My rv is a 99 fleetwood bounder with 51k miles so is in very good shape.

[kerrlakeRoo]

If you just installed one battery I will point out that most folks, especially if they boondock use two.
Is there enough space where you installed the first to add a second identical battery next to it?

If so, and you only installed one, you should consider adding a second, wired parallel to the first.
It's not only the fridge that ran the battery down, use of the water pump, lights, all non driving functions are coming from the house battery, so having the second in place will prove very useful.

[MrWizard]

around here
Chassis means engine/drive battery

RV/house is for the RV things that need power

something is way wrong in power use for the engine battery to go dead
fridge can't use that much electric power
unless you have a 3-way fridge
LP, 12-dc, 120vac
never run on DC mode, that is heavy power use will suck a battery dead in hours

thats an OLD fashion 'keep cold' mode, for when the engine is running, and LP flame is not legal, like driving true some tunnels back east

[lamoz1]

thank you for the reply , I have a brand new chassis battery ( 2 days old )
ran the fridge on propane for 2 days and now the battery is dead and the fridge
turned off, so it must be drawing power from the chassis battery. Bought the Rv about 1 month ago so I'm getting to know her.

[MrWizard]

depends on the age/year of the fridge/RV

early 70'sand before, with manual igntion on the LP flame
doesn't use any 12v control, doesn't care about battery

from the 80's up the fridge controls need 12v, but use very little power
could go days, if there is NO other 12v use, like the lights, the water pump, 12v fans etc..

brand new battery ? or old battery ?

the fridge control power will be connected to the house battery, from the same fuse control center as the water pump and 12v lights

running the generator, should charge the house/rv battery, and supply 12v to the lights etc at the same time
run it early morning, before things get hot, or late evening after things cool down a little, or in the middle of the day if you need to