Forum Discussion

trainguy14's avatar
trainguy14
Explorer
Jul 10, 2017

rv refridgerator

Hi everyone. Hope you are enjoying the summer camping season. A question we encountered on our recent trip. We have a travel trailer with solar panels but no generator. When dry camping we run our fridge on propane. We encountered a couple of days of rain and cloud and our battery struggled to gain charge because of the lack of sunlight. Never got below 65% but it made me wonder what would happen if we had several days of no sun and therefore no solar? We're not concerned about lights, water heater, etc because we can function without. But would our rv fridge (Dometic) continue running happily on the propane even if the battery completely died? We wouldn't want our food to spoil.

Any thoughts? Thanks as always for any ideas.
Seeking Advice
  • Turtle_n_Peeps's avatar
    Turtle_n_Peeps
    Explorer
    Jul 10, 2017
    It depends on the year of your trailer.

    As far as I know, mine does not need any power. But it's a 30 YO trailer so it does not have a computer board to run.

    All modern trailers need some power to run the board. So more than likely you will be out of luck if your battery goes completely flat.
  • Sam_Spade's avatar
    Sam_Spade
    Explorer
    Jul 10, 2017
    trainguy14 wrote:
    But would our rv fridge (Dometic) continue running happily on the propane even if the battery completely died?


    NO, highly likely that it would NOT continue to work.
  • Sam_Spade's avatar
    Sam_Spade
    Explorer
    Jul 10, 2017
    Turtle n Peeps wrote:

    As far as I know, mine does not need any power.


    I bet it does. Something has to regulate the flow of gas; turn it on and off as needed. Otherwise there would just be one "setting" and it would run all the time.
  • korbe's avatar
    korbe
    Explorer
    Jul 10, 2017
    Our frig on LPG uses very little 12v power. When I measured, it pulled 0.3amps. So not much. Our frig will not operate on LPG without 12v power.
  • janstey58's avatar
    janstey58
    Explorer
    Jul 10, 2017
    Do you have a charge line between your TV and trailer that could be your plan B?
  • pianotuna's avatar
    pianotuna
    Nomad III
    Jul 10, 2017
    Carry a set of jumper cables for such an unusual event. I usually plan on 3 days with no sun when suggesting a battery bank size.
  • Dutch_12078's avatar
    Dutch_12078
    Explorer II
    Jul 10, 2017
    Using a charge line from your tow vehicle is a good backup plan, and you might want save your pennies for a small 1000 watt portable generator for those "just in case" times. I've found a small generator pretty handy as well sometimes, for running yard and power tools when it's not convenient to run an extension cord. That might help justify buying one... ;)
  • Old-Biscuit's avatar
    Old-Biscuit
    Explorer III
    Jul 10, 2017
    IF that Dometic is a small 'piezo light' type....no DC needed

    BUT if it has electronics, circuit board, display panel....got to have not only DC but the voltage needs to remain above 10.5V to continue operating.
  • Sam_Spade's avatar
    Sam_Spade
    Explorer
    Jul 10, 2017
    Old-Biscuit wrote:
    IF that Dometic is a small 'piezo light' type....no DC needed


    Once lit, does the gas flow....and burn....ALL the time ?
    If not, what shuts it off ??
  • toedtoes's avatar
    toedtoes
    Explorer III
    Jul 10, 2017
    Do you have a battery cutoff switch? If so, shut it off and then see if your fridge will run on propane. If it does, then you're good with no battery. If it doesn't, then you need the battery to run the fridge.

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