Norcold 12cu Drains Battery on LP

[hugsfamily]

Good day all,

Looking for some advice. We just upgraded to a 2022 Crusader 305rlp fifth wheel. We park our rig in storage with no access to shore power. We have always gone to storage and turned our fridge on (LP) the day before we are to leave for a trip. The fridge cools overnight and is ready to go the next day. With the new fridge, every time we do this, it drains the battery in just a few hours and we arrive at storage to a hot fridge. We have a pre-installed port for a Furrion solar panel that is located near the storage compartment at the front near the pin. We wouldn't want to leave a solar panel unsecured at storage as batteries have been known to 'disappear' and we are sure a solar panel might too. Considering getting a solar panel with a long cable, setting the panel on the roof and using a bike style cable to lock it to the ladder. Husband is worried that that would work for daylight hours but that the fridge would drain the battery overnight and turn off.

Looking for any ideas, thoughts, anyone else have this experience? Without a solution, we would have to take all of our food in coolers for the first 24 hours of any trip....that's way to much like our old days of tent camping!!!!

Thanks.

[campermama]

hugsfamily wrote:
I'm not sure about a door condensation heater....how would I check and turn off if so?

Look at the schematics for the fridge. Mine has a heater/light (the light in the fridge) 5A fuse! It was killing my battery every night! I pulled the fuse, and bought a small motion sensor light ($5) at walmart and put it in the fridge. Problem solved!

Good luck!

[StirCrazy]

are you running the fridge on propane or electric?

[2oldman]

I don't have any idea why this fridge is draining your battery, but I have another suggestion. My Dometic will get reasonably cool in around 4 hours, so I pack it with cold food and turn it on at the same time. Yours may do the same.

[vern_kelly]

Another thing to check is if the Norcold has a "climate control" switch mounted on the inside of the door. My Dometic has this and it is a 12 VDC heating element in the door to reduce condensation in humid environments. In the instructions for the dometic frig it states not to leave this switch on when operating in gas mode with no DC charging present.

Always check the battery condition before turning the frig on. Check with voltmeter. Even CO2 and propane sensors draw power and if left for a several weeks with no charge will draw down the battery(s). Make sure when the battery cutoff switch is turned off even those items are off. If in doubt disconnect the ground cable directly at the battery. Store RV with a fully charged battery.

Good luck on the detective work.

[2112]

Need the model number to answer that.

[hugsfamily]

I'm not sure about a door condensation heater....how would I check and turn off if so?

[2112]

Do you have the door condensation heater on?

Maybe a light left on in a storage compartment?

[dougrainer]

Need Model number of fridge. A standard 12 CU Norcold RV ammonia refer will NEVER drain a good battery in 24 hours. BUT, the 12 CU should have dual 12 volt fans on the backside and if THEY run for 12 to 24 hours they could pull down a small 24 series battery. Doug

[MFL]

In most cases the factory disconnect does not shut off every device, reason I mentioned a complete shutoff, equal to disconnecting the battery.

If you have a voltage test meter, you may want to test for SOC, when you get to storage, before starting fridge. Does it show 12.6 minimum?

Jerry

[hugsfamily]

Thanks for the thoughts. We have a factory battery disconnect that we switch off the battery with as soon as we park it. I have found other websites that say this fridge can drain a battery in 4-6 hours. We upgraded our battery from the crappy factory one as soon as we got the rig.

[MFL]

Depending how long it sits in storage, I'm thinking parasitic draw has your battery in a lower SOC, and the fridge operation just lowers the battery further.

You might try a complete battery disconnect switch, to use until you arrive to start fridge. A fully charged battery should not deplete from using fridge for a day, set on propane.

Jerry

[midnightsadie]

first pull that battery have load tested. sounds like theres another drain on your battery,