Refrigerator minimum voltage when dry camping

[The_Titan]

After the refrigerator is up and running how far can battery voltage drop before the refer shuts down.
I would also be interested in how much it draws and if it draws constantly.
I also wonder if the door seal heater works on 12 volt mode it would be nice if it doesn't

[steveh27]

It depends upon what model fridge you have. My older Dometic draws no power when running on gas. Too bad you don't have a battery meter to check the draw.

[SoundGuy]

The Titan wrote:
I also wonder if the door seal heater works on 12 volt mode it would be nice if it doesn't

"Nice"? :h That climate control is a 12 vdc device so if you're running on battery and not shore power it's not a matter of being "nice" if you can turn it off but rather a necessity. You haven't provided any information at all about your particular fridge so read your owner's manual to determine if it even has this so-called "feature" and if it does how to turn it off when dry camping. If it can't be turned off then you'd be wise to add a switch yourself so you can turn it off. Regardless, minimum voltage at which the fridge would no longer work is so low, ~ 10.5 volts, that you'd have destroyed your battery anyway as you typically don't want to draw any deep cycle battery down any more than ~ 50% or ~ 12 volts on a regular basis if you expect to get any long term use out of that battery. :R

[noplace2]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
10.5 volts to a battery is the same thing as your body trying to function on three quarts of blood.

But if I make up the other quart with tequila?:D

[RoyB]

I have added batteries to make sure we don't ever get below 12.0VDC after running all the things we want to run in a one day/night run off the batteries. Our biggest load is around 20AMPS continuous between 6PM and around 10PM each evening. IN addition to this is the usual parasitic drains around 1-2 amps... Where I usually camp I can run my generator at 8AM each morning so this is the time during breakfast etc that I will charge my battery bank back up to its 90% charge state. This takes right at three hours of generator run time each morning. Sometimes the generator run times is 2 hours in the morning and then mayb 3-4 hours in the afternoon up to 8PM at night.

I like to get my batteries back up to their 90% in a one charge period so I keep the very quiet generator going until they get charged. If someone comes walking up then I shut it down and then I have to run it again in the late afternoon generator run time...

If I don't have my battery bank at its 90% charge before using it each day/night run the batteries start dropping off performance sooner each day and finally does charge back up so good...

If I ever get some solar panels installed this will really help me when I have high sun for most of the day.

This is how I have kept my batteries going since originally installed in 2008. I am just now requiring to have them replaced with new batteries... Not bad for all the cycles from 50% to 90% charge states I have put them through over these some 7-8 years...

Just getting a quick 30min to I hour charge each day just doesn't work well for me.

I watch my batteries pretty close when camping off the power grid...

Roy Ken

[Old-Biscuit]

Which Brand/Model Fridge?

Your questions are generic......
Kinda like 'How long is a length of rope?"

[MEXICOWANDERER]

10.5 volts to a battery is the same thing as your body trying to function on three quarts of blood.

[pianotuna]

Mine draws 1.5 amps when the gas valve is open and .5 when it is not with a 2:3 duty cycle.

Try not to go below 12.1 volts.

[time2roll]

Should operate to 10.5 volts which is very hard on the battery.
I believe the gas valve and electronics draws maybe 400 milliamps.
Best to find a way to turn off or cut power to the seal heater.
May as well post the full model number for best answers.
Or a meter would show the numbers.