In my previous RVs I liked to travel with propane off at tanks as safety measure. The older fridge models had manual switches that when I opted for 120v from inverter - they would stay or die on this mode. Motorhomes had bigger charging wires, so running fridge for couple of hr on house batteries, still would recharge them when I continue driving later. Now I would like to do the same on TC and having built-in inverter on my truck, would be nice to take advantage of it and secure 120V cable from truck directly to the fridge plug. My dilemma is the computerized system, that when I stop at gas station and turn the truck off - in lack of 120V the computer will start sparking the igniter and with lack of propane it will spark for a while. That brings safety concern at gas station as well. So for those who are good with computer controls - how to override the propane option and let the fridge go off or into 12V mode when 120V turns off?

Disable igniter by pulling one of the leads.

That is the last thing I would do. At a gas station shut fridge off till your filled to stop from propane firing. Turn on when done. Problem is when you stop for the night without power you will need to start propane manually. Too much remembering and work for me.

Turning it off/on at gas stations is what everybody forgets ;)I am not worry about it too much with present setup as TC fridge is on opposite side and much higher than my diesel cap, so unless I find easy way to do, I will continue filling up with flame under fridge. Coming to pulling a lead on igniter, shouldn't that activate warning light on the panel?Would I disable panel, the fridge will not work at all.

Don't fridges prefer AC. So assuming AC is available, there is nothing to do.

Have a battery disconnect so the TC 12 volt system is running off the truck, so that shutting the truck off also kills 12 volt power. You can override easily, of course.

How to disable propane >> Yeah another fridge topic.

bgum
Explorer
Aug 28, 2019
Disable igniter by pulling one of the leads.
Photomike
Explorer III
Aug 28, 2019
That is the last thing I would do. At a gas station shut fridge off till your filled to stop from propane firing. Turn on when done. Problem is when you stop for the night without power you will need to start propane manually. Too much remembering and work for me.
Kayteg1
Explorer II
Aug 28, 2019
Turning it off/on at gas stations is what everybody forgets ;)
I am not worry about it too much with present setup as TC fridge is on opposite side and much higher than my diesel cap, so unless I find easy way to do, I will continue filling up with flame under fridge.
Coming to pulling a lead on igniter, shouldn't that activate warning light on the panel?
Would I disable panel, the fridge will not work at all.
jimh406
Explorer III
Aug 28, 2019
Don't fridges prefer AC. So assuming AC is available, there is nothing to do.
Chris_Bryant
Explorer II
Aug 28, 2019
Have a battery disconnect so the TC 12 volt system is running off the truck, so that shutting the truck off also kills 12 volt power. You can override easily, of course.
Kayteg1
Explorer II
Aug 28, 2019
jimh425 wrote:
Don't fridges prefer AC. So assuming AC is available, there is nothing to do.

You did not read the question.
When I turn the truck off, the AC is no longer available and computer automatically switches to propane.
SidecarFlip
Explorer III
Aug 28, 2019
Never turn mine off and don't plan to. I fuel with diesel not gasoline and the flash point of diesel is much higher than gasoline anyway. I never give it a thought. That will change next year when I replace the inefficient 'Amish' fridge with a Waeco compressor no propane fridge and cap off the propane line.

I'll just keep on ignoring a non existent problem until I upgrade.
Kayteg1
Explorer II
Aug 28, 2019
I bet you smoke when fueling as well?
JoeChiOhki
Explorer II
Aug 28, 2019
Kayteg1 wrote:
In my previous RVs I liked to travel with propane off at tanks as safety measure.
The older fridge models had manual switches that when I opted for 120v from inverter - they would stay or die on this mode.
Motorhomes had bigger charging wires, so running fridge for couple of hr on house batteries, still would recharge them when I continue driving later.
Now I would like to do the same on TC and having built-in inverter on my truck, would be nice to take advantage of it and secure 120V cable from truck directly to the fridge plug.
My dilemma is the computerized system, that when I stop at gas station and turn the truck off - in lack of 120V the computer will start sparking the igniter and with lack of propane it will spark for a while.
That brings safety concern at gas station as well.
So for those who are good with computer controls - how to override the propane option and let the fridge go off or into 12V mode when 120V turns off?

Upgrade to a lift gate plug for your 12 volt +/- coming from your alternator so you have #4 wire going all the way back and install the inverter in the camper as a permanent fixture.

Setup a two way two pole throw switch that connects the outlet either to the inverter or to the camper's internal 110volt circuit and put a small circuit breaker box in with a 15 amp breaker so that the fridge still has circuit breaker protection.

Now, you can leave the fridge going, no worries about it trying start the ignitor and your batteries are getting enough current from the alternator to charge while powering the fridge off the inverter.
midnightsadie
Explorer II
Aug 28, 2019
everybody should kill the frig when fueling gas or diesel. period theres no maybe.