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yankeeslover's avatar
yankeeslover
Explorer
May 03, 2013

Questions on the fridge in my hybrid?????

2011 jayco featherlite. I believe its a two way fridge and not three way. its a norcold model N512(I believe that's 2way)I understand one function is off of propane, but if its a two way would it run off of battery or the shore power?
also, how cold do these get? cold enough to keep cans of soda or beer cold? or do I need an ice cooler for that?
I understand that it takes a good 8-10 hours too cool off.. so before I leave for a camping trip, do I plug in to shore power the day before and turn on? it has 10 cold cycles, I will have to figure out which one to use... and when im driving do is it ok to drive with it running on propane while im driving?
last but not least, is it a PITA to travel with stuff in the frige? for example, meat, milk, hot dogs, soda??? or do they bounce and go all over the place? I have never done this before and rather find out how others do it before I have a camper full of sprayed beer and soda..LOL.. thanks
  • Two way refer means 120VAC/gas. Three way would then be 120VAC/12VDC/gas. Our routine is as follows. 48 hours before we leave, turn on refer. 24 hours before we leave, load food. If possible it does not hurt to leave your trailer plugged in all the time. That way batteries are fully charged and the trailer is always ready to go.
    There is a temp switch on the refer,or at least there should be. Turn it on, and After 24 hours place a thermometer in the box and measure the temp. Adjust up or down and wait another 12 hours and check again. You want to see 36-40 degrees in the refer section of the box. Just like at home, except it takes longer to work with an absorption refer. Start with your selector switch set at mid point on the dial.
    We always travel with our refer full of stuff. Never had a problem. We do use those spring loaded bar stops during travel. DW puts them in place when we load up and removes and stores them when were parked.
  • A 2-way fridge will run of propane (with 12V power for control), or strictly off 120V when plugged in to shore power.

    I'm unsure if the freezer portion will get cold enough to keep things frozen (like icecream), but it might. It looks like your fridge is a single door with a freezer tray at the top. I had a dorm fridge with a freezer flap and if I turned it down cold enough it would freeze stuff in there, and slush everything else that wasn't. My 2-door unit in my trailer keeps things frozen.

    I will start my fridge at least 12hrs before I plan on loading it with food. The temperature is auto-controlled so I don't have to mess with that. There are many debates regarding traveling with the fridge on propane (some do, some don't, some say it is safe, some say it is not, some say no tunnels with it on, some say turn it off while at a gas station...). I travel with mine on propane, never stopped prior to approaching a gas station and shut the fridge off.

    Stuff usually stays where I put it. Items will jiggle along the door tray if there isn't many items in there. I've never had food swap shelves or attempt escape when the door was opened.
  • My fridge is basically the same as yours. The freezer inside keeps ice frozen solid and will freeze something unfrozen just like home.

    Like I said in another post, since I keep my camper home the camper is plugged in and on from the first trip of the year to the last. I keep my propane tanks on and when I unplug from electric to hit the road, it automatically switches to propane and stays just as cold on the road.

    I leave some things that wont expire between trips. The trailer is by my big shed near the driveway and I've been know to go in there for a soda or beer when working outside.

    I don't think they even use three-way fridges except maybe the little ones in popups anymore.

    For travel, I have two little spring bars made for the fridges to hold things steady in there. You can get them online or even Walmart which is where I got mine.

    I like things cold and keep the fridge on about 7 in the hot summer. We;re going camping for the weekend today and it's been set on 6 with the 70 degrees we have now. I do have a battery operated fridge fan in there that I think keeps the inside a more even temp with less cold and warm spots.

    With these fridges, you don't want to keep the door open getting stuff out as long as you can at home since they're not as powerful as home fridges with fans and compressors.

    Ray
  • yankeeslover wrote:
    2011 jayco featherlite. I believe its a two way fridge and not three way. its a norcold model N512(I believe that's 2way)I understand one function is off of propane, but if its a two way would it run off of battery or the shore power?
    also, how cold do these get? cold enough to keep cans of soda or beer cold? or do I need an ice cooler for that?
    I understand that it takes a good 8-10 hours too cool off.. so before I leave for a camping trip, do I plug in to shore power the day before and turn on? it has 10 cold cycles, I will have to figure out which one to use... and when im driving do is it ok to drive with it running on propane while im driving?
    last but not least, is it a PITA to travel with stuff in the frige? for example, meat, milk, hot dogs, soda??? or do they bounce and go all over the place? I have never done this before and rather find out how others do it before I have a camper full of sprayed beer and soda..LOL.. thanks

    I believe I have the same fridge. Mine is 2-way - propane and AC. Like all RV fridges of this class, it works better off propane but off AC power mine works pretty well.

    The fridge section gets cold enough to keep everything cool / cold depending on your setting. Too cool and my tomatoes freeze. I have even seen ice forming on my bottled water surface. It will have no trouble keeping your beer cold, and I have no cooler for this purpose.

    It does take a while to get cool from ambient, and if you are in Texas summer weather it will take even longer. The night before I leave I put it on propane at max cold setting. I then load cold stuff ffrom my house fridge on the morning of departure. At that time the fridge is cool-ish but not where it should be yet. Probably a full 24 hours - 48 hours depending on ambient. But the 14 hours pre-cool works for me regardless of ambient temperature. Nothing has spoiled and everything is as cool as it needs to be by the time I set up at my destination. Ice takes about 3 hours to make on AC.

    I drive with it on propane, but when I stop for gas I turn it off just in case. I also drove with it off and not much coolness is lost.

    Pack your fridge with travel in mind and use the spring bars as well and you won't have any issues. We travel with the same food we eat at home (including leftovers!) so our fridge is full of meat, veggies, yogurt, cheese, milk, OJ, etc. Beer is put in after we arrive. Matter of fact, I am off to put beer in the fridge right now. :)
  • "2-way" is a bit of a misnomer. When running on propane the fridge still needs 12V for the control board and gas solenoid. Something to take into consideration if you're dry camping.