Running fridge while driving

[swimmer_spe]

I want to load up my fridge at home. It is a 3 way fridge. Will the battery be charging from my truck? How long typically will the battery last with the fridge on and not charging? Once I get to my site, I will be hooking up to shore power.

[Hannibal]

I start mine plugged into shore power on propane a couple of days before we load up. Then battery/propane on the road and shore power/propane at the campground. I've never seen one that runs on 12vdc alone.

[Ivylog]

swimmer_spe wrote:
I have the standard 7 pin connector.

Does not mean all 7 are used... might not be any 12V from truck or to your battery.
Without the trailer hooked to any power source, put the refrigerator on 12V and see how long it takes to get to 11.6 V... not very long on just one battery. You do have a volt meter. You could hook up to the truck and see if the battery voltage increases to over 13 in the trailer while the truck is running.

[Tvov]

dave17352 wrote:
If you refrigerator runs on 12 volt and it is a typical propane, 12 volt, and 120 ac design it will us a ton of power on 12 volt and kill you TC battery in a few hours. I think they draw close to 20 amps 12 volt. The 12 volt really should only be used when your truck is running and charging and you should have a heavy gauge wire from your truck to your truck camper. Lance requires 8 gauge.

I'm not sure if I am following, and/or truck camper frigs are different. The Dometic in my TT runs on propane / battery, or AC if hooked up to shore power.

When running on propane, the TT's battery lasts for days, we can stretch it to a week if careful with lights and other power usage. Propane frig needs the battery to run, but seems to draw very little power from it.

[kerrlakeRoo]

On will it draw from the truck to run fridge yes if
Since you have a ford ensure the fuse and relay are installed to allow power from the alternator to get to pin 4, ford does not install them at the factory,
second as was mentioned earlier if you are loading the fridge before leaving as was said earlier, run it from shore to get everything cold before leaving. If you run the battery down the night before you hit the road and then try to run from 12 volt, your truck will not be able to recharge the battery AND run the fridge. There isnt enough charge power available and you will likely blow the fuse trying to do both.
Happy motoring.

[swimmer_spe]

I have the standard 7 pin connector.

[dave17352]

If you refrigerator runs on 12 volt and it is a typical propane, 12 volt, and 120 ac design it will us a ton of power on 12 volt and kill you TC battery in a few hours. I think they draw close to 20 amps 12 volt. The 12 volt really should only be used when your truck is running and charging and you should have a heavy gauge wire from your truck to your truck camper. Lance requires 8 gauge.

[austinjenna]

The battery will only charge from your truck when the truck is running. The fridge does not use much power and I start mine up 20 hrs or so in advance without any problems with a low battery. When starting it up I also put a gallon of frozen water in the fridge and a few frozen ice packs in the freezer to help it along. The benefit is I do have ice cold water once it starts to thaw and some freezie packs in case we have a picnic somewhere