Question 2014 Viking LS Pop-up pass through fridge modification

[kayshaw86]

Hello I recently picked up a 2014 Coachmen Viking LS and coming from the "overlanding" world the fridge that came with it seems overly complicated and inconvenient.
I have a question about it's operation, the manual I found online that seems to match the model (Dometic RM2193) doesn't really answer the question, thanks in advance for any information or experience.

Question 1: It is a 120V/12V/Propane fridge, I don't understand why when connected to shore power it needs to be switched to 120V, why doesn't it just run off of the 12V system while the 120V. Also I would assume while traveling the 12V power should be engaged, I saw one person talking about using propane while traveling, which seems dangerous. Honestly I would prefer to power it entirely on 12V by replacing the battery with a Lithium battery system with a much larger capacity and some diverse charging options.

Question 2: My biggest issue with the fridge is it is not accessible while the camper is closed up, has anybody seen any projects or professional jobs where they replaced the refrigerator with a 12V top loading fridge that slides outside and inside so that the food can be loaded, accessed and checked while the pop-up is closed? I currently have a 45 quart fridge in the back of my trust that we used before we got the camper that is so much more simple and is good at it's job. If I want to DIY this I'd have to do a lot of research to try to maximize my space utilization and obviously find some sort of vented weatherproof door to replace the two vented access panels in the photos below.

 

[John&Andrea]

I don’t have much for you on the fridge, only if it works good. I would keep it. Yours seems a little different than the ones we have had.
The one in our Concord is gas/electric. We turn it on a couple of days before leaving (shore power) and allow it to cool down. Load it and use cold packs while traveling it works. Plus the freezer is cold and that air keeps the fridge cold. We stopped using it with gas while traveling, seems a bit dangerous. We turn the gas off when traveling these days. We use the gas when we don’t have shore power.
Sounds like you may be planning a lot of boondocking so running on the gas should work.

 

[kayshaw86]

I don’t have much for you on the fridge, only if it works good. I would keep it. Yours seems a little different than the ones we have had.
The one in our Concord is gas/electric. We turn it on a couple of days before leaving (shore power) and allow it to cool down. Load it and use cold packs while traveling it works. Plus the freezer is cold and that air keeps the fridge cold. We stopped using it with gas while traveling, seems a bit dangerous. We turn the gas off when traveling these days. We use the gas when we don’t have shore power.
Sounds like you may be planning a lot of boondocking so running on the gas should work.

Thanks for the response, yea this is a long term project. The AGM battery and the inaccessible fridge seem to me like a step back from our previous set up, but I'm trying to keep my truck bed clear for bikes and things, not double up on batteries and fridges. My current fridge is about the same dimension as the on in the RV, but I didn't really see anything pre fabbed that could replace those black plastic panels with one big vented door. The slide that goes inside and outside would probably be the easy part.

 

[kayshaw86]

I think this answers my short term question if anybody finds this in the future. It seems the 12V mode is ok for maintaining but it's probably the least "powerful" mode, so it could loose acceptable temperature if left on 12V mode for too long. He mentions 120V is the second most "powerful" and propane cools the best. So yea 12V for in transit for me.


I did buy a yolink system and have a little travel router I'll be using to keep it connected to the cloud. Unfortunately it requires a cloud connection but this guy uses an outdoor temp sensor that seems to make it through the fridge walls which might be a nice lower tech option for anybody interested.