New trailers with 12volt refridgerators only

[jonashlock]

I rarely have hookups, camp in cold weather (down to freezing) in deep tree cover and hate running my generator. We are thinking of buying a new travel trailer but almost all only come with 12v refrigerators. I typically setup my trailer with dual 6 volt batteries, but fear that I won't have enough juice for this configuration when using the heater also. Information from dealerships is lacking and I was wondering if anyone had any real life experience with battery life when using this setup. Most trailers have at least 200 watt solar, but in almost full day shade I doubt they will do anything for me. I doubt even 1000 watt solar will help. I need enough juice for 4 days camping. (this works on my current setup with two 6 volt, no solar)

Thanks for any help

 

[TheLooks]

How much power does a 12 volt fridge use? | Vansage

12 Volt Refrigerator power use questions answered, like How much power does a 12 volt fridge use, and how to calculate 12v fridge power use.

vansage.com

How Long Will A 12 Volt Battery Run A Refrigerator? | RenewableWise

So, you have a 12 Volt battery and a refrigerator, and you're wondering "how long will the battery run the refrigerator?".

www.renewablewise.com

 

[Crazydog]

Personally I would never own an RV with only a 12v fridge. We very often camp where there are no hook-ups so having a propane fridge we can stay as long as we like and not worry.
I think so many RV manufacturers are going this way because so many people only use their Rv's to go from one rv park to another.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Personally I would never own an RV with only a 12v fridge. We very often camp where there are no hook-ups so having a propane fridge we can stay as long as we like and not worry.
I think so many RV manufacturers are going this way because so many people only use their Rv's to go from one rv park to another.

That's funny! My vintage 50's trailers were park models, and had apartment refrigerators in them. I made the same statement! My future trailers would not have electric refrigerators! At least I didn't have to eat my words! I didn't say never.

The next trailer, two, or three, did in fact have propane refrigerators. My love of ice-cream however has me back to electric apartment sized refrigerators. To combat the RV energy crisis, I install as much Solar as needed to stay as long as I want.
I stay away from 12v units. The Dometic that was given to me was certified good by a technician, but like I said, I like my ice-cream hard. When efficiency is not the design goal, I might change once again.

 

[TheLooks]

The 12v fridges are not proven yet and many are having problems. Yes the dual operation(absorption) have their problems like soft ice cream. And they don't like to be frozen or out of level. And they are stupid expensive. Until the massive amounts of money we spend on the next revolution of green energy gives us the energy for a week in a pack of playing cards size box, we are stuck with poor choices. Each depends on your budget. If you can run a generator while you travel between campgrounds, you might have an expensive rig. If you can run an inverter because you spent $20,000+ on lithium batteries, you might have an expensive rig. The vast majority of people don't have expensive rigs. I set up a residential fridge for a customer heading for Maine in an older class A, about 32 ft or so. She had a generator but wanted me to wire it so she could plug it into her rechargeable battery pack. When she returned and hired us for more work, she reported it worked just fine between campgrounds. I believe The Nomadic Fanatic(Eric) uses a couple of them in his videos.
Also, with enough solar you can run a residential while going down the road and charging your batteries from the sun. Lots of options, but most require money.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

The 12v fridges are not proven yet and many are having problems. Yes the dual operation(absorption) have their problems like soft ice cream. And they don't like to be frozen or out of level. And they are stupid expensive. Until the massive amounts of money we spend on the next revolution of green energy gives us the energy for a week in a pack of playing cards size box, we are stuck with poor choices. Each depends on your budget. If you can run a generator while you travel between campgrounds, you might have an expensive rig. If you can run an inverter because you spent $20,000+ on lithium batteries, you might have an expensive rig. The vast majority of people don't have expensive rigs. I set up a residential fridge for a customer heading for Maine in an older class A, about 32 ft or so. She had a generator but wanted me to wire it so she could plug it into her rechargeable battery pack. When she returned and hired us for more work, she reported it worked just fine between campgrounds. I believe The Nomadic Fanatic(Eric) uses a couple of them in his videos.
Also, with enough solar you can run a residential while going down the road and charging your batteries from the sun. Lots of options, but most require money.

But not all! Everyone talks about green! Sorry to say few live it. Let me explain!

Panels that are being changed out for whatever reason, including their being amortized out, still have outputs in line with original ratings. These Panels are mostly rated in the mid 200s. They can be reused, as I do, or pollute the environment. They typically sell for around 50us. Not much can be saved on MPPT controllers, but some can. My most expensive battery bank consists of Northstar blues that if treated properly are good for up to 7000 cycles. The bank is 200ah at 24 volts. As I recall I invested 800us before tax. I went with lead because they are less harmful to the environment, from manufacturing to end of life, and are being recycled. My inverter, well you likely have one no matter what you have for a rig. Mine was built from parts for approximately 300us. The refrigerator was about 350us!

Soo!
200us per 1000w bank. One, will keep things going with a little conservation of power. I have 3 banks so panels = 600us

My controllers cost me 55us. From China quite some time ago. I recently saw a price for this controller of 120us(Amazon.com), I have four! I paid 220us for the 4 controllers, today's price 480us.

So with bare minimum in my view (1000w)

Batteries 800
Panels. 200
Controller 120
_______________
1120 let's include the fridge
350
1470 what the heck, let's include the fifth
1800
3270 total
Let's remember I bought a solid box on a solid frame. Damn! I got more tied up in this thing than I thought! That, I guess happens when you add over time.

Redundancy is the way I insure I maintain my lifestyle.