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Old 08-22-2017, 07:13 AM   #1
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Towing With Fridge on 12V DC

I thought that I would give towing with the fridge on 12V DC yesterday. We were on our way home after a 6 day trip to a music festival and had little food left that could spoil anyway. A sunny day with temps that barely got above 22°C. We have a thermometer with sensors in both the freezer and fridge. I switched over just before leaving Salmon Arm yesterday, and the fridge was a 2°C and the freezer at -14°C, near perfect.

As we drove we saw the temps slowly creeping up, and after about 4 hours the fridge alarm went off, set quite high at 8°C, the freezer up to -4°C. I stopped for fuel, checked that my voltage was okay, and it was at 12.6 volts, so there was definitely no issue with the 240W of solar and truck charging keeping the batteries charged, which I thought would be okay.

I switched it back to propane at this time, and within 90 minutes was back to 4°C in the fridge, and -12°C in the freezer.

So, while there was no issue with depleting batteries while driving with the fridge on 12V DC, it seems that the 12V heater is not enough to adequately cool the fridge, at least while on the move.

It looks like we will continue to use propane when driving, though I will still give it a go with 12V again, just to see if the situation replicates itself.
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Old 08-22-2017, 07:19 AM   #2
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Thanks for the report Jim.
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Old 08-22-2017, 07:47 AM   #3
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fridge

We don't have the fridge monitor but our Ice cream stayed hard enough and beer was still cold on 12 volt for over 8 hrs on our drive home ? Try it again 12 volt works on the 21 . Jim
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Old 08-22-2017, 07:56 AM   #4
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We don't have the fridge monitor but our Ice cream stayed hard enough and beer was still cold on 12 volt for over 8 hrs on our drive home ? Try it again 12 volt works on the 21 . Jim
While this was more or less our case too, any foods that require refrigeration would suffer at the temps I got, especially on long hauls. It is recommended the fridge temperature be no higher than 4°C (40°F). While I am not as fussy, Lisa would never want this to happen or would be looking at throwing out some good stuff.
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Old 08-22-2017, 09:57 AM   #5
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CRX1110 Fridge

We took delivery of our Escape 21 this past August 10th. One of the options that we asked ETI to install was a compressor fridge instead of the standard absorption type. The fridge is the Dometic CRX1110. It is a smaller fridge to be sure (3.7 cubic feet instead of 6) and it does finally drain the battery when dry camping (solar would probably keep it going under "normal" circumstances). When I picked up the trailer in Sumas I bought a quart of blackberry ice cream (from the shop across from Bob's Burgers - thanks, Mike!) and stuck it into the freezer. I took 4-1/2 days to come back home to MN driving through 90 degree temps (and smoke) across WA and the plains. When I got home the ice cream was as frozen as when I had started out. The fridge is ultra-quiet and has a variable speed compressor to conserve energy. So far we are very pleased with it.

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Old 08-22-2017, 10:37 AM   #6
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To clarify, I have the standard two-door Dometic Fridge. I do not have a compressor fridge.
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Old 08-22-2017, 12:39 PM   #7
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Whenever I use the 12v I also place ice packs in the bottom and in the middle and the freezer seems to help - becomes more like a large cooler.
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Old 08-22-2017, 01:09 PM   #8
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I too have just done a test trip with my RM8551 set to battery power. My results are also very good. The freezer compartment is removed, a digital sensor hangs from an interior shelf. Since my troubles are limited to cooling on propane when driving it looks like switching to the battery to power it is my best move.

Fridge was prepped the night before 4 dots, shore power.
• Depart 11AM, fridge is 32°F and 13.65 volts in the battery.
• Switch to battery, 4 dots.
• At 12:45 PM fridge is 31°F/12.58v.
• At 3 PM fridge is 31°F /12.81V.
• At 6 PM fridge is 32°F/12.56v.

Switched back to propane while at the campground. No problem. Had mostly identical settings on the return trip home, when we ended up with the fridge at 32°F and 12.31 volts in the battery.
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Old 08-22-2017, 03:48 PM   #9
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Myron,
You're running straight TV charge correct? I don't recall you had roof solar.
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Old 08-22-2017, 05:46 PM   #10
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Right. My 100 watts of solar is strictly portable, no solar involved with this test. There were only 4 water bottles on the shelves plus beer on the door. Was amazed that night how good it tasted.
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Old 08-22-2017, 06:07 PM   #11
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Myron,

Battery voltage declined all morning and again from 3 PM to 6 PM. Why do you think voltage went from 12.58V at 12:45 PM to 12.81V at 3 PM? Was that a typo?

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Old 08-22-2017, 06:12 PM   #12
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Originally Posted by MyronL View Post
Right. My 100 watts of solar is strictly portable, no solar involved with this test. There were only 4 water bottles on the shelves plus beer on the door. Was amazed that night how good it tasted.
Yes, beer always tastes better cold at night time....
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Old 08-22-2017, 08:47 PM   #13
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Originally Posted by Jim Bennett View Post
So, while there was no issue with depleting batteries while driving with the fridge on 12V DC, it seems that the 12V heater is not enough to adequately cool the fridge, at least while on the move.

It looks like we will continue to use propane when driving, though I will still give it a go with 12V again, just to see if the situation replicates itself.
Same results and conclusions here after my 12V attempt
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Old 08-22-2017, 08:54 PM   #14
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Same results as Jim and Charlie when running refrigerator on 12 volt. Battery strength remains good but the refrigerator warms up about 2 degrees every hour of driving. Now, the same thing happens when on propane so my test results may be a little suspect.
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Old 08-22-2017, 09:07 PM   #15
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Now, the same thing happens when on propane so my test results may be a little suspect.
We have not had an issue with it on propane, generally holding its temperature, but it would not hurt to look into it and make better records. Not a big deal to do as my co-pilot needs a task to do anyway.

As mentioned before, I do suspect the 12V element is just not powerful enough. Maybe they keep them small on purpose so as to not delete the battery power too much.
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Old 08-22-2017, 09:07 PM   #16
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Originally Posted by fudge_brownie View Post
Same results as Jim and Charlie when running refrigerator on 12 volt. Battery strength remains good but the refrigerator warms up about 2 degrees every hour of driving. Now, the same thing happens when on propane so my test results may be a little suspect.
When on propane (4 hour trip x 2) my temps also rose - with the flex flue fix and added insulation - but stayed safe - 17F/38F for freezer/fridge. Dropped back down when stationary.

Interesting behavior over my 5-day eclipse campout was that the freezer and fridge would both be warmer in the morning (although night ambient was 48F) than during the day (ambient 90-95F.) 12-14F freezer at daybreak went down to 4F in the hot afternoon when the fridge was actively fridging. Biggest swing was the freezer (3-19F) while the fridge ran 32-39F. Maybe due to thermal mass being much larger in the bottom box stabilizing the temp?
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Old 08-22-2017, 09:12 PM   #17
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No typo. Those numbers are what they are. Rich battery voltage I think would naturally decline, even surge, when the fridge was calling upon more power from it to maintain a temperature. My concern was only how much of a decline, and would the tow vehicle be able to replace most if not all of the DC loss.

Obviously my tow cannot do both: keeping the fridge below 33°F and simultaneously, battery at the highest levels. But I think it did good doing what I hoped would happen, which is not allow the trailer battery to drop to a critically low level despite the DC load. Not dropping below 12 volts and the fridge not rising close to 40 degrees F, after 2-3 hours at 4 dots? Pretty damn healthy all around, I think.
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Old 08-22-2017, 09:24 PM   #18
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No typo. Those numbers are what they are. Rich battery voltage I think would naturally decline, even surge, when the fridge was calling upon more power from it to maintain a temperature.

Duhh! Of course you're correct, I shoulda thought of that. The voltages will go down while the heater is on and then recovers a bit when it goes off.

The ideal would be a graph of the voltage much like the Sensor Push gives for the temperature. When the SP was in my house you could see when the A/C went on and for how long.
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Old 09-01-2017, 12:20 PM   #19
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Just returned from 6 days on the road, to Cedar City, UT and some 90+ degree weather along the way. Good news. For the drive to and from Cedar City my RM8551 was set to propane, 4 dots. The fridge was pre-trip primed and at 31°F when we left.

It remained in the low 30’s, F, on 4 dots driving up and back.

Given previous failure to cool on propane when towing my last three trips, what has changed? What did I do? Well, nothing much, really. Insulation, narrow Ron-type baffles are all the same as before. Exhaust stack was extended, yes, and orifice had been blown clean, and I added a windbreaker in front of the pilot light. That’s it. You can knock me over with a feather.

Here’s something I discovered before we made this trip. I keep a Walmart Accurite digital thermometer with remote in the fridge and, had lost confidence in its performance so I bought another one at Walmart. This time I am reading the instructions carefully. That’s when I notice the warning that if on the main display there are no bars indicating a signal detection from the remote, there’s no fridge temp info being sent. That’s what I had. So I changed all the batteries. But the display results remained the same.

I stomp out of the trailer for some air, come back in an hour later and what do I see? I had kept the older Accurite in play (because I like its bigger display window) and I now, got 4 bars of signal detection and the fridge temp has gone down. Next morning it was 31°F.

Fridge remained on propane the entire 6 days and never stopped proper cooling. Go figure. I am clueless.

Oh and the trailer batteries, never used on this trip to power the RM8551, rose to 13.04 volts when towing, and a low of 12.46 volts. Total towing miles, 1,252.
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Old 09-01-2017, 01:41 PM   #20
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