Battery Charging While Running Fridge on 12V

[FFPaul]

I freeze water bottles and put them in the refrigerator door while traveling for extra insurance.

[float5]

Originally Posted by FFPaul

I freeze water bottles and put them in the refrigerator door while traveling for extra insurance.

You, or others if you have secured your refrigerator, might want to put frozen bottles in a place other than the door because of door weight causing doors to come open. Also, someone did mention having a frozen bottle crack and leak. Might try the crisper to avoid both problems.

[rbryan4]

Yep, the latches on the Dometic fridges aren't the most sturdy. It's a good idea to not put heavy items in the door when towing, or to secure the door with an additional strap.

[Donna D.]

The interior is plastic. Items jump up and down inside the refrigerator while under tow. I've seen too many cracked interiors to ever put or leave something in the door. It only takes ONCE.

[gbaglo]

Here's my fix, using aluminum trim and epoxy.
It's lasted for many years, but I avoid putting heavy items in the door.

[Cortezfisherman]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

I don't see any issue with wiring or control (as long as it had a separate sensing wire), but installing an extra alternator on the engine of a modern vehicle could be a packaging and drive nightmare. That's one reason that the DC-to-DC charger idea is so appealing (but too expensive, because it is not common).

So it's OK to run the fridge on 12VDC from the battery while charging from a DC to DC charger on the TV during trips? Our new fridge has a built in inverter that auto senses incoming voltage and will run on 120AC when available or 12VDC when not. They stress that the fridge be wired directly to the battery and not after any other electronics so I was a little worried the DC to DC charger may give it problems?

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Cortezfisherman

So it's OK to run the fridge on 12VDC from the battery while charging from a DC to DC charger on the TV during trips?

Yes.

Originally Posted by Cortezfisherman

Our new fridge has a built in inverter that auto senses incoming voltage and will run on 120AC when available or 12VDC when not. They stress that the fridge be wired directly to the battery and not after any other electronics so I was a little worried the DC to DC charger may give it problems?

I don't know what "other electronics" they might be worried about, but all the DC-to-DC converter does is ensure that a desirable (for battery charging) voltage is delivered to the trailer. Since that voltage is fine for the 'fridge, there's no problem.

[MyronL]

My work here is done. It is looking like I have found an alternative to propane and running the fridge (Dometic RM8551 4.3 cu ft) while driving, or anywhere the sun shines. Here is what I got:

• One each Lithium Battleborn 100ah
• One 190 watt solar panel permanently attached to trailer roof and connected.
• One Victron 100/30 solar controller.

At 11 am this morning in yard it was 70°F in fridge, 85°F in trailer. Full sun outside. I fired up fridge on battery, 4 dots. Battery was at 13.6 V. Also just for fun, turned on inverter.

At 2 PM sun on street side and the trailer was at 91°F inside. Fridge showed 54°F. And the Battleborn showed 13.5 volts. That would be 14 degrees cooler in three hours.

Quoting Sparky Anderson, you coulda knocked me over with a feather.