Electricity while boon docking

[Centex]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

.... a Norcold N2175 compressor fridge ...

Originally Posted by Telescopist

In which case you would no longer have the option of using propane?

Correct - compressor reefers are electric-powered only.

There's pros and cons and they aren't for everyone, but before committing to a compressor reefer one certainly wants to ensure they've an adequate source of electric power* for whatever duration of off-grid use they anticipate for their use-habits (i.e. battery storage, solar charging, and maybe generator backup).

*or are willing to upgrade to an adequate source of electric power, as seems to be the case for John in Santa Cruz if he finds that necessary

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Telescopist

In which case you would no longer have the option of using propane?

truue, but they use far less electrical power than an absorption fridge. I've seen numbers like 20 to 50 AH per day at 12V... If this is the case, my dual golf cart batts and existing 160W solar will probably suffice, otherwise I double the batts via LiFePO4, and double the solar...

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

truue, but they use far less electrical power than an absorption fridge.

Huh?
Please explain.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Huh?
Please explain.

I meant, when not running on propane, of course.

an absorption fridge uses on the order of 200 watts nearly continuously in hot weather to stay cold. a similar sized compressor fridge is around 60 watts with a 50% or less duty cycle in the same conditions.

[JeffreyG]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

I meant, when not running on propane, of course.

an absorption fridge uses on the order of 200 watts nearly continuously in hot weather to stay cold. a similar sized compressor fridge is around 60 watts with a 50% or less duty cycle in the same conditions.

Does anyone actually run absorption refrigerators on 12V? I never have, it's a useless mode as far as I can tell (when available).


I run them on 120V AC when plugged in and propane when not. They don't consume much propane, in my experience.

[Telescopist]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

I too just carry a portable "300W" (really 200W sustained) inverter that I use to charge the wife's laptop, or our ebike batteries, when we're off grid for any extended time. Everythign else we need is DC and/or propane. I do hand pour filter coffee, or aeropress, using a hand grinder for the beans, we avoid camping in places/seasons where A/C would be a must, the furnace and water heater work just great on propane.

as an example, wife's laptop uses a 90W charger, and probably needs all of that 90 watts when its working full blast AND charging mostly discharged batteries concurrently... 90 watts may only be 0.75 amps at 120VAC, but its 7.5 amps at 12VDC. My ebike charger is 3 amps at 59VDC (its a 52V battery), so thats nearly 15 amps at 12VDC.

Several months ago I took your advice and bought a 400w Volt Cube. You may recall that my interest was recharging the laptop after a night of observing. The one think I don't like is the short cigarette lighter cord. The placement of the receptacles relative to the length of the cord is a pain. Would I lose a significant amount of current flow if I get a cord which is, say, 18 inches longer?

No more hand held coffee grinder. Our small handheld electrical grinder can now be put to use when we are off the grid.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Telescopist

Several months ago I took your advice and bought a 400w Volt Cube. You may recall that my interest was recharging the laptop after a night of observing. The one think I don't like is the short cigarette lighter cord. The placement of the receptacles relative to the length of the cord is a pain. Would I lose a significant amount of current flow if I get a cord which is, say, 18 inches longer?

No more hand held coffee grinder. Our small handheld electrical grinder can now be put to use when we are off the grid.

I have a couple foot power wire using 14 gauge lamp cord with Anderson PowerPole PP30 connectors on mine, this works just fine. cigar plugs and outlets really aren't designed for more than 10-15 amps max, and 15 amps at 12V is only 180 watts.

[oldwave]

Originally Posted by JeffreyG

Does anyone actually run absorption refrigerators on 12V? I never have, it's a useless mode as far as I can tell (when available).


I run them on 120V AC when plugged in and propane when not. They don't consume much propane, in my experience.

I have when propane is prohibited like on a ferry .

[alanerickson]

Originally Posted by JeffreyG

Does anyone actually run absorption refrigerators on 12V? I never have, it's a useless mode as far as I can tell (when available).


I run them on 120V AC when plugged in and propane when not. They don't consume much propane, in my experience.

Which do you use, 110v or propane when you are going down the road?

[Mike Lewis]

On a recent trip to Georgia with my trailer I put the fridge on 12V power since I now have a large battery bank (400 Ah). It certainly seemed to work better while towing than when it is on propane. But sometimes when parked the fridge's burner does not come on. If I blow out the burner assembly with "canned air" this seems to fix the problem.

But once I did this while forgetting to switch the fridge off. It was set to propane and when I sprayed it with air it went "FOOM!" with flame shooting out. I looked down at the can and saw "may be flammable" printed on it. It was.

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by alanerickson

Which do you use, 110v or propane when you are going down the road?

There is no 110v while being towed, just 12v and propane.

[alanerickson]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

There is no 110v while being towed, just 12v and propane.

For my Nucamp that had an absorption they did not recommend towing while on propane. Guess that's what I'm used but apparently it's somewhat common to do it. Seems like that's asking for trouble, but to each his own.

[gbaglo]

Well, you tow your trailer with gas in the tow vehicle tank. That sounds awful dangerous.

[JeffreyG]

Originally Posted by alanerickson

Which do you use, 110v or propane when you are going down the road?

Propane.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

On a recent trip to Georgia with my trailer I put the fridge on 12V power since I now have a large battery bank (400 Ah). It certainly seemed to work better while towing than when it is on propane. But sometimes when parked the fridge's burner does not come on. If I blow out the burner assembly with "canned air" this seems to fix the problem.

But once I did this while forgetting to switch the fridge off. It was set to propane and when I sprayed it with air it went "FOOM!" with flame shooting out. I looked down at the can and saw "may be flammable" printed on it. It was.

that canned 'air' is in fact Freon. HFC-152a to be more specific. Flammable *and* toxic when burned

[kathytony1985]

Originally Posted by alanerickson

Which do you use, 110v or propane when you are going down the road?

We turn ours off. Even after 6 hours the stuff in the freezer is still frozen solid. The new fridges are very well insulated from what we have experienced.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

There is no 110v while being towed, just 12v and propane.

Never say never. It can be done pretty easily with the new F-150 with onboard generator.
https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/thre...it-works.6462/

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by rubicon327

Never say never. It can be done pretty easily with the new F-150 with onboard generator.
https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/thre...it-works.6462/

its not a 'generator', its an inverter, running off the trucks alternator and battery.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

its not a 'generator', its an inverter, running off the trucks alternator and battery.

Oops…inverter. Same result though…120V AC that could be used to power a trailer while towing if wired properly to do so.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by rubicon327

Oops…inverter. Same result though…120V AC that could be used to power a trailer while towing if wired properly to do so.

not sure I want my 30A power cord routed around the outside of the trailer and into the bed of my truck while driving, however. I mean, I suppose you could put another 30A twistlock input on the front side of the trailer, and use a short power cord, but that sort of violates some wiring rules (if one cord is powered, and you have the other cord plugged in, the pins would be 120V hot on the plug on that 2nd cord)