My new Norcold N2175

[John in Santa Cruz]

this DC compressor fridge was an exact fit replacement for the broken RMD 8555 my 2014 E21 came with. While we haven't taken it camping yet, its working great in my driveway, along with my Lithium Iron Phosphate battery upgrade that gives me 12 volt, 412 amp*hour, 2560 watt*hours. I should be able to run the othe fridge/freezer and the rest of our basic electrical needs for 7-10 days with no solar or other power. and a couple sunny days should fully charge a dead battery.

[WillyB]

Your build is like having an 800 HP motor on pump gas for your daily driver.

7-10 Days without solar is quite impressive.

[sleepy]

Thanks for sharing this.

We have the old rmd 8555 in our 2014 5.0 ta. One day I'll be replacing it.

[ATHiker]

Did you make any modifications to the outside vents (side / roof), or did you leave them open?

[John in Santa Cruz]

The roof vent was capped to make room for the larger solar panel. flat piece of marine HDPE, 1/4" or so thick, screwed down via all the existing holes that held the absorption roof vent cover.

I have temporarily covered the side vent via masking tape to cut down on drafts and dust inside the trailer, as the N2175 vents to the interior but is open in the back... Glad we did, in Death Valley last week it was extremely windy and dusty at times.

This fridge performed /great/ in weather up to 100F on our recent 2 week road trip... the freezer stayed hard frozen, the fridge stayed chilly cold. I was a bit worried about compressor noise, but it was nearly inaudible from in bed.

[ATHiker]

Really nice addition! Did you find it necessary to add or modify the insulation during the install.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by WillyB

Your build is like having an 800 HP motor on pump gas for your daily driver.

7-10 Days without solar is quite impressive.

I probably overestimated. at DV, I shut off solar entirely for 2 full days (and wasn't hooked up) and 4 nights, and it ran the battery down to 60% with our normal usage (lotsa fan, LED lighting, water pump, fridge on coldest setting in warm weather, some furnace usage at night, phone and tablet USB charging). so 4-5 days safely with ZERO solar and normal usage. I got as much as 1900 watt*hours a day out of the solar with some high clouds, or 1600 watt*hours on a day with dust storms. peak solar panel PV wattage was 322 (its a 360W panel).

[Dave Miller]

I'm buying an E19 (July delivery) and at the moment, with no fridge as I want a compressor fridge and Escape doesn't have any. The Norcold N2175 is an option (using the fridge and microwave opening.

Now that you've had it for a while, would you still recommend the N2175?

Thanks

Dave

[John in Santa Cruz]

I've actually gone a full week with no solar since I last posted on this thread, and still had nearly 50% battery, with the fridge on 24/7, the furnace keeping the E21C at 63F at night when its low 40s outside, and water and LED lighting usage along with light usage of the 2000W inverter (mostly wife drying her hair every couple days, and grinding and brewing coffee each morning).

and yes, still very happy with the N2175.