Residential Refridgerator

[rdlouks]

I don't know if I am posting this in the right spot, so if not Moderators feel free to move.
Anyway my Wife & I are thinking about trading our 2012 Pinnacle 36KPTS for a 2018 Pinnacle when they are available.
My only concern is the Reefer, in the event of a power outage how long can I expect the refrigerator to run off battery power, say with two 75AH deep cycle batteries hooked in parallel. The reason I ask is when not camping we have it setup on our property.

[Marcm157]

What size inverter are you planning on using?

[klassic]

Originally Posted by Marcm157

What size inverter are you planning on using?

The inverter comes with it.

You would probably get 6-7 hours maybe. As long as it doesn't go into a defrost cycle.
But your batteries would be really depleted. They don't like that.

How often does the power go out at the park?

[rdlouks]

Thanks. Not very often, but with the RV Electric/Gas type I was not too worried about it. If it would go out I only live about 1.5 hours away and I would get a call letting me know it was out.

[klassic]

The residential fridge is the best.
I'm trying to occasionally boon dock 3-4 days with it. It's costing me a lot in solar and battery upgrades.
But it is so much better then having a RV fridge.

If you get notified about a power outage then I wouldn't be worried until it was 3-4 hours of no power. Actually I guess I miss spoke above. Your inverter is going to shut down and throw a low voltage error around 11.5 volts. So you batteries won't be drained and stay healthy.
The fridge will stay cold for a few hours.
You should be good for a long power outage.

[Fishermanbb]

I have the residential Fridge. I also have to Trojan T-145 batteries hooked up in series. I just got the trailer and wanted to test how long they would run the fridge. On the first night we were set-up outside the house while we set up the trailer and prepared for for first trip. Fridge ran 12 hours and showed no signs of shutting off.

[jasum]

And the nice thing about the residential refrigerator is it actually keeps things COLD.....just like at home.

[Mustang65]

Originally Posted by Fishermanbb

I have the residential Fridge. I also have to Trojan T-145 batteries hooked up in series. I just got the trailer and wanted to test how long they would run the fridge. On the first night we were set-up outside the house while we set up the trailer and prepared for for first trip. Fridge ran 12 hours and showed no signs of shutting off.

I would venture to say that the DEFROST heater (as Klassic mentioned) did not kick in during those 12 hours.

Klassic and I have been looking into the reason as to why his Residential fridge is putting such a high demand on his 12VDC system (SOLAR and BATTERIES). He noticed that there was a DEFROSTER heater in the fridge circuit and we pursued it from there. Klassic was able to get the wiring diagrams for his specific fridge and we noticed that when the fridge's thermostat activated the DEFROSTER heater it needed 450 Watts (120VAC) which converts to 37.5Amps of 12VDC power. So if you have (1) 12VDC battery @ 85 Ah you are pretty much done in less than an hour of defrost heater time.

The unknown in the equation is that you have no clue as to when the DEFROST heater's thermostat will get activated (during SOLAR hours or later). Also, the fridge is programmed to activate the DEFOST heater and run it for 24 minutes every 6 - 96 hours (your guess is as good as mine as to when it will start).

If you happen to disconnect the AC power to the fridge, this will reset the timer. Without the DEFROSTER heater activated the fridge needs around 140 AC watts or 11.6 DC Amps. So when the fridge activates the heater while the fridge is running, the normal running wattage and heater wattage will hit your batteries for a GRAND TOTAL of 49 Amps (for 24 minutes).

So if you are planning on some serious Dry-camping this is something to keep in mind when planning your system to power it.

Keeping your BEER COLD has a price...

Thanks Klassic

Don

My Registry

RVing with SOLAR

[klassic]

Here is the input current of the inverter when on defrost.
In the service menu you can activate the defrost and turn it on at anytime. That's 45amps DC

So far I've been able to go 3 day boondocking, but I was in full sun all three days, with 2 Trojan t-105's and 520watts of solar.
I caught the fridge going into defrost once and unplugged it. I am unsure if it did it again without me knowing. But that is a lot of ah's defrosting.
I'm going from 2 6v's (220ah) to 2 bigger 6v (420ah)

Also, with Mustangs awesome help, I am trying to put in a switch and warning light system to turn off the defrost at certain times.
Still in progress.

[jasonmiddlebrooks]

Interesting.. i would love to be able to disable the automatic defrost and do it on my own timeframe....



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[wags999]

Originally Posted by jasum

And the nice thing about the residential refrigerator is it actually keeps things COLD.....just like at home.

I'm not sure how cold you like it, but we have frozen milk in the frig if it gets turned to cold. Our freezer makes ice in little over an hour.. Perhaps we just got lucky We live in our RV for 4 to 6 months each year, never an issue. When we were 70 miles away from a grocery store we did pick up a small chest type freezer to keep meats etc.

[klassic]

Originally Posted by jasonmiddlebrooks

Interesting.. i would love to be able to disable the automatic defrost and do it on my own timeframe....



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I'll let you know how it works out.

[Dustdevil]

We have friends who own a 40ft Thor Tuscan Class A with a brand new residential fridge. About half of their camping is boondocking, and the inability to run the fridge on propane under those conditions is making them miserable. When at a RV park with hookups, it's great. They would like to order one of the residential fridges that WILL operate on either 120ac or propane. But they are ridiculously expensive, and would likely require half the motorhome taken apart to uninstall/reinstall. In the meantime, they have $2500 invested in a whole bank of AGM batteries, and it still doesn't take them through a cold night before shutting down the fridge entirely due to battery charge losses. Tread very carefully if you are planning on doing significant boondocking.

[jasonmiddlebrooks]

So all that is really needed is a separate switch in the freezer (or somewhere) to turn on/off the auto defrost, if that is possible.

I have several deep freezers and small frig/freezers at my house and shop that do not have any kind of auto defrost. You simply thaw it out once or twice a year.

So a switch would be what is needed maybe.... Turn on the auto defrost when connected to shore power with a residential frig, which would likely be most of the time for most of us. But... When going off the grid or traveling turn it off and let the frig/freezer run when needed to cool and not worry about going into defrost mode. Not like you are going to freeze up in that amount of time anyway...

I am just thinking out loud here.... How does traditional rv propane/electric units handle this???

Have never really thought that much about it but it makes sense.. You never have to worry about your home residential frig/freezer defrosting but you are always on power right...

Just thinking out loud...

[klassic]

Dustdevil. For 2500 bucks they could have got a generator to go with batteries or a solar system. And their batteries need to be really good 12v's or really good 6v's
Like I said I can do 3 days. On my two 6v and solar. And sun!
With the the double size I'm going with I'll get 5 days for sure with sun.
If I had a 2000watt genny too I'm sure I could get a good week.

[klassic]

Jason ...I'm part way there.
I don't know if the fridge is going to throw a code or not because of the timer and there is a sensor too.
I need to get this hooked up.

Also I don't know how iced up the coils will get if no defrost action happens.

[jasonmiddlebrooks]

klassic,

What residential frig do you have?

I have fghc2331pfca which is a Frigidaire unit. Is that what you have?

[klassic]

Yes.

[PonyExpress]

a residential frig will ice up and stop cooling the frig compartment in just a few days without the defrost working. Its a classic complaint ( my freezer works but frig barely cools). Also if bad enough the drain tube will have ice in it and water from coils will not drain when you do get around to letting defrost cycle run.

BTW, i have the norcold elec/gas unit and it works just fine. keeps stuff very cold. items on top shelf will freeze when set to coldest setting on elec.

[klassic]

Thanks Pony... I'm hoping for 4 days (with or without clear strong sun)
I'm trying to get an LED rigged up so it come on when the defrost thermostat closes. Then I can say what time of the day it can defrost. (Good solar)
Or just leave it off and let it stay frozen if I only have a small amount of battery power remaining.

If you have some refrigerator smarts. What makes the coils ice up faster?
Letting in humid air into the fridge/freezer?
Ambient air around the fridge too hot?

My fridge runs constantly because it is wedged into the slide with very little air flow around it and the sun beating on the slide and the slide roof must make it over 100 degrees in there