Running on battery power

[Stepchild_7]

We recently purchased a 38flsa and love it. It has the residential fridge and the inverter to create 120 from 12 volts. I am looking for information on running the fridge while I'm on the way to the campground. With the camper hooked to the tv can I turn on the inverter and let the fridge start cooling while I'm on the road? Will the truck keep the battery charged? Thanks for the help.

[Mustang65]

Klassic, summed up his experience of towing and a night without shore-power in this post.

Don

http://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f6...tml#post414616

[Grumpy]

Klassic's 12v from his TV must not be connected to his umbilical cord or low batterie to begin with.

We travel 6/7 hrs a day with the fridge on and when and we arrive at our stop my batteries are still showing 12+ volts and still have plenty of power for the levelers. Been doing that for almost 2 years. JAYCO said you should get 12-14 hours for the fridge on battery alone.

Yes if you have 12v power from the TV to the FW it will keep the batteries charged with the fridge on.

[klassic]

Originally Posted by Grumpy

Klassic's 12v from his TV must not be connected to his umbilical cord or low batterie to begin with.

We travel 6/7 hrs a day with the fridge on and when and we arrive at our stop my batteries are still showing 12+ volts and still have plenty of power for the levelers. Been doing that for almost 2 years. JAYCO said you should get 12-14 hours for the fridge on battery alone.

Yes if you have 12v power from the TV to the FW it will keep the batteries charged with the fridge on.

Ya... I don't know what was going on there Grumpy. I need to check the fuse (I never did) but I was quite surprised how dead they were when I was running the auto level when I got to the site.
I ran the auto level once, then stroked out...reset with blocks and did it again and it was obvious I needed to plug in. There wasn't enough power left.
I know the truck doesn't charge batteries that well but really??
I have a high output alternator...I know it was all working not that long ago when I popped the fuse by accident.

Batteries were full charge when I left. I know the fridge was running when I left...I could hear it. I don't know how long it was running for so I assumed most of the drive.

The batteries are only 8 months old and have never been discharged.
I did learn one thing though. The Progessive Dynamic converter will bulk charge at 14.3 volts for 2-3 hours.
Unlike my WFCO ever did.

[klassic]

Originally Posted by Grumpy

Klassic's 12v from his TV must not be connected to his umbilical cord or low batterie to begin with.

We travel 6/7 hrs a day with the fridge on and when and we arrive at our stop my batteries are still showing 12+ volts and still have plenty of power for the levelers. Been doing that for almost 2 years. JAYCO said you should get 12-14 hours for the fridge on battery alone.

Yes if you have 12v power from the TV to the FW it will keep the batteries charged with the fridge on.

Grumpy, I checked everything...all is well.
But it got me thinking. I took the T 105's out during the winter and bought a Noco Genius charger to keep the batteries charged. (I realize now I don't need to do this)
The charger stayed in a charge state of over 14v for at least 72 hours before I noticed. Boiling the batteries the whole time. It didn't boil them to below the plates but I had to add a lot of water.
I emailed Noco, they said it shouldn't affect anything and to try again. I did it again for 24 hours..same result. Had to add water.
Got rid of the Noco

Do you thing the batteries were damaged?

[klassic]

I need to update this fridge power thing.
I was messing around this evening and had all the power off for a bit, then turned the batteries on and the fridge turned on with the inverter. It was drawing 14-18amps DC according to my voltage moniter and the inverter moniter. Obviously the compressor was running.
It ran for about 15 mins. When it shut off there was no noise. No hum of a fan like I mentioned earlier in this thread, and the inverter remote was reading 0 amps.
What I mentioned above, in this thread, was there was a fan on the fridge that never shut off for the 5 hours I was watching the voltage meter, and was drawing around 5-7a DC the whole time.. I'm sure that wasn't the compressor running for 5 straight hours, and it isn't much power compared to the 14-18amps I saw today.
The only difference this time was the interior of the trailer was 72 degrees and the other time it was 80 to eventually 88 when I stop the test because it was too hot in there.
Maybe the fridge fan runs without the compressor running when it gets above a certain temp...?
I conclude that I don't know what's up with this fridge and it's power consumption.

[justman]

Originally Posted by klassic

Grumpy, I checked everything...all is well.
But it got me thinking. I took the T 105's out during the winter and bought a Noco Genius charger to keep the batteries charged. (I realize now I don't need to do this)
The charger stayed in a charge state of over 14v for at least 72 hours before I noticed. Boiling the batteries the whole time. It didn't boil them to below the plates but I had to add a lot of water.
I emailed Noco, they said it shouldn't affect anything and to try again. I did it again for 24 hours..same result. Had to add water.
Got rid of the Noco

Do you thing the batteries were damaged?

I don't think the batteries were damaged. As long as water was still on the plates and the voltage is ok, you should be good to go.