12 V fridge battery options

[UpstateJoanie]

Good morning fellow jayco-ers,

We have the 8cu ft 12V only fridge in our 2021 264BH. We occasionally boondock at our family camp. Right now we have issues with the battery lasting through the night despite topping it off with our generator before bed (generator running for at least 2 hours). I have been trying to research the best battery options so the fridge will keep going at least over night, but to be honest not sure what would be best for our real world situation with the different brands, types, and set ups that i’ve read about. For our situation longer would be better but we also do not want to spend a fortune on batteries as we do have the generator to help recharge. Anyone have suggestions? 2 12v versus 2 6v?

[mavrick0]

If you don't want to spend a small fortune on Lithium batteries the first thing you are going to want to look into is deep cycle batteries. They will allow you to use them longer then a normal lead acid. But keep in mind both those types of batteries are only good for 50% of their capacity. Once below that you start damaging the cells. So if you have a 200ah battery you really on have 100ah of usable power. So the more batteries you have the longer the fridge will run but in the same token that'll add more weight and also take longer to charge back up to full. This is why more and more people are going to lithium. The upfront cost actually becomes less expensive in the long term over lead acid.

I was running a pair of 12v batteries and could easily get through a full day of using our 5th wheel normally without issue and then needed about 3 hours of gen time to recharge them back to full. But have recently gone to a pair of 6v golf cart batteries to add some more capacity but the weight those two batteries added over the 12v was a lot. The next step will probably be at least one lithium this year and ditch the old school lead acid batteries all together.

[CAG]

Do a search on here and also you might Google the issue. There are volumes, and I do mean volumes on batteries/boon-docking and what is needed and what is recommended. In-fact there were at least two very recent threads.



One 12 volt battery will not get you through the night without some help (solar etc) and you cannot get enough charge back into it once it is run down.



I ran two 6volts for many years and then went to three 12 volt AGM.

[CAG]

Here is one. There are mucho mas. Try the search feature in the gold bar at the top of the page.


https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...ies-85572.html

[Yooper906]

Originally Posted by UpstateJoanie

Good morning fellow jayco-ers,

We have the 8cu ft 12V only fridge in our 2021 264BH. We occasionally boondock at our family camp. Right now we have issues with the battery lasting through the night despite topping it off with our generator before bed (generator running for at least 2 hours). I have been trying to research the best battery options so the fridge will keep going at least over night, but to be honest not sure what would be best for our real world situation with the different brands, types, and set ups that i’ve read about. For our situation longer would be better but we also do not want to spend a fortune on batteries as we do have the generator to help recharge. Anyone have suggestions? 2 12v versus 2 6v?

Just saw this thread. I do have some real world info on this 8 ft 12v fridge. Also found out last year it's nice to have an electrician neighbor with the instruments to record this data.

He measured just under 4 amps running for my fridge. If running 24 hrs it's going to use around 95 Amp Hours. That would be running constantly, which it doesn't. I get around 24 Hrs of fridge run time with two group 27 lead batteries. That is with running only a couple of LED lights, plus the small draw from C02 detector etc. So that would be ideal conditions, which rarely happens.

I also have two 190W solar panels on the roof, which I haven't factored into this data.
If it's sunny and I'm running the roof panels, batteries last longer by quite a bit, but it's a huge variable which is hard to track. Another thing which I've not factored in is the amperage from the truck when towing.

[AverageGuy]

Lithium battery prices are coming down. 100 amp hour batteries are available for around the $500 dollar price or less. It's nice to be able to get almost all of the capacity of a Lithium battery, i. e. 90 amp hours from a 100 amp hour battery but another advantage of them is their ability to absorb a charge more quickly so you don't have to run your generator as long.

[Marcm157]

I have a single group 24 - 12 Volt deep cycle battery. This is our first RV with a 12 Volt fridge. It's a 10 cube norcold. The most I can get is 6.5 hours before I reach the battery damage state. We don't boondocks but do dry camp for single nights on the way to a destination. I'm going to wait until it's battery replacement time and go with a lithium battery. I can't justify the expense right now...

[AverageGuy]

A group 24 gives you about 70 AH so unless you want to buy a new battery soon, keep the draw down to 35 AH.

[RogerR]

I just installed my Renogy 100 amp to replace my group 27. I don't have a 12 volt fridge but my furnace would eat up the max battery draw of maybe 45 amps overnight with nothing left and running the camper chilly.

Now I have 100 amps to start with and with the solar I am about to install I should be ok for multiple nights. I don't have a genny but the Renogy comes with a max charge rate of 50 amp per hour if can do that.

But it also has a great and easy to use app that literally tells me how much amps are in there plus the draw rate.

If you buy Renogy use a referral from someone who bought from them and get an extra 7% off promotion.