Experience with 12v compressor fridge

[Yooper906]

Thanks for posting this. Copied and saved.

[Co27]

Originally Posted by Kim Gass

Any trees?

My world is full of trees and rain.. The solar panels did nothing over four overcast days. And the temps were lower so the furnace ran more.

Where you are matters. I do appreciate your thorough notes.

Thanks for asking, meant to include that info. In Colorado. Tests were done in our backyard. Trailer positioned North/south within 6 ft of tall pine trees to the west. These trees gave us shade over the camper in the later part of the day. Other trees are to the North and would have no impact to the solar panels.

We did have overcast times during the test, for half of the day or more(that's what I meant by cloudy). But we did get full sun later in the day. We did not run the furnace as part of this test.

[McMullap]

Hey folks. I have a Jay Feather Micro 171BH with the 8 cubic foot 12V fridge. I do Boondock a decent amount but only for 1-2 nights (occasionally 3 nights). I live in Ohio and get moderate to full Sun.

I have two 100ah sealed AGM batteries. I also have a 30A charge controller with a 190W solar panel. We start with a cold fridge from towing (and obviously cold food). We open the door sparingly and have the fridge set on Boondock mode (yes, there is one and I think it’s level 2 or 3). I have not run out of battery yet.

To be honest, I’ve never really paid attention to the battery level. I check it here and there and it’s not low, so I’m rolling with it. Hopefully this helps. Thanks, Andy

[TomC_AZ]

It should keep it good for a few days. Are you running a generator at all while camping? As that would also recharge the battery and run the fridge at the same time. We found that if its cold outside (we have camped in the snow), the furnace will turn on and off enough that it will eat up the battery with a AGM or LA, that is why we switched over originally to a Lifepo4. Now adding a few more and the inverter but also added two more panels over the weekend.

[McMullap]

I have a generator but I have not felt the need to use it. My batteries were never in serious trouble. I’m sure I’m the summer, I’ll use the generator to run the A/C but in the cooler temps, we just bring a few extra blankets. Hope that helps. Andy