New to Inverter/Residential Refrigerator

[Big1]

A little off topic from the op but I finally completed my lithium conversion Saturday. I bought the single Renogy 200ah battery. I also opted to go with a new PowerMax converter/charger. My PD converter that the Pinnacle came with has a lithium setting but not the current 2 stage charging that Renogy prefers for their batteries. I also have a Victron dc to dc charger which I won't connect until I can test it with the truck hooked up. I did some clean up of the cables with a set of bus bars and added a battery cut off switch. Everything is working and the charger is keeping the battery at 13.6 volts which is a 100% charge for the Renogy. Leaving for a 4 day trip with the grandkids in the morning so will get it's first test.

You see I wish I know more about the lithium batteries and how they work but for me since we always go to an RV Park or Resorts I'm wondering do I need to do that.

 

[billcf7]

I looked up those refrigerators. They are made by Lippert and are 12VDC refrigerators. Not residential 120 volt AC. Nothing to do with an inverter.
They suggest (2) deep cycle 27 group LA Batteries, just to run the refrigerator drawing 160 watts, which is 13.3 amperes. That is 6 hours of refrigerator run time. Remember they cycle.
See bottom of this from Lippert
https://lci-support-doc.s3.amazonaws.com/everchill_refrigeration/ccd-0007526.pdf

His rv wouldn't be equipped with an inverter if it came with a 12 volt refrigerator. I would question if it has an inverter.

 

[Nevr2late]

If he has a single panel then he might have an Overlander 1 system which does not have an inverter. What type of trailer is it? I believe only the light travel trailers had that as an option.

 

[F350guy-JAY]

You see I wish I know more about the lithium batteries and how they work but for me since we always go to an RV Park or Resorts I'm wondering do I need to do that.

We never go off grid with ours either but the 2 6 volt golf cart batteries couldn't keep up with our jacks when not hooked to shore power, which happens on every trip we take at some point. The cost to buy new and more lead acid or AGM batteries was not much different than going with a single lithium.

Tested the new battery and it handled the jacks as if we were hooked up. You should have a lithium charging mode on your newer NP so basically a plug and play if you ever decide to switch. I checked again on our converter and even though it shows a LI and LA setting on the circuit board there is not a switch to toggle to one or the other. I had no choice but to go with a new converter.

If what you have is working I wouldn't recommend changing until you have to.

 

[Learjet]

We never go off grid with ours either but the 2 6 volt golf cart batteries couldn't keep up with our jacks when not hooked to shore power, which happens on every trip we take at some point. The cost to buy new and more lead acid or AGM batteries was not much different than going with a single lithium.

Tested the new battery and it handled the jacks as if we were hooked up. You should have a lithium charging mode on your newer NP so basically a plug and play if you ever decide to switch. I checked again on our converter and even though it shows a LI and LA setting on the circuit board there is not a switch to toggle to one or the other. I had no choice but to go with a new converter.

If what you have is working I wouldn't recommend changing until you have to.

Also, if you have solar, don't forget to change the settings in the solar controller to Lithium.

 

[F350guy-JAY]

Also, if you have solar, don't forget to change the settings in the solar controller to Lithium.

Good point. Didn't think of that as we don't have solar.

 

[Randyman69357]

We never go off grid with ours either but the 2 6 volt golf cart batteries couldn't keep up with our jacks when not hooked to shore power, which happens on every trip we take at some point. The cost to buy new and more lead acid or AGM batteries was not much different than going with a single lithium.

Tested the new battery and it handled the jacks as if we were hooked up. You should have a lithium charging mode on your newer NP so basically a plug and play if you ever decide to switch. I checked again on our converter and even though it shows a LI and LA setting on the circuit board there is not a switch to toggle to one or the other. I had no choice but to go with a new converter.

If what you have is working I wouldn't recommend changing until you have to.

The switch is as small as an ant. I almost thought I didn’t have it as well, but my converter had a sticker on it saying it was LI capable.

 

[Nevr2late]

Mine had a sticker as well and I agree, the switch is super tiny and easy to miss; especially for older eyes. Now I know why my grandfather always had a magnifying glass on his desk.

 

[Taftcoach]

I have a 2022 335RDOK and the dealer told me I needed 2 batteries because of the electric jacks. I am surprised you only have 1 battery. My 2 batteries runs my residential fridge 4 to 6 hours. I can’t speak to the 200W solar keeping the battery charged enough to run it longer. I don’t have solar, yet.

Once again I am baffled why it's an upgrade to need two batteries for a fridge over propane. I've never stressed about running out of propane, but I have stressed over the charge state of my batteries. I hope these become more efficient before I have to replace mine.

 

[Learjet]

Once again I am baffled why it's an upgrade to need two batteries for a fridge over propane. I've never stressed about running out of propane, but I have stressed over the charge state of my batteries. I hope these become more efficient before I have to replace mine.

Reduced chance of fire, quicker cooling, don't have to worry about parking off level and damaging cooling system...just a few.

 

[billcf7]

Reduced chance of fire, quicker cooling, don't have to worry about parking off level and damaging cooling system...just a few.

Half the price

 

[Nevr2late]

After having a residential fridge for a year with water and ice through the door, going back to a propane fridge would be disappointing. I say that without knowing the long term longevity and durability, so we’ll see.

 

[Rodney27505]

You see I wish I know more about the lithium batteries and how they work but for me since we always go to an RV Park or Resorts I'm wondering do I need to do that.

We just removed our 4 100AH LA batteries and replaced them with a single 200AH Renogy LI. LA batteries should not be discharged below 50% so those those four batteries had basically 200AH of usable power. LI can be discharged to nearly 0% so the single battery has almost the same available power as the 4 it replaced. For us, the weight reduction was the big draw. 200lbs of batteries were replaced with one 47lb battery. If you have the LI/LA on the circuit board you should have the switch too. You slide that tiny white button toward "On" to switch to LI. This made it basically plug and play for us, saved 150lbs of weight and the cost was less than 4 new LA batteries too.

 

[Rodney27505]

After having a residential fridge for a year with water and ice through the door, going back to a propane fridge would be disappointing. I say that without knowing the long term longevity and durability, so we’ll see.

X2 on this, the icemaker is a huge deal to DW and she would hurt me if I suggested going to a fridge without it.

I also think how you use your RV makes a difference. If we were just camping a few weeks per year a 2 way fridge would not be a big deal. We are full time though so having a larger fridge that cools well in any weather conditions is a must.

 

[PeterLori]

Getting ready for 1st trip with our new RDOK and have some questions about Inverter and residential fridge. Dealer sent me along with single battery and 1 200w solar panel saying it was plenty of power for pre-trip cooling so we could load fridge a couple hours before trips… Once on site, we would be on shore power. Questions…

1. Is this enough power to run an ever chill residential on inverter for 3 or 4 hours before we get on the road? (Renogy 12v 100Ah battery)
2. Do I need to shut off inverter before plugging into shore power? I assume not and manual does not mention anything but the ant to make sure.

Appreciate any guidance/suggestions.

I have the same set up and you will be fine , the fridge only works hard if you have the door open and it’s hot outside.