Boondocking with a 12v refrigerator
- Thread starter RichieW13
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Guests on the Move
Active member
It all depends on how much battery storage you have. If you have only one lead acid battery you will be lucky to make it much more than one night with the use of lights and refrigerator. one lithium 100 amp hour battery will last a bit longer. So in your question the type, size and amount af storage makes a big difference in the answer you are looking for.
I have 4 100 amp hour batteries with 1280 amps of solar, we did a 4 day 3 night trip from Texas back to NC and still had 90% of battery left when we got home. Of course the Solar charged during travel.
I have 4 100 amp hour batteries with 1280 amps of solar, we did a 4 day 3 night trip from Texas back to NC and still had 90% of battery left when we got home. Of course the Solar charged during travel.
CornCrib
Well-known member
We have a Norcold 16' 12v in our 32RLS. We tested by turning on our fridge in storage (no shore power) a few days before we left on a trip. Last week, it was on for 5 days. When we arrived at about 11am to load up, the batteries were at 100%. We have 540AH of lithium and 320w of solar. My observation is once the fridge is cool, and without a lot of opening and closing of doors, it runs about 4 to 6 amps per hour. Full power, when initially cooling or with frequent opening and closing of fridge doors would run about 12amps per hour.
Quick calc: If batteries full at 11am, assuming full solar charging for 3 hours at 20amp = a max of 60 amps were used from 6pm to 8am, during which no solar charging took place. That would equate to a little over 4 amps per hour consumed. Not exact of course, but a very rough estimate.
Quick calc: If batteries full at 11am, assuming full solar charging for 3 hours at 20amp = a max of 60 amps were used from 6pm to 8am, during which no solar charging took place. That would equate to a little over 4 amps per hour consumed. Not exact of course, but a very rough estimate.
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LuckyDog23
Well-known member
Hey Corn, I know you wrote this elsewhere in the generator thread but I want to confirm the pertinent details. You have the factory panel, bought two GC batteries and changed both the charge controller and the inverter, the latter being the hybrid. Correct?
CornCrib
Well-known member
I have not yet installed the charge controller or inverter. Still running the stock (20amp Renogy Solar Controller, 2000w inverter) on those. All I've done up to this point is replace the dealer provided lead acid battery with 2 GC3's.
August will see me add 3 more 320w panels, install the Victron MPii and upgrade the Solar Controller to a Victron 150/100 MPPT (as well Lynx Distributor, SmartShunt & CerboGX). Stock inverter and Renogy Solar controller will go away.
August will see me add 3 more 320w panels, install the Victron MPii and upgrade the Solar Controller to a Victron 150/100 MPPT (as well Lynx Distributor, SmartShunt & CerboGX). Stock inverter and Renogy Solar controller will go away.
LuckyDog23
Well-known member
Cool! Now we know we can make it across the country with that single panel and a baby genset snug on pullout tray.
RichieW13
Active member
That is good info. If I am interpreting correctly, when your unit is in storage, the 320w solar was enough to run the refrigerator and replenish whatever battery was used when solar wasn't producing.
CornCrib
Well-known member
Correct.
Of course, in my example above, if I had a singe lead acid 100AH battery, there would have only been 50AH usable. So, using a max of 60AH overnight may have caused a problem. At the very least, I'd have wanted to get a 100AH lithium battery (all 100AH usable) right up front to make sure I was ok.