engnrsrule
Senior Member
I wanted to share some info about our Dometic, original equipment in our 2006 Roadtrek.
The fridge quit working on propane last year and it turned out to need a board. That event brought about some more detailed monitoring of battery consumption, as it just about killed our coach battery to run it on 12v while boondocking.
We got the board replaced and it all works fine. To improve its performance I added auxiliary cooling fans behind the fridge, which really helped - I have a pretty detailed thread covering these mods. That also led to upgrading the coach batteries to two 6v golf cart batteries for a total of 235 Ah and installing a Victron Battery Monitor. Another wise $20 investment is wireless thermometers for the fridge and freezer. These provide an audible alarm if temps get out of range, and let you know all is well without opening the door.
I know some people ride with the fridge running on propane, but I see a lot of states prohibit this, so I choose not to. I have prioritized my fridge operation as follows:
- Use 12v when Rolling under power, or brief travel stops (less than a few hours)
- Use Propane when stopped overnight or for more than a few hours and 110 is not available.
- Use 110v whenever it is available.
I was in a private discussion with another Roadtrekker and wanted to share some of that conversation. The discussion was about how much power is consumed in 12v mode, so I conducted the experiment below. This tends to support my protocol above.
Running only on the coach batteries I set the fridge to 12v. It started at ambient temp of 81 degrees. With that the only thing running it was pulling 11.3 amps. My Victron reported 10 hours remaining battery life.
Then I plugged in 110 and set the fridge on 110 to cool it down. After a couple of hours it was at 38 degrees.
I left the shore tie connected and shifted the fridge to 12v. After a couple of hours the Victron was still at 100%, demonstrating that the charger was keeping up with the draw from the fridge.
I unplugged the shore tie and left the fridge on 12v. A couple of hours later I checked it and it was drawing 11.2 amps. Battery life was showing 10 hours. (It typically shows 240 hours at 100% with nothing running).
Conclusion, 12v should be avoided except when rolling. It is probably OK to leave it on 12v for travel breaks, but if stopped overnight or more than a few hours it would be wise to switch to propane.
I also have not yet experienced any problems with being off level a bit. It seems like if it's level enough to sleep, it works.
The fridge quit working on propane last year and it turned out to need a board. That event brought about some more detailed monitoring of battery consumption, as it just about killed our coach battery to run it on 12v while boondocking.
We got the board replaced and it all works fine. To improve its performance I added auxiliary cooling fans behind the fridge, which really helped - I have a pretty detailed thread covering these mods. That also led to upgrading the coach batteries to two 6v golf cart batteries for a total of 235 Ah and installing a Victron Battery Monitor. Another wise $20 investment is wireless thermometers for the fridge and freezer. These provide an audible alarm if temps get out of range, and let you know all is well without opening the door.
I know some people ride with the fridge running on propane, but I see a lot of states prohibit this, so I choose not to. I have prioritized my fridge operation as follows:
- Use 12v when Rolling under power, or brief travel stops (less than a few hours)
- Use Propane when stopped overnight or for more than a few hours and 110 is not available.
- Use 110v whenever it is available.
I was in a private discussion with another Roadtrekker and wanted to share some of that conversation. The discussion was about how much power is consumed in 12v mode, so I conducted the experiment below. This tends to support my protocol above.
Running only on the coach batteries I set the fridge to 12v. It started at ambient temp of 81 degrees. With that the only thing running it was pulling 11.3 amps. My Victron reported 10 hours remaining battery life.
Then I plugged in 110 and set the fridge on 110 to cool it down. After a couple of hours it was at 38 degrees.
I left the shore tie connected and shifted the fridge to 12v. After a couple of hours the Victron was still at 100%, demonstrating that the charger was keeping up with the draw from the fridge.
I unplugged the shore tie and left the fridge on 12v. A couple of hours later I checked it and it was drawing 11.2 amps. Battery life was showing 10 hours. (It typically shows 240 hours at 100% with nothing running).
Conclusion, 12v should be avoided except when rolling. It is probably OK to leave it on 12v for travel breaks, but if stopped overnight or more than a few hours it would be wise to switch to propane.
I also have not yet experienced any problems with being off level a bit. It seems like if it's level enough to sleep, it works.