Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire RV fridge question

I have an older camp trailer with a 2 way fridge. For camping, I just turn off the fridge and propane in case of an accident and it stays cold long enough to get there. However, on long trips, especially in hot weather, I need to keep the fridge running. I can't use the propane because the wind blows it out. No amount of wind shielding has worked so far.

Can I install an inverter to run it from the batteries while on the road? It requires 300 watts of 120v. The batteries will be be continually charging from the truck's alternator. The RV batteries are 2 large heavy duty 6v golf cart batteries, plenty of reserve power. I would put a switch in the line to shut it off so 120v can't get to the batteries when I'm plugged in to that.

Anything I should know? I'm no expert at this.

I think you got this.

I took mine out, put a regular fridge in its place. I don’t like the propane on if I’m sleeping in it. I use electric heat also.

In trying to fashion shields for the refrigerator flame you may actually be causing a vacuum in the compartment which is sucking the flame out. If the access door is original, it should stay lit while going down the road. I have two travel trailers, oldest is a 2000 model and they both work fine.

I hate inverters. I’d use a small generator before I’d do that.

My Lance PU camper is 3 way. AC plug in, propane, truck dc. Shifts automatically, assuming propane tanks are on, and panel is set to “auto”.

My rig is straight 120v. The 21 CF fridge, the freezer holds 5 20lb bags of Buccee's ice. No inverters, no batteries, no troubles. Everything lights on demand & Momma is happy.

Had enough of that cheap, commercial, insufficient camper parts breaking down when you are supposed to be enjoying yourself.

Rock: If you are driving with an RV fridge running check the owners manual. My Attwood has a limitation of 6 degrees fore and aft and 3 degrees port to starborad. You can burn a reefer out if you exceed the limits because the coolant (most likely ammonia) cannot gravity flow to the sump.

That requires 120v, not available on most of our camping trips. Also, regular fridges can't take the shaking that a real RV fridge takes. Those are made for washboard roads. That's part of what makes them so expensive.

The fridge isn't original and possibly it doesn't fit like the original did. It blows out with no shields and I've tried any number of tricks to shield it without success. One thing I haven't tried is blocking the outside door completely. It's open underneath into a large space and has a vent fan above it so it will still get plenty of air.

the running power is not the limit on your inverter question. the in rush current to start the compressor will be.

Unless you have an exceptional battery supply I do not see them keeping the fridge running for any length of time. The truck will not likely charge the battery as fast as it is being drained. Probably not even close!

The best way to verify this would be to run the fridge on the inverter with the battery no engine running measure the volts to start. About 2-3 hours later, if still running measure volts again. You should be starting with 12plus volts. If it's just over 11 volts your out of power. I don't see the charging system keeping up with the demand on a fridge compressor. Granted the fridge will shut off when the temp is met. but that inrush to start the compressor again is a massive demand about 5-6 times an hour depending upon ambient temp.. that would be My guess.

This is one of the reasons folks on solar still use propane for the furnace, hotwater heater, stove-oven, and fridge. Those are massive power sucking devices. If they used the batteries they would be drained way to fast!

Once the refrigerator is cold, it will require a minimal amount of wattage to keep it running. Do some research on your particular fridge, and determine the watt draw on 120 start-up is. I suspect “near zero”, as the fridge does not have a compressor as a house refrigerator! We have a little 800 watt inverter (seperate from the big 2500 watt inverter) dedicated to our little 5cu. ft. chest freezer (it does have a compressor) and the bedroom television. I think I would go a little bigger than the 300, a little “overkill” (hunting talk) can’t hurt! memtb

I would try blocking it off as you mention. As long as an ammonia refrigerator can vent it’s heat out of the top it will work. One of mine would not keep the refrigerator cold when the A C was on. I finally figured out the AC was venting its heat directly over the refrigerator vent. I blocked off that side of the AC vent and it works fine.

Those limitations on being out of level are for stationary operation. Going down the road , uphills, around curves, it’s no problem.

Ammonia refrigerators dont have a compressor. The current draw at startup is the same as at operation. Considering the tiny flame when it is operating on propane, the current draw can’t be much.

Thanks for the info. I think a 4 to 500 watt inverter will be more than enough and will put very low draw on the batteries. Most of the time, the pickup will be running to recharge them. It's a diesel with 2 batteries and a 136amp alternator.

You will get very little charging from the truck... just a few amps. If you look at the charge wire gauge in the plug....it’s likely only about 14 ga.......can only carry a small amp load.

If you want to charge faster, you’ll have to run a seperate ( much larger ) wire (fused) directly from the truck battery to your truck plug. Of course you must have a heavy wire in the camper wiring as well. If you do this, you will have to disconnect the camper from the truck, when parked, or you will discharge the truck battery to the camper battery!
A small (2000 watt) generator would charge much more efficiently! If your “only” charging the battery, a 1000 watt generator will cover that job! memtb

Find out how many watts the heating element takes and then size.

Just run a separate charging circuit to converter. A simple way is to take a 50' extension cord. Cut it in half. Plug it together with some play at hitch. A few zip ties. Then run one end to truck battery, other to converter. Unplug it when you turn off truck. If you need larger wire Buy two jumper cables. Cut off the ends and buy a pair of winch type plugs for the hitch junction. If you want to get fancy run the wire in standard wire loom cover then feed it under truck, zip tie as required. Put a breaker and switch under hood to cut power when not needed.