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Solar panel / inverter / TIME CRUNCH HELP!!

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  • Solar panel / inverter / TIME CRUNCH HELP!!

    Ok I'm in a complete panic right now and need help!! With a 10 day huge DRY CAMPING trip planned in less than a week, I have an emergency. I bought a brand new 2017 Forest River Heritage Glen travel trailer. It has a residential fridge (full size) and a 3.2 cubic foot mini fridge in the outdoor kitchen. I need to figure out a way to make both fridges run off of solar power / power inverter / batteries. I am clueless when it comes to this stuff and am not understanding any of it after days of research. Here's what I know and have...

    Trailer has a 1000 watt power inverter
    Trailer has 2 - 12 volt batteries
    I have a 12 volt / 18 watt solar panel trickle charger for the batteries

    Is there any way to make this work with what I have? If not, what is the most cost effective way to get this to work in the next few days. I thought I had it figured out but I don't and now I'm in a state of panic.

    At night, a generator will be run for approx 6-8 hours. I basically just need to figure a way to get the fridges to run off of the batteries for the remaining 16 hours out of the day. Is this possible?? What do I do?? PLEASE help!!

  • #2
    Need to know the power draw on those fridges, and battery size, to see how long you could go.
    What I would do is get a big cooler. Put daytime things in the cooler to avoid opening fridge. Don't use one of the fridges at all. If you try to run everything like you are plugged into shore power you'd need a pickup bed full of batteries.
    Are you sure the main fridge is not gas/electric?

    Comment


    • #3
      the large front load unit will require a battery so large and heavy as to affect the handling of your RV and will likely require more panels than you have roof space. The problem with front load refrigeration is, each time you open the door, you lose 40 to 60 of your thermal energy and the compressor must run a long time to recover. You are better running only the chest unit only, Or you can run your generator.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by rcrg24 View Post
        Ok I'm in a complete panic right now and need help!! With a 10 day huge DRY CAMPING trip planned in less than a week, I have an emergency. I bought a brand new 2017 Forest River Heritage Glen travel trailer. It has a residential fridge (full size) and a 3.2 cubic foot mini fridge in the outdoor kitchen. I need to figure out a way to make both fridges run off of solar power / power inverter / batteries. I am clueless when it comes to this stuff and am not understanding any of it after days of research. Here's what I know and have...

        Trailer has a 1000 watt power inverter
        Trailer has 2 - 12 volt batteries
        I have a 12 volt / 18 watt solar panel trickle charger for the batteries

        Is there any way to make this work with what I have? If not, what is the most cost effective way to get this to work in the next few days. I thought I had it figured out but I don't and now I'm in a state of panic.

        At night, a generator will be run for approx 6-8 hours. I basically just need to figure a way to get the fridges to run off of the batteries for the remaining 16 hours out of the day. Is this possible?? What do I do?? PLEASE help!!
        an 18 watt panel won't even float the 2 batteries you have in your trailer.

        Comment


        • #5
          Not going to happen with solar. Can barely possibly happen with 4, 6V, 200ah golf cart batteries, that you charge 2x a day from a generator.
          Wire 2 batteries in series, and another 2 batteries in series. Then the 2, 12v banks wire in parallel to make a 12V 400ah battery,
          That bank wants to be charged with 40A from a 12v charger. I suggest the 40A Turecharge2
          http://www.xantrex.com/power-product...harge-2-2.aspx
          and power that from a 2000w inverter generator (it's about a 900W load) like a honda eu2000. yamaha is a bit cheaper, don't know about it's lifetime though, I've seen those hondas go +10,000 hours with regular maint and oil changes.

          Don't even try to do it with solar on short notice. The gear I suggest will work, for less than 1 gal fuel per day, and no more than 3 hours total runtime. (90 min am, 90min pm)
          The inverter you have may not even be able to start the compressor on either fridge, 1200w pure sine is the right size to reliably start the fridge

          EDIT
          I see that you already have a generator, so leave the TrueCharge2 connected all the time while the generator is running, and leave the fridges on the inverter. But 2 batteries are not likely to get you through your 16 hour generator OFF time. Maybe paralleling a 3rd identical 12V battery with your other 2 would do it..... maybe not. 4 golf cart batt is a surefire way to do it,
          see the 3rd panel of the attached graphic
          See this link about connecting batteries on the diagonal
          http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html
          Series Parallel Batteries Trojan.jpg
          Last edited by Mike90250; 10-22-2016, 07:57 PM.
          Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
          || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
          || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

          solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
          gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister

          Comment


          • #6
            Big fridge is 6.5 amps, little one is 0.8 amps

            My generator is a HUGE gas hog so I was hoping there was a way to do this without having to run it as often. The big fridge is a regular residential and cannot be converted to propane. To be honest, I'm thinking of just looking into switching it out with one that can be run on propane. Thats what I've always had in past campers and it was SO much easier than trying to figure this out. We only dry camp a couple times a year (at nascar races) and I didn't think it'd be that big of a deal to run it off the batteries...boy was I wrong!! Now I'm in a pickle, as we are supposed to leave in less than a week!

            Comment


            • #7
              Buy a good sized (5000 / 7500 watt) portable generator. There's probably not enough space on the roof for enough solar panels or enough room for that large of a battery bank.
              ​Plug shorepower into the generator and fire it up. Easy peazy.
              Last edited by littleharbor; 10-22-2016, 07:58 PM.
              2.2kw Suntech mono, Classic 200, NEW Trace SW4024

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              • #8
                A big cooler and 10 bags of ice will run you about $100. Not elegant but it will get you by this time till you get a better plan for next year. Did the salesman talk you into the residential fridge? GRRRRRRRRR!

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                • #9
                  "Buy a good sized (5000 / 7500 watt) generator."
                  completely not necessary. I run my home fridge on a 1000 honda when the power goes out. It idles right down after compressor start.

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                  • #10
                    They've got a whole RV to power, not just a fridge.
                    2.2kw Suntech mono, Classic 200, NEW Trace SW4024

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      also curious why you purchased an electric only refrigerator in a 2017 travel trailer? Salesman?

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