2 way fridge operation
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HornedToad
Well-known member
Re: 2way fridge operation
A two way fridge on auto will run on shore power / generator and switch to propane when unplugged. In my old truck camper I had a three way fridge that you could switch to 12V but it would drain a battery quick. There are some post on the form about rigging up an inverter / batteries to run a residential refrigerator but I wouldn't consider it with a two way fridge because they operate very efficiently on propane. In the summer I run my fridge & water heater on propane, even when I'm running the generator, so I have plenty of power to run 2 ACs
A two way fridge on auto will run on shore power / generator and switch to propane when unplugged. In my old truck camper I had a three way fridge that you could switch to 12V but it would drain a battery quick. There are some post on the form about rigging up an inverter / batteries to run a residential refrigerator but I wouldn't consider it with a two way fridge because they operate very efficiently on propane. In the summer I run my fridge & water heater on propane, even when I'm running the generator, so I have plenty of power to run 2 ACs
scottyb
Well-known member
Re: 2way fridge operation
I assume you are referring to a residential fridge since you mentioned an invertor? My understanding is the inerter has an internal transfer switch that passes the 110 from shore/gen when available and switches to battery when no 110 power is present.
If not and you are referring to a 110V / LPG fridge, what Horned Toad said. They will run a long time on a bottle of propane.
I assume you are referring to a residential fridge since you mentioned an invertor? My understanding is the inerter has an internal transfer switch that passes the 110 from shore/gen when available and switches to battery when no 110 power is present.
If not and you are referring to a 110V / LPG fridge, what Horned Toad said. They will run a long time on a bottle of propane.
Re: 2way fridge operation
Thanks for the feedback. We are ordering the standard 2way fridge, what I'm trying to determine is if the fridge is left on the power side, not auto or gas, will the fridge run on power and then the gen set fire up when it has drawn down the battery. I know the gen set is definitely going to use more propane. This is more of a technical understanding than an operational question. Never had a gen set built in before.
Thanks for the feedback. We are ordering the standard 2way fridge, what I'm trying to determine is if the fridge is left on the power side, not auto or gas, will the fridge run on power and then the gen set fire up when it has drawn down the battery. I know the gen set is definitely going to use more propane. This is more of a technical understanding than an operational question. Never had a gen set built in before.
jimtoo
Moderator
Re: 2way fridge operation
If you are refering to power as 120v, you must be plugged into shore power or the generator must run all the time to generate the 120v needed if you leave it on the power side, and it still uses and must have 12v from the battery(not much, but some). If you run the fridge on gas (propane) the 12v is still being used just as it was when plugged into 120v, but the element in the cooling unit is running on propane now. It's crazy, but you use heat in the cooling unit to generate cold in the fridge.
Also, the generator will not automatically start to recharge the battery,,, or at least I have never heard of one that will do an automatic start because the battery is getting low. Most folks run the generator a couple of hours in the morning to recharge the battery or batteries if your boondocking.
If you are refering to power as 120v, you must be plugged into shore power or the generator must run all the time to generate the 120v needed if you leave it on the power side, and it still uses and must have 12v from the battery(not much, but some). If you run the fridge on gas (propane) the 12v is still being used just as it was when plugged into 120v, but the element in the cooling unit is running on propane now. It's crazy, but you use heat in the cooling unit to generate cold in the fridge.
Also, the generator will not automatically start to recharge the battery,,, or at least I have never heard of one that will do an automatic start because the battery is getting low. Most folks run the generator a couple of hours in the morning to recharge the battery or batteries if your boondocking.
wdk450
Well-known member
Re: 2way fridge operation
Standard inverters just convert 12 volt DC to 110 volt A.C. using approximately 10 times the 12 volt amps as the drawn AC amps. A 10 amp toaster can pull 100 DC amps. Internal AC power switching and DC battery charging are features found on higher cost inverters. Also beware that many AC devices do not work well with the square or stairstep waveforms produced by the cheapest inverters. Pure Sine Wave inverters put out a waveform that mirrors shore power, but are more expensive and less efficient (lose more power input in the conversion process) than the square waveform inverters.
A stand alone 50 amp RV AC power transfer switch can cost several hundred dollars, so I would expect this to be added to the price of any inverter that has that feature.
If you wire an inverter into your main AC power system (using a transfer switch) you must turn off your battery charger/converter AC breaker when using inverter power to avoid essentially trying to charge your batteries WITH your batteries and running the batteries down quickly due to conversion losses.
Standard inverters just convert 12 volt DC to 110 volt A.C. using approximately 10 times the 12 volt amps as the drawn AC amps. A 10 amp toaster can pull 100 DC amps. Internal AC power switching and DC battery charging are features found on higher cost inverters. Also beware that many AC devices do not work well with the square or stairstep waveforms produced by the cheapest inverters. Pure Sine Wave inverters put out a waveform that mirrors shore power, but are more expensive and less efficient (lose more power input in the conversion process) than the square waveform inverters.
A stand alone 50 amp RV AC power transfer switch can cost several hundred dollars, so I would expect this to be added to the price of any inverter that has that feature.
If you wire an inverter into your main AC power system (using a transfer switch) you must turn off your battery charger/converter AC breaker when using inverter power to avoid essentially trying to charge your batteries WITH your batteries and running the batteries down quickly due to conversion losses.
HornedToad
Well-known member
"SOB, with upgrade coming"
In following this thread I just had my blonde moment for the day... (sorry ladies) I always thought SOB was a Heartland brand like a Silverado or Sundance model, it's gotta mean Some Other Brand??? cuz I'm sure it's not the other SOB. I wish my girls were still at home to help me with this text talk!!!
In following this thread I just had my blonde moment for the day... (sorry ladies) I always thought SOB was a Heartland brand like a Silverado or Sundance model, it's gotta mean Some Other Brand??? cuz I'm sure it's not the other SOB. I wish my girls were still at home to help me with this text talk!!!
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