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Old 03-27-2023, 03:36 AM   #1
Wood Family
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Haier Refrigerator

We are planning our first trip for the season and plan on staying overnight at a Love’s gas station and continuing on in the morning. We have a 2022 Raptor 352 with 1 battery. Will the battery run the refrigerator overnight or is 1 battery not enough? We do not want to run the generator. We have a residential fridge. Thanks
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Old 03-27-2023, 04:21 AM   #2
chuckster57
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If it’s the usual GP 24 multi purpose battery the dealer installed, my thoughts are no you don’t have enough. Are you sure it’s a “residential” (120VAC) fridge or a residential “style” fridge and is 12VDC.
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Old 03-27-2023, 05:02 AM   #3
dutchmensport
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You will probably be OK for an overnight. We've been "dry" camping a few times where we were not hooked up to electricity. We have 2 batteries and a residential refrigerator with an inverter to power it when not plugged into shore power.

The longest we went with no power was 3 night (4 days) and I was able to keep things frozen in the refrigerator freezer that whole time.

Long story short, we experienced a break down and the trailer was parked in a back parking area behind a motel with no conceivable way to get electricity. We did not have a generator then either. We stayed in a motel room during this time.

How did we survive with the refrigerator?

First off, the refrigerator will keep cold and things will stay frozen for hours if the doors are not opened. So, once we got the trailer situated, that was rule #1. We opened the door to pull a few items out and put them in the motel room refrigerator.

The next thing was to ensure the refrigerator was turned off and inverter was turned off so it would not run the battery. Even if the refrigerator is not running, the inverter is and that by itself, will drain the battery.

Every 6 hours I went out to the trailer and turned on the inverter which turned on the refrigerator and let it run for 30 minutes. Then everything was turned off again. Again, opening the doors ONLY when absolutely necessary.

We made it the 4 days and still had ice in the ice maker tray and our meats were still frozen. We also had ice cream and, although it was a bit softer, it was still frozen enough it did not turn back into soup.

We also were able to maintain enough charge in the battery to run the electric jacks. This was vital as we had to get a tow truck to take the trailer to a camp ground for us while the truck was in the shop.

So, my suggestions are 2 fold.

First, if you turn the refrigerator completely off for an over night (like unplug it off), it will stay cold till morning provided the door is not standing open for minutes at a time.

Second, you can test the longevity of your battery charge if you are able to use your camper at home. Simply unplug the trailer from shore power and leave the refrigerator running. Check the available voltage level (most inverters have the capability to display this). Check it about every hour and track the battery drain this way.

When the battery gets to about 45-47% discharged, that's about as low as you want to go. Plug the trailer back in so the converter will charge again and your refrigerator (inverter) will flip back over to shore power.

This way, you'll know exactly how many hours you have on your battery running the inverter, running the refrigerator. Then, you can turning it on and off every few hours to extend the time when you need to in the future.

Another test you can do at home is to freeze a cup of ice in the freezer section. Once frozen, turn off the refrigerator completely, leave the doors closed. Check on that cup of ice after about 4 hours and see if it's starting to melt. Check at 6 hours, then at 8 and so on. Once it starts to turn back to water, you'll know how long the freezer will keep thing frozen with no power. But this will be somewhat variable depending on the temperature inside the camper. The hotter it is, the faster the freezer will thaw out. But, at least, this will give a starting point base like to make some judgement calls when you find yourself without shore power.
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Old 03-27-2023, 05:14 AM   #4
dutchmensport
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Scrub this post. Delete. You stated you do have a residential refrigerator.

Normally RV with residential refrigerators come with 2 batteries, .... thus the slight confusion for us.
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Old 03-27-2023, 05:28 AM   #5
Wood Family
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This is very helpful. Thank you.
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Old 03-27-2023, 06:19 AM   #6
sourdough
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First, I am surprised it came with only one battery since you are trying to power a residential fridge along with the rest of the RV.

Personally I don't go anywhere without 2 batteries. I've always done that (except back in my pop up/first trailer experiences) because of situations I encountered along the way. I don't ever plan to dry camp on trips but you never know what might happen.

If you have either a 12vdc or res fridge I think you will be pushing your luck at the very best; dead battery at the worst. If you have a gas/electric fridge run them on gas. I only run group 24s since I never plan to put them to use. You don't say what yours are but if it came from the dealer that way it's probably a 24. I would just get another battery (2 if you've used the existing one much) a box for 2 batteries and wire them in. It's simple, quick and protects you from a "dang, I should have" situation.
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