Residential Fridge in Transit

[Elrodz4]

I have a Montana 3855br with residential fridge.
We are taking it out for the first time since purchase (we have a season site) drive is about 4.5 hours.
I know we have an inverter.
Can someone share steps to insure the fridge maintains power during trip?

[chuckster57]

welcome to the forum

JUst make sure the truck is charging the battery, the cut off switch is allowing voltage to the trailer and the inverter is turned on.

[notanlines]

When you are all hitched and about to put truck in gear, open the truck door, walk to the RV door and open it. Open one of your fridge doors and see if the light comes on. If it does then you’re golden. If not, as Chuckster said, turn on the inverter.

[vincewhite]

Originally Posted by Elrodz4

I have a Montana 3855br with residential fridge.
We are taking it out for the first time since purchase (we have a season site) drive is about 4.5 hours.
I know we have an inverter.
Can someone share steps to insure the fridge maintains power during trip?

I have the same setup and have installed a large Lithium Ion (400 amp hours) battery bank to keep my fridge running on the road and while boondocking. The vehicle will not provide enough juice to run the fridge through the seven way connector.

Also, watch out for the bracket securing the fridge...mine broke on the first trip allowing the fridge to wobble and potentially fall over. I have since engineered a system to secure the fridge and will be testing it on a long trip this month.

[notanlines]

Vince, might I ask what TV and RV you have. Very strange that any heavy duty pickup (3/4 ton and up) wouldn't tote the load electrically. I suspect (or hope!) that OP has plenty of horses to tow that Montana. His truck will handle that fridge just fine.

[sourdough]

As has been pointed out just make sure you have power to the fridge. Truck helps the batteries, the batteries power the inverter and it powers the fridge in transit. Make sure it is working prior to departure (disconnect, inverter, breakers set properl). Opening the door as Jim mentioned is an excellent way to double check. You can make that a part of your departure ritual if you choose to.

[SandyBurg]

We're on our third camper. First with a res fridge. We've only taken it on one short trip and it's sitting for the summer in a perm. campground. My problem is that once we pull the slides in, before hitching up and pulling power; we can no longer access the fridge. The slides prevent us from getting into the living area. One aspect we didn't recognize before we purchased it. We still love our new camper!!

[chuckster57]

You can disconnect from shore power before retracting the slide.