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Old 07-26-2013, 07:41 PM   #1
gcook
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Power hungry refrigerator

Hi, I just bought a new Alpine 5th wheel. It has the large double door refer with a fan inside.
Does anyone know if lt's normal for this thing to completely drain the battery in 12 hours?
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Old 07-26-2013, 07:51 PM   #2
JRTJH
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If you're running a standard deep cycle group 24 12 VDC battery, yes, your RV systems can easily drain the battery to 10.6VDC or below in 12 hours. You must remember that in addition to running your water pump, lights and hot water ignition circuit, not only the reefer that's operating, but the CO detector, the Propane detector, the stereo memory circuits plus what ever "ambient" drains are present on your system. Most of the side by side reefers have two fans in the back to aid circulation plus two separate cooling units with their separate electronic monitoring systems. You also have the normal operation energy demands. Also, if you check, you'll probably find that there is a "high humidity" switch located on the eyebrow control panel. That switch turns on a heater circuit in the door panels to keep condensation from forming. It's a convenience item, not needed, but draws a tremendous amount of battery power. It's a great convenience when on shore power, but is a battery killer when boondocking.
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Old 07-26-2013, 07:53 PM   #3
Ken / Claudia
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Yes, I guess you mean you ran it on 12 volts. My test was done on a artic fox about 9 years ago. Even when traveling and getting a charge from the truck the 2 batteries were dead on day 2. My test, when parked over night, I went to propane only traveled on the 12 volts. The Couger only runs on 110 or propane.
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Old 07-26-2013, 08:13 PM   #4
gcook
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Reading the manual!

Thanks for the quick replies.
Maybe I need to pull out the manual...can this refer operate on 12 volts?
I thought I had it on propane but maybe not.
We had been dry camping for a week without any problems...I would run the generator long enough to fully charge the battery each day and it got us through the night w/o problem but never drained the battery.
Any thoughts?
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Old 07-26-2013, 08:21 PM   #5
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There isnt a side by side reefer that will operate on 12VDC (to cool) but they all need 12VDC to manage the electronics. They are only propane or 120VAC shore power. There are some smaller reefers (under 4cuft) that have a 12VDC heating circuit, but nothing larger)

I would think that something in your RV is using excessive power if you've been able to camp for several nights with generator recharging during the day. You may have a problem with the converter charging the battery that just developed or you may have started using some power demand that you weren't using before. It is also possible that you blew a fuse in the converter or that your battery is low on water or even has a bad cell in it.

Most people who "boondock" have at least 2 batteries. Most have converted to 6 VDC batteries to increase their available energy supply. A single 12 volt battery is not a good, reliable source of power when boondocking.
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