Traveling 3+ hours - Fridge on propane?

[Guest]

We travel with the propane on and will chill the fridge for 24hrs before departure. We have a 12V cooler (similar to the link below) that was gifted to us. It plugs into the charge jack in the truck. Did test it on the boat and it works great to keep items from spoiling.

https://www.amazon.com/Igloo-Iceless...ESR18B72X846P8

Jim

[TNFSolitude]

We too had one of these and it worked fine. Discontinued after one long trip though because I didn't like the constant hummmmmmm from the back seat.

[Guest]

We too had one of these and it worked fine. Discontinued after one long trip though because I didn't like the constant hummmmmmm from the back seat.

Understand. One could install a charge jack in the camper and run it but the cooler would operate better while in the air conditioned cab of the truck. They are also bulky so folks would need a place to store it out of the way while camping. This was the issue I had in using on the boat. The new butane refrigerators whether large or small are very efficient with respect to current draw.

Jim

[mpking]

Understand. One could install a charge jack in the camper and run it but the cooler would operate better while in the air conditioned cab of the truck. They are also bulky so folks would need a place to store it out of the way while camping. This was the issue I had in using on the boat. The new butane refrigerators whether large or small are very efficient with respect to current draw.

Jim

I used a compressor based cooler in my PopUp Camper, similar to this model:
https://shop.dometic.com/store/domet...tID.5363870400
Energy Consumption 12VDC (Ambient@90F, Internal@39F): 1.03 Ah/h

The model I had (the older CFX65) was only .94Ah/h

[TucsonJim]

Energy Consumption 12VDC (Ambient@90F, Internal@39F): 1.03 Ah/h

Interesting that their rated current is 8.2 Amps. It must be very efficient to only cycle 1/8th of the time at 90°F and achieve 1.03 amp hours. (I won't question Dometic on why they used Ah/h.. Kind of like Miles per gallon per gallon..).

Jim

[Guest]

Interesting that their rated current is 8.2 Amps. It must be very efficient to only cycle 1/8th of the time at 90°F and achieve 1.03 amp hours. (I won't question Dometic on why they used Ah/h.. Kind of like Miles per gallon per gallon..).

Jim

Jim,

It must be their way of calculating the total amperage used in one hour based on cycling. Would they do this at standard conditions and normalized? Ambient temp would make a difference.

Jim

[mpking]

Interesting that their rated current is 8.2 Amps. It must be very efficient to only cycle 1/8th of the time at 90°F and achieve 1.03 amp hours. (I won't question Dometic on why they used Ah/h.. Kind of like Miles per gallon per gallon..).

Jim

It was very efficient. I've run a whole weekend on group 24 battery (plus water pump) with it with my Popup camper.. (Accidently, as I didn't realize the power post breaker was popped, and I only discovered on Sunday when I went to disconnect my plug. I did alot of dry camping with the Popup, so it was my first experience with a power post)

I found the Ah/h useful doing my power calculation budget, because it DIDN'T draw 8.2 amps, 24x7, and I was very concerned with the 24 hour view.

Think of it as you get 12MPG (Average) for your truck when towing, but the instantaneous is between 1 MPG and 40 MPG depending going up a hill, or down it. I looked at the Ah/h was a measure averaged over time.

[mpking]

Jim,

It must be their way of calculating the total amperage used in one hour based on cycling. Would they do this at standard conditions and normalized? Ambient temp would make a difference.

Jim

Yes... That was the (Ambient@90F, Internal@39F) part.. Outside temp is 90F, cooler is set to 39F.

FYI, Dometic isn't the only game in town, I just managed to score a good deal on them. Engel and ARB other names. These things aren't cheap however. Like $500.

I used it to replace the 2 CF fridge in my 20 year old Popup, since it would cost $800 to replace the 3 way fridge. The 3 ways on Popup's are notoriously unreliable, since they only have a "chimney" effect of like 18". It's not enough to get a good draft going. (Heck, even our Giant Travel Trailers have powered fans)

[mpking]

Since you guys are so interested, here's my photos:

Cooler on Friday night with food for the weekend






Camper at the beach. You can see the cooler (with the relectix case) plugged into the 12V Power outlet I installed for it. (I used the 100Watt solar suitcase on the roof to keep the battery charged indefinetly. Solar was NOT a problem at the beach.)

[Guest]

Very cool.

JIm

[Schiefswret]

We plan on traveling 3+ hours to camp early December. This will be our longest trip so far. Our previous short trips, we would get the fridge cold a few days before and then travel to the camp. It stayed pretty cold but this will be a longer trip. We tried to run it on propane and it always beeped so I gave up and just turned it off. The fridge stayed cold so no issues. But a 3 hour trip, either the fridge will stay cold or I need to figure out the beeping when I have the fridge on auto. What do others do on extended trips?

I leave mine on “Auto” 24/7. When I disconnect shore power it automatically changes over to LP and doesn’t miss a beat. If we are on the road 2 hours or 6 hours it works like a champ. Upon arrival at next campsite, I plug in shore power and it automatically switches back to AC. I just monitor the indicator lights and the temp gauges to ensure everything is working properly. On a few rare occasions I had the continual beep sound also and turned the fridge off for a minute and back on again and that did the trick.

[BillinTexas]

We plan on traveling 3+ hours to camp early December. This will be our longest trip so far. Our previous short trips, we would get the fridge cold a few days before and then travel to the camp. It stayed pretty cold but this will be a longer trip. We tried to run it on propane and it always beeped so I gave up and just turned it off. The fridge stayed cold so no issues. But a 3 hour trip, either the fridge will stay cold or I need to figure out the beeping when I have the fridge on auto. What do others do on extended trips?

John, I see your unit is a 2021 year model. Ours is as well. When we took delivery the board that controls the switch from propane to electric wasn't working. Electric worked but not propane. I was told there were a bunch of bad boards and my dealer immediately ordered the replacement board. It has since been changed out and works perfectly. Not saying this is your issue but you never know. My thread link below.

https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...-run-on-lp-gas

[JHC]

Thanks Bill. I will check into this and call my dealer.

[Schiefswret]

John, I see your unit is a 2021 year model. Ours is as well. When we took delivery the board that controls the switch from propane to electric wasn't working. Electric worked but not propane. I was told there were a bunch of bad boards and my dealer immediately ordered the replacement board. It has since been changed out and works perfectly. Not saying this is your issue but you never know. My thread link below.

https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...-run-on-lp-gas

Thanks Bill, I was thinking the board also but wasn’t sure enough to comment. Travel safe.

[Running from Gnats]

If you want to travel with the propane powering the refrigerator running, you need to look into this: GASSTOP @ https://gasstopusa.com. It goes onto the propane tank, then hook up the gas line. If there is a leak, it cuts off the propane. You do need one for each tank you want to use, but it has prevented gas leaks (leaking connections and accidents). Then you only shut down the tank(s) when fueling or traveling through tunnels.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qanB...ature=emb_logo