12v fridge operation settings

[Dv602]

New to the forums and new to grand design trailer. this is my 3 rd trailer though.

Picked up a new 2022 295rl with the new solar and 12 volt setup on the 19th. took it out to lake pleasant with power and water. When i did the walk with the dealer, i was told to disconnect the battery switch when i hooked up to shore power.(seemed strange to me but this is the first trailer with solar and a 12v fridge) I did a pre-cool in the street had good temps. drove out to the lake set up, turned of disconnect switch, day 2-3 the fridge was no longer cooling well. threw out all meat and dairy products. Was turning off the disconnect switch my problem?

Reason for using the switch whit shore power, I was told the battery would over charge with shore power and solar. neither of my other trailers had a disconnect switch

[Country Campers]

The 12 v dc fridge should be wired directly to the battery , or at least to the self resetting breakers in the front storage, it should not be wired thru the battery disconnect. With that said do you know if there is a switch to turn on/off the solar charger?

Brian

[Dv602]

The 12 v dc fridge should be wired directly to the battery , or at least to the self resetting breakers in the front storage, it should not be wired thru the battery disconnect. With that said do you know if there is a switch to turn on/off the solar charger?

Brian

didn't check for a switch for the solar , but if the disconnect is thrown does the battery charge? it has the mppt controller

[KSC_Travels]

Reason for using the switch whit shore power, I was told the battery would over charge with shore power and solar. neither of my other trailers had a disconnect switch

I find this to be very odd advice and IMO a bit suspect. Couple of reasons...

First - with the disconnect off, I don't think the converter will be charging your battery - you would be relying only on solar (assuming that the solar charge controller is wired directly to batteries bypassing the disconnect). Might explain why fridge stopped cooling - possibly low battery voltage?

Second - with the proper settings in the solar charge controller (battery type, charge current for bulk & float & equalize (if appropriate)), it should not overcharge your battery - even with the converter on. That's kinda' what the charge controller is for...

[Dv602]

I find this to be very odd advice and IMO a bit suspect. Couple of reasons...

First - with the disconnect off, I don't think the converter will be charging your battery - you would be relying only on solar (assuming that the solar charge controller is wired directly to batteries bypassing the disconnect). Might explain why fridge stopped cooling - possibly low battery voltage?

Second - with the proper settings in the solar charge controller (battery type, charge current for bulk & float & equalize (if appropriate)), it should not overcharge your battery - even with the converter on. That's kinda' what the charge controller is for...

I found it strange advice as well. The guy doing my PDI hasn't received proper training with the new FW rolling off from GD (said he was waiting for his trip to GD to learn all the new changes that have come out) But i figured he still new what he was talking about. I had to tell him how the new installed rear camera worked :(

[Cate&Rob]

When i did the walk with the dealer, i was told to disconnect the battery switch when i hooked up to shore power.

The theories invented by some dealer personnel never cease to amaze me. There is absolutely no reason to turn off the main disconnect when connected to shore power. Amongst other things, this will prevent the converter from charging the battery.

The "main disconnect" is something required by the RV organization RVIA. It may have been a full disconnect at one time in history to prevent discharging the battery while the RV is in storage, but more recently many electrical devices are required to bypass a disconnect switch, such as the propane detector, the landing gear, and now the 12V fridge. It no longer protects the battery from discharge because it only disconnects some of the circuits in the RV. Best to leave this switch on at all times and disconnect a battery terminal (or install a proper full disconnect switch) when storing the trailer for an extended period without shore power.

Rob

[TucsonJim]

I've been using a 12V DC compressor refrigerator for nearly two years now. And I have solar charging capability.

Here is how I successfully camp without shore power:
1. 12V Disconnect switch turned "On".
2. Solar charging turned "On".
3. Inverter turned "On" when needed. This provides 120VAC power via the batteries.

When camping with shore power:
1. 12V Disconnect switch turned "On".
2. Solar Charging turned "On".
3. Converter turned "On".
4. Inverter turned "Off".

In five years, I think I've turned off the battery disconnect twice. And that was while I was working on some electrical circuits.

Jim

[Gleourdais]

Hi there leave the 12V always on, I have almost the same a 2021 295RL , the only issue I had is the dealer installed a 24 batterie so obviously I was able to last a maximum of 18hours while boondocking . I fixed that issue with 4 X 6v AGM batteries. Just remember the charger in the RV is intelligent if it needs to charge it will . Here is in interesting fact for you while having batterie issues on mine I did install an amp meter on the batterie and after a few days it reads almost 0 no draining and very light charge ( 0.15amp). If I use the leveling system then the slide outs the meter did peak at almost 100 amps for a very short time then went back down but this time to 15 amps charging, after a few days it went back to 0.1 amps charging.

You need 12volts if you boondocking for the refrigerator can work with propane but also requires 12volt.

My experience with dealers is quite interesting , DONT THRUST THEM , they have NO CLUE what they are doing at least for the one we have up here.

Thanks and have a great day and hope you are still using your unit I had to winterize :(

[Paul & Deb]

Interesting thread as I just picked up our new 2022 22MLE with the 12v fridge and solar. We've only camped in it for a few nights so I have no real comments about the fridge or power usage but my big take away here is that, since this is an actual Grand Design supported forum, one of the moderators really needs to reach out to GD and have them contact this dealer immediately and correct them on this issue! They are building a legion of ****** off owners. Another rumor I have heard of FB is that there is no way to shut this fridge off but in fact the "dial" to control temperature does have an "off" setting. The confusion is that the light will come on when the door is opened even if the fridge is off. It only stays on for a few seconds but people think they can't shut it off and from there they believe it will drain the battery. This rumor also probably started with some walk through at a dealership.

[Dv602]

Thanks for all the feed back. Next time out i will not touch the battery disconnect, and hope the fridge stays cold the whole trip. I was thinking it may have been the fridge. but now that i think about it i had low battery errors when lifting the FW for the hookup to the truck. and the slides were very slow to come in. So is it safe to say that the awnings, slides, and levelers all pull from the battery? even while connected to shore power?

[TucsonJim]

Thanks for all the feed back. Next time out i will not touch the battery disconnect, and hope the fridge stays cold the whole trip. I was thinking it may have been the fridge. but now that i think about it i had low battery errors when lifting the FW for the hookup to the truck. and the slides were very slow to come in. So is it safe to say that the awnings, slides, and levelers all pull from the battery? even while connected to shore power?

It "may" be safe to say that. But I've seen different wiring configurations on different GDRV units over the years. On some of them, when the battery disconnect is off, the converter will not provide stand alone 12V power. Yet on others, it will.

Jim

[Country Campers]

It is also safe to say if the battery was low in charge it will pull amps from the charger/converter to charge, if using the slides and levelers at the same time there will not be enough amps from the battery , charger/converter to do the job the same as when the battery is fully charged. Even though one is camping with shore power the battery still needs to be in top shape for everything to work as needed.

Brian

[JBill9694]

Dv602 , have you checked your batteries to make sure they were not damaged by being drained down so far?

[Dv602]

Dv602 , have you checked your batteries to make sure they were not damaged by being drained down so far?

I have not, but once i figure out the whole solar thing ill replace batts anyway

[Jlawles2]

Dv602 My guess is when you disconnected the battery it stopped charging as others have stated. Once the battery reached the voltage threshold for the fridge to turn off, it stopped cooling.