Help. 12V Refrigerator loudly short cycling every 30 seconds

[mmnzs]

We are on our first trip with our brand new 2400BH. We left the house with a full battery. Two hour drive on a sunny day. Parked at shady site and within an hour noticed battery was quickly draining. Within two hours we were at 10.8V and now with everyone trying to sleep the 12V fridge is now loudly cycling every 30 seconds. It’s set to the bottom end of Off Grid setting. All we had on were lights and water pump. Anyone have any ideas? TIA

[mmnzs]

The more I think about this the refrigerator cycling is more likely a function of the low battery. So why would a battery die in 3 hours time? I was worried about this very problem and the salesman said he had never had an issue. I even added a second solar panel but that does no good at night. Before we talk about adding a second battery why would this one drain so quickly? What am I missing?

[Jlawles2]

Have that battery checked. It's possible it has been damaged or is just bad out of the factory. Also look for signs of power draw, and check your 7 way to see if it has power from the TV. I tend to leave the power chord hooked up for as long as possible when hooking up. Running slides in and all of the leveling jacks is quite a draw on the battery.

[acoleman43]

We had 2 batteries and between kids on computers, charging phones, lights and the fridge, the batteries died after about 4 hours. Granted the fridge was on the highest setting drawing about 8 amps.

[mmnzs]

Thanks for the responses. Can’t say I’m a big fan of the 12V fridge. We will be adding a second battery but it’s forcing me to use the generator which I don’t love. Hopefully we will be able to keep it running this weekend till we can add a battery.

[ncitro]

mmnzs I agree that sounds like the battery. They are provided by the dealer not Grand Design,so you're subject to whatever they have you. As suggested yours may be defective or undersized. Careful with adding a second if your current is questionable. You might do better to scrap the one you have and buy two matches batteries of a larger size. Even better would be to consider a lithium battery such as Lion Energy, Battleborn or others. More capacity per pound, and many more cycles in their life, for a greater cost.

[mmnzs]

Thanks again everyone.
Just want to close out this thread for anyone having the same issue.
The problem was as people pointed out that the battery supplied by the dealer is very very undersized. It was a 100Ah AGM battery and even with the fridge on "Off Grid" it would drain the battery in 5 hours. I would charge it up with the generator during the day but as soon as the sun went down with no solar and no generator it would die. That would cause the fridge compressor to cycle every 90 seconds looking to reduce the temperature. I read that this 10cuft Fuzzion fridge was supposed to have an automatic shut off to protect the battery but I didn't experience it.
So I am forced to upgrade batteries on Day 1 of ownership. Rather than doubling or even tripling the AGM battery bank I decided to bite the bullet and go LiFePO4.
I really question the decision to go with just a 12V DC fridge vs Propane/Electric.