Fleetwood Motorhome Association, Inc. - refrigerator power while traveling

08/04/2019 11:53 AM

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Message # 7811435

Anonymous

I have a 2017 35K Bounder. Refrigerator is only 120VAC what is best way to power while driving, looking for suggestions

08/05/2019 9:34 PM

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Reply # 7813537 on 7811435

Bill & Laura Johnson (Administrator)

I am making the assumption that you have a residential refrigerator. Based on that, several things come into play. Your inverter, if the batteries are charged and in good condition, should keep things good for a reasonable trip (4-6 hours). To always play it safe you can set the generator to Auto Gen Start (AGS) and if it detects the batteries falling to low, it will automatically start and provide the necessary voltage to both run the refrigerator and peak the batteries, as well as run the house AC units if it gets too hot.

One of the things that often gets missed is the residential units are better insulated than the typical RV units and therefore maintain their cold and actually use less power than their counterparts. That said you want to minimize opening the fridge when only running on inverter.

08/13/2019 4:49 PM

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Reply # 7826568 on 7811435

Deleted user

I agree with above use of the inverter.....I have found when driving, the engine supplies the power to keep the house batteries charged. The only time my house batteries loose charge, is when they are powering the fridge but there is no charge power coming to them from the engine, generator, or shore power..

additional comment: when you use the inverter, it is taking power from you 6v or 12v battery system...make sure those batteries a well watered, or they will not hold a charge...if they are hard to get to purchase a battery romote watering system....then you can check them in 60 seconds....true story

when I am driving my motorhome, the fridge runs on engine power, not the batteries.....the only time the fridge is running only on the batteries is when the coach is not plugged in, the gen is not running, and the engine is not running.

Last modified: 09/29/2019 7:25 PM | Deleted user

08/14/2019 9:38 AM

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Reply # 7827611 on 7811435

Deleted user

I also made a 5 hour trip with the inverter on. It barely made a dent in the battery voltage. Just make sure to turn off the inverter using the switch above the door after using it. If it's in storage there's the big red switch by the inverter that needs to be turned off as well.