Current fridge options

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

I have a brand new 2016 Hawk with a 3-way (standard equipment) fridge. The truck is a 2016 F-150. Here is my disappointing experience: If I switch to 12V while going down the road, the on-board (single) camper battery will discharge roughly 50% per day of travel. When I switch to propane that night after travel and then switch back to 12V for a second day of travel (i.e. two days of no shore power), the on-board battery will totally deplete to zero. Yes, I can hear the relay clicking ON when the truck is started and I can see charging voltage applied to the on-board camper battery. Yes, I always start the trip by running the fridge on 110V shore power the night before to cool the fridge down. The FWC dealer is suggesting that the fridge consumes more power than the output of the truck charging circuit. If this is true, what good is it to have a 12V option on the fridge? I think there is more going on than I understand.

My workaround is to use propane while going down the highway which seems to work well.

Has anyone had a similar experience with their 3-way?

I also have a 3 way in my Bobcat. While on 12v down the highway I notice a battery drain also.
I have been just using to propane all the time and that works better.

The "pilot" light size flame to run the fridge uses very little propane.
On our Alaskan trip I got at least 21 days from the propane before it needed to be refilled. That's fridge (24/7),stove ,and heater when needed. I have stopped using the 12v it's a waste of time.

But I also have a Truckfridge.compressor cooler and it will run @35* for almost 5 days without and charge going to the 100a battery.
On the long 5 night ferry trip the cooler with the voltage cut off set to the high setting ran for a few hours short of the full 5 day
trip.
Frank

 

[NRVhawk]

I have a brand new 2016 Hawk with a 3-way (standard equipment) fridge. The truck is a 2016 F-150. Here is my disappointing experience: If I switch to 12V while going down the road, the on-board (single) camper battery will discharge roughly 50% per day of travel....


Has anyone had a similar experience with their 3-way?

I have similar behavior in my 2016 Hawk with the standard 3-way fridge. Truck is a 2015 F150. On my first trip with the camper, I started with a fully charged battery, and after 4 hours of driving with the fridge on 12V, I was down to only 2 LEDs on the battery indicator panel in the camper.

I installed a Trimetric monitor to get a better idea of what's going on with the charging system. According to the Trimetric, the fridge draws 9.6 to 11.1 A when on 12V in my camper.

With the camper battery drawn down to about 75% capacity (12.3V), when I start the truck, the Trimetric shows that truck began charging the camper battery at 17 A, and then quickly fell to about 12 A. After driving the truck for fifteen minutes, the charging current shown by the Trimetric fell to about 0.8 A, presumably because the battery was getting closer to full charge. (All of this was done with the fridge off).

Still not sure why the fridge draws down the battery if the alternator is capable of sourcing 17 A to the camper battery when it's low. It might have something to do with the IOTA converter/charger, but I need to spend more time to figure it out. I plan to rewire the truck with 6 AWG soon and see how that works.

 

[Bill D]

Why are people so concerned about using propane? I fill 10lb bottles for $3 at Costco and they last about 1-2 weeks if I'm just running the fridge. That's a heck of a lot cheaper then buying a second battery, extra solar panel etc.

I can see if you are boon docking for more than 2 weeks and you need the other 10lb bottle for the furnace.

 

[oldebondo]

I have similar behavior in my 2016 Hawk with the standard 3-way fridge. Truck is a 2015 F150 . . .

Great to hear that this is a problem not specific to me only.

I searched for related problems that might be happening to others with 2015 or 2016 Ford F-150s and found similar reports of the same phenomenon. However, their problems were specific to charging a tow-behind camper battery thru the trailer connector. I understand there is a relay included in the new truck glovebox that enables charging via the trailer connector. This add'l hardware requires implementation by the owner (and apparently not all dealerships were knowledgeable on the specifics). I would like to know where FWC is tapping into the 12V on a new F-150. Anyone know?

I also tried to research the output of our alternators on our (newest) vintage of F-150s. One design feature I found regarding the Ford GL-8773 Alternator was this: "Failure mode effect (FME) management diagnostics". I'm wondering if the "smartness" of these alternators is responsible for throttling the charging current?

I don't mind running on propane. What I do mind is not knowing what is really going on.

 

[MuleHawk]

We have constant issues with our dometic 80L. It is a power hog and even with 220w we have issues with it.


www.mulehawk.com

 

[NRVhawk]

.... I would like to know where FWC is tapping into the 12V on a new F-150. Anyone know?

On my 2015 F-150, the FWC dealer connected the 10 AWG wiring direct to the truck battery terminals (with a fuse on the hot wire).

You probably also ran a web search on the alternator FME diagnostics - when I did, I only found a few pages of marketing info that said that it was great that the alternator had that capability, but no explanation of what it really does. From the name, you'd think that it would only be used for diagnostics and not control, but without more info, it's hard to know for sure. With all the control systems in this truck, it seems possible and even likely that there is some kind of digital control over the charging system.

I've also had good results running the fridge on propane while driving. The screen around the burner does a good job of blocking wind, and I've never had the flame blow out. What I don't like is driving into a gas station and forgetting that I have the propane on. So if I can run on 12V and not drain the battery, that's what I'd prefer.

 

[buckland]

I have the Engel 27. It is great... it freezes or keeps frozen whats needed and at a low electric draw. I am a light sleeper and when it turns on in the night I do wake...not while it's running ... Overall really like it. That said... wife would like more space. The Isoderm Cruise 65 looks good. Anyone have this? Is it more quiet than the Engel?...More convenient?

 

[PaulT]

We have constant issues with our dometic 80L. It is a power hog and even with 220w we have issues with it.


www.mulehawk.com

+1 on the power hog.
[rant on]
I've come to the conclusion that the problem with my Dometic 110L fridge is in the control system. It does keep the contents cold. Monitoring the temp indicates that the temperature deadband varies too much (from 5 to 15 degrees) and trying to set the thermostat to a suitable value is problematic due to the slop in the control knob. I monitor the temp with an Accurite indoor/outdoor thermometer. For the price I paid for this tiny fridge, there should have been a digital thermostat included. I marked the knob so that I could repeat the setting between camping trips. Sometimes the that set point produces 30 deg F and at other times it produces 45 degrees. This variation is not acceptable.

I have looked for but not found an after market digital control for the fridge. I have been looking into building an Arduiino or Raspberry Pi microcontroller to do the job but I would rather spend my time camping than engineering a one off solution to a common problem. The fridge is the only significant consumer of battery power in the camper on most trips. 150 ah of battery and 250 watts of solar power should be sufficient. [/rant off]

Paul

 

[Stalking Light]

My Dometic 65 used to vay a lot more before I added a second cooling fan to the coils, now it stays +- 2-3 degrees F.

 

[ntsqd]

We run on propane going down the road, but I'd prefer to have a compressor fridge. My hope is that it would hold a more consistent temperature. Lately I just set the thing on max and don't put stuff that shouldn't freeze up near the freezer.