Dometic 65L power/current draw

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badtoytrd

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VA...for hopefully a short period of time...with W
I have a 2011 Fleet that I purchased used. We took it out last weekend and I was surprised to find that the fridge ran almost constantly. I used to use an ARB 45 qt behind the driver seat in our Tacoma prior to getting the camper and I could go about 2 days without it running the battery down. I have 2 Odessey PC 1400s providing the camper with power and the fridge seemed to run them down in just one day. The ambient temp was 80-85 and the fridge door seems to seal. Just wondering if anyone else is having an issue with their Dometic sucking power.
 
The Dometic 65 is a power hog, pure and simple. I used to have an Engle 45 and my 60w foldable solar panel would keep it running for a week at a time in the desert; it takes about 200w of solar to keep the Dometic going. I did add a second fan, which helps, but it still draws way more power than the Engle did.
 
I guess that being said what are the options other than replacing fridge with maybe an Isotherm. I am working on adding 100w of solar but that doesn't change the fact that the Dometic draws what 5 amps? I am thinking of pulling the fridge and putting my ARB there.
 
My 'solution' was to up my solar to 300w since I also run my laptop and cell booster fairly often. I also have a Honda 2000 generator that I carry when I may be camping in the shade a lot but I don't much like to use it.

I understand the Isotherm's are much better on current draw and down the road I may make that swap but my Dometic is only a couple of years old (late 2014) so I'm going to hold off for a while.
 
"Bad Toy"

You should have at least 8 amps flowing into the battery - 5 for the Dometic plus 3 to charge the battery with nothing else running. 100 watt too small because you lose about 40% of the output in the winter because you can't point the panel at the sun.

We have one 150 watt on the roof which produces 5.1 amps in December and 9.1 in June when the battery is 70% full (Yes we have a Trimetric 2030-RV). which is enough to run our Engle 35 fridge, lights, fan, charge IPAD batteries.

You probably need close to 300 watts which will give you 10 amps in December and closwe to 20 in summer..

Hope that helps.
 
Don't give up!.... There is the option of pulling the Dometic.... selling on Craigs list and then putting the $$ toward a Isotherm 65.

I had an Engel 27...great little fridge./freezer but we wanted a fridge . We have solar 165 panel on roof and a 90 portable. All is fine.

I would suggest in the longterm instead of making the roof real heavy with panels for the 'hog' ... save by selling the hog and getting the more efficient fridge. Best in long run payback... in the meantime we found freezing a few 1/2 gallon jugs of water (gatorade) before a trip and then using that as the ice box...lasts a week and you have a gallon of fresh water to drink!

Also filling empty space in a fridge with cold items (frozen jugs) keeps the fridge from running.
 
I have the same fridge and you might have the same problem I had when I first installed it. No vent in the rear of the fridge. I think it was around 2011-2012 FWC didn't vent the fridges and all the heat gets trapped into the cabinet and its a loosing battle. Soon as I got the proper venting from Dometic and added a fan to the system it was good to go and used about half the power I was using with no vent. Hope that helps.
 
Buckland

Thanks for the encouragement. The wife and I were actually talking about that option tonight and I think that I what we are going to do. I even kicked around selling the ARB too but it is super nice having that as an option. I also would like to keep from mounting anything on the roof. The camper had the aluminum roof rack on it when I bought it and removing it was one of the first things I did.

Brock
 
97

I saw that as an option but at this point, I am really averse to putting a hole in the side of the camper. That might be an option if the Isotherm doesn't correct the issue.......Nevermind. I took a look at your page and saw what you did. I may have to take a look at this option and maybe using a cabinet fan.

Brock
 
My Dometic is vented and I added a second fan and it still sucks power although not as bad as before. I keep the fridge full and the door seal is good so I doubt it will get any better.
 
I believe Four Wheel campers needs to catch up and offer ARB fridges or something comparable, this is exactly the reason that I purchased a shell model. Ron
 
nikonron said:
I believe Four Wheel campers needs to catch up and offer ARB fridges or something comparable, this is exactly the reason that I purchased a shell model. Ron
Click to expand...
They have switched brands to Isotherm and I understand they are more efficient than Dometic.
 
Well, I decided to pull my Dometic to see if my 37 Qt ARB would fit in its place and it fit quite well. Does it look factory? No, but I think it will work quite well and save a lot of power. It looks like the power draw is roughly 1 amp which is way better than the Dometic. I lost quite a bit of space but seeing how we are used to that fridge I think we can pack "smartly". I plan on putting the countertop on hinges so that we can easily get into the fridge but not lose the counter space. The only downsides I see right now are that we cannot get into the fridge with the roof down and the smaller capacity.
 
We are going in reverse directions. I had an Engel 27 and it sat in the fridge spot ....it had a slide in locking rack base to hold it there. I too built a hinged counter top ... you are right... the counter top space is essential... though my wife did not like having to clear the counter to get into the fridge. We loved the fridge but she wanted a door... hence the conversion to the Isotherm 65. I would suggest making a pull out sliding "drawer' with drawer slides (try Lee Valley on line). You could make it out of ply and use a simple window lock to keep in place... if you need to get in fridge ...slide it out.
I found I had enough room with the Engel to get my hands on a beer in there when the top was down...
 
Stalking Light... Charlie, I'd be interested in what fan and how you added. I have the 2015 Hawk with the Dometic 65. Luckily not usually a big issue but this past weekend it was. Unusual for Texas but we had 3 days of clouds and rain my batteries got way low. Luckily a fellow camper had a spare 100W solar I was able to use in addition to my 100W. With little use we were OK. I would like to add the fan just for a warm fuzzy ;)

Also how low can I go before refrige cuts off... I think I got to 11.5VDC this past weekend?
 
I had the exact same issue with my Dometic 85L in my 2013 Hawk (which was not vented). Despite 300W solar it was still draining down the batteries fairly frequently. I finally pulled the trigger and had FWC replace the unit with an Isotherm 85L at the factory. This involved a bit of cabinetry modification and the installation of a side vent through the wall of the camper.

Absolutely worth the money and hassle. On a recent 2 wk road trip my batteries were never below 85% in the morning and fully charged by noon. The fridge is very quiet and runs far less frequently than my old Dometic.

Happy camping

Jason
 
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