hebegebe
Senior Member
I’ve had many 3ways but my wife says the baseline of civility is having ICE with evening drinks so the compressor won! Let’s face it if you have a FWC you are glamping anyhow
I tried that at Lake Powell when I had my Grandby. I came back to warm beer and a battery that was below the refrigerators voltage threshold. Dometic 80 Qt... I think that speaks more about the refer than the solar setup.nevaska said:I've had my compressor fridge running for about 3 years continuously off 100w solar/100ah battery. Given I live in Nevada with huge solar gain, my panel sometimes exceeds its rating. I never have to plug in to AC or fuss with a pilot light, and when I leave the country for a month and get back to wherever I parked my truck, cold beer!
Unless you live off-grid you have a compressor refrigerator in your home.Espresso said:That said, I know very little about the compressor refrigerators other than the people who have them tend to like them.
Mine is an Indel-B 31L, that might be the difference. I have also recently stepped up to 200w solar due to having to use a powerful laptop for work and traveling to cloudier areas for skiing.Wandering Sagebrush said:I tried that at Lake Powell when I had my Grandby. I came back to warm beer and a battery that was below the refrigerators voltage threshold. Dometic 80 Qt... I think that speaks more about the refer than the solar setup.
Hi ckent323ckent323 said:We have a 3-way Norcold fridge in the 2007 FWC Keystone Camper. It is original and was factory installed. It has the optional 12 v fan which helps on hot days. It works great on propane and 110 V. If it is already cold it holds temp OK on 12 V. We have learned that the pilot will occasionally blow out if we go over 65 mph but we typically leave it on propane all of the time unless plugged into shore power. We have a remote thermostat with wireless readout in the cab of the truck so we can monitor the temp when driving. The propane lasts more than 7 days rain or shine even with some cooking on the propane cooktop and some heat from the propane heater at night..
We also have a Dometic CFX-28 12v refrigerator/freezer behind the center console in the extended cab area of our truck. It works well too.
I would not consider switching our 3-way refrigerator in the camper to a 12 v refrigerator.
If I were converting from an icebox the choice is less clear. If I already had propane but not solar I would lean towards the 3-way.
If price was not a consideration I would put in >250 W of solar and a 100 Ah LiFePO4 battery and probably go with a 12 V refrigerator. Our trips are often more than 12 days in duration and we frequently have experienced several consecutive cloudy or foggy days on our trips. Also we like to camp in forest areas and in combinations these conditions challenge complete reliance on solar.