Inverter/fridge basic questions

54GFL · 06-23-2017, 06:53 AM

So I understand in general how my residential fridge goes through the inverter (which is supplied by 12v). What I'm unclear on is:

1. When being towed, and off of shore power, is the fridge supplied power? I've heard 2 different answers on this

2. Maybe in answer to the above question, I'm not clear how the inverter switch is supposed to work. There is a sticker that says "button must be in the out position for remote operation" Remote operation meaning connected to the tow vehicle? If so, why is the fridge light off when I'm connected to the TV

Thanks

AquaMan · 06-23-2017, 07:02 AM

Your inverter is on a transfer switch. When the the inverter switch is on, the fridge will work off of the battery bank if shore power is not detected. If shore power is detected, the inverter will be bypassed. With the switch on, if you loose shore power, the inverter will take over and you will be running of batteries again. The TV connection should nothing to do with the inverter, other than supplying a small charge to the battery bank.

BessieHunter · 06-23-2017, 07:13 AM

Remote operation means that if there is a remote switch for the inverter, that button must be out for the inverted to be operated from the remote.

K4DCF · 06-23-2017, 07:31 AM

I agree about the remote switch. Also you have to insure that you are supplying 12v power from your truck. Mine has a 30 amp circuit in the harness to maintain the trailer battery and run the inverter.

CHICKDOE · 06-23-2017, 11:23 AM

the inverter, when on, is used to supply 110 vac power to the refrigerator when you are not connected to a 110 vac power source (shore power or generator). it draws power from the 12 vdc batterie(s). when you are towing the tow vehicle will supply some 12 vdc power to recharge the batterie(s) while the inverter continues to draw power from the batterie(s) to run the refrigerator. as other have said different trucks may or may not have a fuse or circuit breaker in their charge line to the trailer. you need to verify that these are in place and that you are actually getting 12 vdc from the tow vehicle to the trailer. simple to test with a multimeter measuring voltage at the truck 7-pin connector. there is also a concern about just how much power the truck will supply during the tow. most people on the forum who do this report no problems keeping the refrigerator running during the entire duration of a daily tow. just start with the batteries fully charged at the start of the tow.

54GFL · 06-27-2017, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CHICKDOE

the inverter, when on, is used to supply 110 vac power to the refrigerator when you are not connected to a 110 vac power source (shore power or generator). it draws power from the 12 vdc batterie(s). when you are towing the tow vehicle will supply some 12 vdc power to recharge the batterie(s) while the inverter continues to draw power from the batterie(s) to run the refrigerator. as other have said different trucks may or may not have a fuse or circuit breaker in their charge line to the trailer. you need to verify that these are in place and that you are actually getting 12 vdc from the tow vehicle to the trailer. simple to test with a multimeter measuring voltage at the truck 7-pin connector. there is also a concern about just how much power the truck will supply during the tow. most people on the forum who do this report no problems keeping the refrigerator running during the entire duration of a daily tow. just start with the batteries fully charged at the start of the tow.

Thanks for all of the response. I guess I need to look into the truck supplying power. It's a 2016 F150...soon to be a 2017 F250...guessing the newer vehicles supply power

CC75 · 06-27-2017, 04:27 PM

Some rules of thumb when running fridge off batteries and inverter.
On a 120V circuit my residential fridge uses 1 to 2 amps per hour after the compressor kicks in. The compressor uses 4 amps to kick in, shortly there after the amperage usage drops to the about 1 amp. Note this is on 120 V system. The way this translates to the inverter and battery usage is that the power usage remains constant and when you are on a 12V system, then you will need 10 amps per hour to run the same fridge. There is also some loss of power for the inverter to convert 12V to 120V. If your group 24 battery has, lets say 85 Ah capacity, and you want to only run it down 50% at the most, then you have about 4 hours of continues use you can draw from one group 24 battery. Your truck may pump about 5 Amps per hour to your connection, so you could get 8 hours of continues use of the fridge on the road. Most of the time the fridge is not running 100% of the time so you will get lot more out of it. That is why it is a good idea to have more than one battery, so that you can run your jacks and things when you arrive before you connect to shore power. And BTW, some suggest you connect to shore power before you even start setting up the rig when you arrive at the camp.
Some things that help along the way. Always cool down the fridge before you hit the road the day before. In your stick and stones house freeze some water bottles before hand, and place them inside your RV fridge to keep things cool to minimize compressor start up on the road.

vmfa · 07-06-2017, 08:41 PM

I have a Vibe 311 RLS and am on my second outing with it. I have an AC only fridge and it runs on the inverter all the time.

My assumption was when I hooked up to shore power.

Doesn't seem to be the case. The inverter shut off when I plugged in the AC so I assumed AC took over. Next morning (we got hooked up after dark) fridge was not running and I went in
and turned the inverter on and fridge came back on.

So I guess the inverter has to run 100 percent of the time to run the fridge?

Cypressloser · 07-06-2017, 08:54 PM

In a nutshell: turn the inverter and fridge on, hook up the trailer to the tv. and drive.
Just be aware that you can not shut the truck off and leave everything alone for hours, you might be in for a small surprise when you come back

.

vmfa · 07-06-2017, 09:53 PM

I can get 6-8 hours off the fully charged battery to run the fridge.

What surprised me I had to run the inverter when hooked to AC to power the fridge.

CHICKDOE · 07-06-2017, 10:47 PM

to vmfa: what brand and inverter to you have? normally the refrigerator power cord is plugged into a small transfer switch that selects either shore power or inverter power. some inverters have this function built into them. or it could be that you do not have either the transfer switch or the bypass function built into the inverter. in this case you would have to have the inverter on at all times to run the refrigerator. if you have either the transfer switch option or the bypass built into the inverter it is possible that these devices are not working properly (ie supplying shore power). can you trace the refrigerator power cord to see just what it is plugged into. this might help to show how shore power is suppose to reach the refrigerator.

vmfa · 07-06-2017, 11:43 PM

It is a WFCO 1000 watt inverter.

Just dug the info on it and says has internal transfer system that allows A C to be bypass the inverter when connected to an AC source so I'll have to figure into that tomorrow and see why it is not doing that. Oh the model number is WF-5120HP

CHICKDOE · 07-07-2017, 12:10 AM

at least you know that you should be able to run the refrigerator on shore power and where to look if it is not doing so. I do not know this but I would assume that it will pass the shore power through the inverter when the inverter is powered off. but that is just an assumption. and even if the inverter was on and you were hooked up to shore power I would expect it to pass the shore power through to the refrigerator as opposed to drawing it from the battery. looks like a couple of experiments are in order to test just how it is working. best of luck!

K4DCF · 07-07-2017, 05:43 AM

I also have that inverter and buried in the manual it says that the inverter must be on when hooked to shore power to have the built in transfer switch to work. So yes the inverter has to be on at all time for the fridge to get power.

m35a2 · 07-07-2017, 06:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vmfa

I have a Vibe 311 RLS and am on my second outing with it. I have an AC only fridge and it runs on the inverter all the time.

My assumption was when I hooked up to shore power.

Doesn't seem to be the case. The inverter shut off when I plugged in the AC so I assumed AC took over. Next morning (we got hooked up after dark) fridge was not running and I went in
and turned the inverter on and fridge came back on.

So I guess the inverter has to run 100 percent of the time to run the fridge?

My camper is a different model but on mine, I turn off the inverter when I hook up to shore power. Fridge stays running.

I can leave the inverter on, but I don't see any reason to.

Just checked the model of the inverter, it's a 5110HP.

I'd upload a picture but it doesn't seem like that works anymore?
I get a message that this forum has disabled media sharing.

AquaMan · 07-07-2017, 06:48 AM

I leave the inverter on all the time, just in case the power goes out. The inverter doesn't run while hooked to shore power because of the transfer switch so it's not really "on".

rjshiflet · 07-07-2017, 06:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by m35a2

My camper is a different model but on mine, I turn off the inverter when I hook up to shore power. Fridge stays running.

I can leave the inverter on, but I don't see any reason to.

Ditto.

54GFL · 07-07-2017, 07:22 AM

I am still trying to figure out why my refrigerator doesn't work (or at least appears not to be working) when disconnected from shore power and on battery. I haven't touched the inverter switches. It's in storage now, but I guess I need to play around with it a bit more

rjshiflet · 07-07-2017, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 54GFL

I am still trying to figure out why my refrigerator doesn't work (or at least appears not to be working) when disconnected from shore power and on battery. I haven't touched the inverter switches. It's in storage now, but I guess I need to play around with it a bit more

You have to turn the inverter ON for it to power the refrigerator. Did I misunderstand what you meant by "I haven't touched the inverter switches"?

54GFL · 07-07-2017, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjshiflet

You have to turn the inverter ON for it to power the refrigerator. Did I misunderstand what you meant by "I haven't touched the inverter switches"?

You did not misunderstand. I guess I should've qualified. I haven't touched them lately, And we don't really dry camp, I just want to make sure that it works. So with the inverter switched in the "on" position, and in battery, the refrigerator interior light should come on, correct?

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