Can I run my fridge on propane?

[TheMohns]

I have a Vengeance 377V and it has a residential refrigerator. The first time we took it out, I was going to turn the propane on(the night before) to run the fridge, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. There is no switch that I can find. It does have an inverter, but I am not sure how that comes into play.

[rockfordroo]

The residential fridge runs on 120VAC only. No propane. The inverter will take 12VDC from your battery and turn it into 120VAC to run the fridge.

I'm not familiar with your specific setup, so I don't know if your fridge runs from the inverter all the time, with power coming from the battery when not on shore power and the converter when on shore power, or if you have some kind of switch that switches the fridge from the inverter to shore power automatically when you hook up shore power.

Maybe someone with a similar setup will chime in.

The dealer should have explained how this worked during your PDI.

[TheMohns]

Originally Posted by rockfordroo

The residential fridge runs on 120VAC only. No propane. The inverter will take 12VDC from your battery and turn it into 120VAC to run the fridge.

I'm not familiar with your specific setup, so I don't know if your fridge runs from the inverter all the time, with power coming from the battery when not on shore power and the converter when on shore power, or if you have some kind of switch that switches the fridge from the inverter to shore power automatically when you hook up shore power.

Maybe someone with a similar setup will chime in.

The dealer should have explained how this worked during your PDI.

I have a switch, or a button, for the inverter. It is either on or off. So I guess when I am driving down the road, I want to have the inverter on so the fridge runs on the batteries? And when I hook up to shore power, turn it off?
I was running late to the PDI that day due to a kid at the dentist, so I didn't get to go over everything.

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by TheMohns

I have a switch, or a button, for the inverter. It is either on or off. So I guess when I am driving down the road, I want to have the inverter on so the fridge runs on the batteries? And when I hook up to shore power, turn it off?
I was running late to the PDI that day due to a kid at the dentist, so I didn't get to go over everything.

Yes, you definitely need the inverter on going down the road. Note that it will be powered from your battery, but your battery should also be getting power from your tow vehicle.

I can't speak to turning it off when hooked to shore power. You might have some kind of auto-switchover so you don't have to do anything but plug in your shore power cord; but I don't know. You'll need someone who's got something similar to chime in.

Assuming the fridge has an interior light (so you know when it's got power) you can experiment. Turn the inverter off while plugged into shore power and see if you've got the light in the fridge. If you do, you obviously don't need the inverter on when on shore power. If you don't have the light, then you must need the inverter on when on shore power.

You might not even need to do this. Is the fridge plugged directly into the inverter? If so, you'll need it on all the time. It may just have an on/off switch because that's how they make them. If you do need the inverter on all the time, realize that when you're on shore power the inverter is REALLY being powered by your converter, which is taking 120VAC shore power and converting it to 12VDC power, which is then being inverted back to 120VAC by the inverter to power the fridge.

[TheMohns]

Originally Posted by rockfordroo

Yes, you definitely need the inverter on going down the road. Note that it will be powered from your battery, but your battery should also be getting power from your tow vehicle.

I can't speak to turning it off when hooked to shore power. You might have some kind of auto-switchover so you don't have to do anything but plug in your shore power cord; but I don't know. You'll need someone who's got something similar to chime in.

Assuming the fridge has an interior light (so you know when it's got power) you can experiment. Turn the inverter off while plugged into shore power and see if you've got the light in the fridge. If you do, you obviously don't need the inverter on when on shore power. If you don't have the light, then you must need the inverter on when on shore power.

You might not even need to do this. Is the fridge plugged directly into the inverter? If so, you'll need it on all the time. It may just have an on/off switch because that's how they make them. If you do need the inverter on all the time, realize that when you're on shore power the inverter is REALLY being powered by your converter, which is taking 120VAC shore power and converting it to 12VDC power, which is then being inverted back to 120VAC by the inverter to power the fridge.

Thanks for the info. When I did plug into shore power, I turned off the inverter and the fridge still ran.

[dalford]

Yes, turn on the inverter when not connected to shore power. The 120 volts for the fridge comes from the inverter in several ways.

1. When connected to shore power the shore power just passes thru the inverter to the fridge. This is true if the inverter is powered on or not.

2. When the inverter is on and if the shore power shuts down for any reason there is a 120 volts switch inside the inverter that switches the power to the fridge come from the inverter. The inverter is generating the 120v from your batteries.

3. When not connected to shore power the inverter again generates 120 volts from your batteries to power your fridge.

When towing or anywhere with no shore power turn on the inverter and it will supply power to your fridge. Just leave it on until you get to your campsite and hook up to shore power. No need to turn it off before connecting to shore power, it will automatically sense the shore power and switch to it.

My inverter has a yellow LED that shows it is running off the battery and green LED to show running from shore power. You don't have to turn it off as it is just in standby when on shore power and not drawing from your batteries. I generally do turn mine off after i am completely set up.

This is the inverter I have manual.. http://wfcoelectronics.com/wp-conten...00-Manual1.pdf

[CHICKDOE]

i found this interesting. we have a xantrex inverter and it has a separate small automatic transfer switch to switch between the inverter output power and shore power. i read the manual for the wfco inverter and i see it does this transfer internally. i don't know which is best as they both do the same thing. i only turn the inverter on when driving down the road and turn it off when connected to shore power. but if we were gone and lost shore power with the inverter off, we would lose power to the refrigerator. it appears that the wfco inverter would automatically transfer to battery power in the same situation and continue to supply power to the refrigerator. should i leave the inverter on even when connected to shore power?

[dalford]

Originally Posted by CHICKDOE

i found this interesting. we have a xantrex inverter and it has a separate small automatic transfer switch to switch between the inverter output power and shore power. i read the manual for the wfco inverter and i see it does this transfer internally. i don't know which is best as they both do the same thing. i only turn the inverter on when driving down the road and turn it off when connected to shore power. but if we were gone and lost shore power with the inverter off, we would lose power to the refrigerator. it appears that the wfco inverter would automatically transfer to battery power in the same situation and continue to supply power to the refrigerator. should i leave the inverter on even when connected to shore power?

Unless you are going away for a long time I would not worry about it. Your fridge will maintain temp for a long time if power should go off... I don't leave mine on when connected to shore power.