Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2019
Posts: 24
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Ok so now let real get this going I posted on one of the RV solar groups that I watch about the fridge and the onboard solar charging system be able to keep up with the fridge draw and here's what I got
Good morning Moak, great questions I will address one at a time.
It appears the fridge is a compressor unit that runs strictly on 12 VDC power.
1) 12V DC at 60 Hz Rated current: 2.5 amps. I don't why they are using these instead of the good old 3 way or 2-way refrigerators butt they are.
There's a problem with that statement, maybe check the source. 60 HZ is for 120 VAC NOT DC. The Everchill website lists that fridge
" Voltage: 12V DC at 60 Hz, Rated current: 2.5 amps"
ALSO on their website I found this statement (by a responder NOT Everchill) in response to a question:
For operating a 12V refrigerator you'll want to use a separate dedicated high amp-hour battery. The Everchill Refrigerator # 324-000119 will draw 11-amps per hour, so for example, this unit powered by a 100-Ah battery (with nothing else drawing power from it) will operate for about 9 hours.
ALSO found this response (NOT from Everchill) to a question:
"spoke to my contact at Way Interglobal about the Everchill Refrigerator part # 324-000119. They informed me that upon startup and until the set temperature is reached, the unit will draw 8-9 amps. Once the set temperature is reached, it will draw around 3 amps to remain at this temperature."
ALSO found this response to a question:
The Everchill Refrigerator for RVs # 324-000119 you referenced draws 11 amps under normal operation. That means every hour it would pull 11 amps from your battery bank. So lets say your battery bank is rated for 220 amps (a common RV deep cycle amp rating), that would mean that it would take 20 hours to totally drain it
THEREFORE I CANT SAY FROM HERE how much ENERGY (Volts x Amps x Time) the fridge requires and that depends on ambient temperature,,,,,,,,,,,how much time doors are open or closed,,,,,, the interior load,,,,,,,,,,,,,,your actual needs and use.
HOWEVER I can tell you its my best educated guess 160 SOLAR WATTS ISNT ENOUGH TO MAINTAIN SUFFICIENT BATTERY CHARGING TO RUN THAT FRIDGE VERY LONG WHEN DRY CAMPING. Remember after the sun goes down and you're operating off stored battery energy you need enough so you don't discharge lead acid batteries over 50% of their capacity, I don't like over 30%. PLUS the battery has to run your other loads like lights and electronics and vent fans and water pump and furnace etc etc etc
2) " The 3010DS also comes with an onboard solar charging system from what I can find out Forest River is using the GOPOWER!, and they call it SolarOnBoard, and is rated at 160 watts and 9.14 amps of charging capacity. to me that nowhere near enough to keep the dual battery bank set up charged enough to be able to run that refrigerator and the rest of the 12-volt stuff when boondocking.
FWIW I think you are CORRECT
First of all to get near that advertised 9.14 amps of charging capacity, you would need good full bright sun nearly direct overhead ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and even if you were charging at the rate of 9.14 amps for say 6 hours per day, that would ONLY yield maybe 55 or so Amp Hours of energy (not THAT MUCH AS EFFICIENCY OF BATTERIES AND CHARGING ISNT 100%) . AS an example my very small dorm sized compressor fridge requires 45 Amp Hours of energy per day do you can bet that larger fridge requires more.
NOTE I purposely did not go into or analyze how much battery capacity you may need ONLY the solar battery charging capacity, that's a whole other topic once an energy audit is performed.
BOTTOM LINE if you want to boondock much time at all and you want to power that fridge PLUS all your other battery fed loads YOURE GONNA NEED A LOT MORE THEN 160 SOLAR WATTS
Nuff said, at this time
John T BSEE, Retired Electrical Engineer and 49 year RV owner less
PS NOT having an energy audit nor knowing yo ur energy needs especially that 12 Volt fridge I might venture a pure "guess" if you want to boondock very long and run that fridge you might be looking at in the neighborhood of APPROXIMATELY say 400 to 600 Watts (a couple 300 Watt panels) of solar and maybe say 400 + battery Amp Hours (like four Trojan T-105 6 Volts in series/parallel) of battery capacity. Again NOTE this is NOT accurate just a rough guess so don't anyone have a calf lol
Id suggest use of an MPPT Solar Charge Controller sized for your needs plus room for expansion,,,A Pure Sine Wave Inverter to suit your needs and allow for expansion,,,,,,,,,,,A Smart 3/4 Stage Converter/Charger,,,,,,,,,,A Battery Monitor system.
While it depends on the time of year and your location, the suns intensity and angle and hours, you might harvest in the neighborhood of 30 to 40+ Amp Hours per day for every 100 Solar Watts. IE if you had 400 solar watts you may harvest 120 to 160+ Amp Hours of energy and your fridge plus other loads might consume say PURE GUESS 100 to 150+. However you need enough stored Amp Hours so overnight you don't discharge more then 50% NEED AN ENERGY AUDIT
Congratulations, you can do this !!!!!!!!!!!
John T
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