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Old 07-24-2020, 06:42 PM   #81
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Originally Posted by slammer View Post
I guess I'll keep this in the truck because I don't know if I can trust RV fridges any more.
I've had two 2-way electric/propane RV fridges over the past 15 years. Knock on wood, never had any issues and they worked every time.
12v RV fridges have only been around for 2-3 years. As I've said before, I wouldn't have one because they seem to have a bad track record so far and because we dry camp a lot.
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Old 07-24-2020, 06:46 PM   #82
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My brand new Furrion sucks as well. Has an 8 deg. differential between turn-on & shut-off and the gasket is loose all the way around the door, maybe a little snug top & bottom. Sure miss my old propane fridge.
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Old 07-24-2020, 07:30 PM   #83
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Well for those with the Arctic Wolf models, I found it is already plumbed for LP if needed. Swap out would involve cutting the opening for the outside panel and roof vent, the LP line is under the stove.
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Old 07-24-2020, 07:39 PM   #84
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We are talking about an RV fridge here.
Don't know about yours, but that is what my RV has in its Frigidaire residential.
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Old 07-25-2020, 07:51 AM   #85
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Just bought a 2021 Grey Wolf 23DBH with the Furrion Arctic 12v fridge, same problem. The freezer works great but the fridge part doesn't get below 55 degrees. I put a circulation fan in there after reading how some have tried and it made no difference. Going to call the dealer tomorrow.
I have a 2020 fridge that is 12v with the same problem. What did the dealer say?
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Old 07-25-2020, 08:51 AM   #86
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From what I am reading on this post it appears the Furrion 12v refrigerator is a POS. Yet the Everchill 12v in my 2020 Wildwood 171RBXL is working great. We have had the unit 10 weeks and been on three camping trips including in the Colorado mountains. I left the TT plugged in and the refrigerator turned on when we returned home three weeks ago and left our condiments, butter, and such in it as we have another trip planned this week. I don't know if the Everchill is a better refrigerator than the Furrion or if I just got lucky for once. And only time will tell how long it lasts.
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Old 07-26-2020, 08:54 AM   #87
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Originally Posted by bikendan View Post
I've had two 2-way electric/propane RV fridges over the past 15 years. Knock on wood, never had any issues and they worked every time.
12v RV fridges have only been around for 2-3 years. As I've said before, I wouldn't have one because they seem to have a bad track record so far and because we dry camp a lot.
Actually 12 volt fridges have been around many years. I had one back in the 80's. It barely worked then and was a huge battery sucker. I'm sure you meant that they started using them regularly in the new RV's. I wouldn't touch one, any more than I would have a residential fridge mostly because it makes boondocking almost impossible without a million bucks, (exaggeration) in batteries, solar, inverters, etc. Just not for me.
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Old 07-26-2020, 11:23 AM   #88
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Actually 12 volt fridges have been around many years. I had one back in the 80's. It barely worked then and was a huge battery sucker. I'm sure you meant that they started using them regularly in the new RV's. I wouldn't touch one, any more than I would have a residential fridge mostly because it makes boondocking almost impossible without a million bucks, (exaggeration) in batteries, solar, inverters, etc. Just not for me.
12 volt absorption has been around for a long time. 12 volt compressor is fairly recent.
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Old 07-26-2020, 12:37 PM   #89
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Actually 12 volt fridges have been around many years. I had one back in the 80's. It barely worked then and was a huge battery sucker. I'm sure you meant that they started using them regularly in the new RV's. I wouldn't touch one, any more than I would have a residential fridge mostly because it makes boondocking almost impossible without a million bucks, (exaggeration) in batteries, solar, inverters, etc. Just not for me.
I'm talking about 12v compressor fridges, which is what the OP is talking about.
Not 12v absorption fridges, which I've had two of.
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Old 07-26-2020, 02:25 PM   #90
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Had one in the 80's that was factory installed in a 1977 Dodge Van conversion. Hated it. Didn't get very cold and was a battery drainer. It was not gas absorption, it was compressor run. Tried to Google when they were invented, but hard to determine when. Just saying. I still wouldn't go with a new one either from the sounds of it.
No inverter either unless it was built into the fridge which I doubt given the time. Inverters were not common until much later.
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Old 07-26-2020, 03:31 PM   #91
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If I’m reading this manual correctly on the NORCOLD unit, does not have an inverter in it. But you guys who are way smarter than me can tell me Here’s the link.
https://norcold.com/wp-content/uploa...D_20191213.pdf
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Seems like a 12V compressor to me. Would be harder to make it a variable speed if it was 120VAC
From what I can find this Norcold model doesn't have a compressor of any type. It works on the solid state principal of the Peltier effect utilizing CO2 to help distribute cooling to the larger cf footprint refrigerator. The only noise they make is from the double fans, one to remove the heat generated by the solid state device, the other to move the cooled air inside the fridge. Claimed to have 30% energy savings with 30% increased capacity. Haier and Phononic are leading developers of this technology.
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Old 07-26-2020, 04:00 PM   #92
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From what I can find this Norcold model doesn't have a compressor of any type. It works on the solid state principal of the Peltier effect utilizing CO2 to help distribute cooling to the larger cf footprint refrigerator. The only noise they make is from the double fans, one to remove the heat generated by the solid state device, the other to move the cooled air inside the fridge. Claimed to have 30% energy savings with 30% increased capacity. Haier and Phononic are leading developers of this technology.
It is a compressor fridge. Peltier fridges are around 1/4th the efficiency of a compressor fridge and they have a VERY tough time getting below 32°F.

Just read the manual...compressor is mentioned a few times in it.

I used to have a Haier peltier wine fridge. What a POS. Pretty much ran 100% of the time. My compressor wine fridge uses a fraction of the power.
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Old 08-13-2020, 10:53 AM   #93
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To follow up--- Went dry camping last weekend. With the battery at 14.2 at turn on it was down to 12.4 by arrival an hour later. I was plugged into shore power until we left and started the fridge 24 hours before as stated in the manual. The first day after the battery was down to 12.1, ran the gen for 8. hours to get the battery back up to 13.4 and went to bed. In the morning the battery was down to 11.8. The unit runs for about 45-60 minutes and is off for about an hour or less. The temp in the fridge when not opened runs from 35- 45 before it comes back on and is turned almost all the way up! The freezer is great, runs -17 to +6. Salesman said with a 50W solar panel the thing would go 7 days on the one battery assuming no other power usage. Just can't wait till fall when I need heat too. It's at the dealers now--a 2 hr. round trip. He says they are junk, but can't do much about it. I think Forest River should provide more solar and more batteries as it's not my fault the Furrions suck. So wish I had kept my 20 yr. old Keystone!
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Old 08-13-2020, 11:09 AM   #94
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Did you set it to off grid mode, or left it at shore power setting?
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Old 08-13-2020, 11:20 AM   #95
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To follow up--- Went dry camping last weekend. With the battery at 14.2 at turn on it was down to 12.4 by arrival an hour later. I was plugged into shore power until we left and started the fridge 24 hours before as stated in the manual. The first day after the battery was down to 12.1, ran the gen for 8. hours to get the battery back up to 13.4 and went to bed. In the morning the battery was down to 11.8. The unit runs for about 45-60 minutes and is off for about an hour or less. The temp in the fridge when not opened runs from 35- 45 before it comes back on and is turned almost all the way up! The freezer is great, runs -17 to +6. Salesman said with a 50W solar panel the thing would go 7 days on the one battery assuming no other power usage. Just can't wait till fall when I need heat too. It's at the dealers now--a 2 hr. round trip. He says they are junk, but can't do much about it. I think Forest River should provide more solar and more batteries as it's not my fault the Furrions suck. So wish I had kept my 20 yr. old Keystone!

FWIW a fully charged battery is typically around 12.7v. Any voltage you see higher then that is because it is currently charging from some source which is providing a higher voltage, or you just disconnected from a charging source and it hasn't settled down. Reading state of charge from just voltage isn't the most accurate, and you can really only tell when you don't have something drawing current from the battery at that moment. However at 12.4 you're probably around 75% battery capacity. 11.8 you're probably <25% battery capacity. Again though, it's dependent on if the voltage has settled, no current being applied/consumed at the time, battery type, and temperature. You generally don't want to take batteries below 25% often as it shortens their lifespans dramatically.



If your salesman said a 50w panel can run that fridge for a week you should talk to his boss. Even at peak efficiency and perfect sunlight you won't get more then 4ah from that thing, and if you're in perfect sunlight somehow for 8 hours a day, that's 32ah of charge it can provide per day. My tests with the OEM Furrion panel and charge controller got far less then this. Furrion states the fridge draws around 100ah/day IIRC, my tests show dependent on temperature and what I have in the fridge 50-125ah. So mathematically, there's no way that panel can power the fridge for 7 days unless it happened to include a very large battery bank (missing 70ah/day * 7 days).... Or it's near fridge temperatures inside the RV and it doesn't actually have to run.... I imagine your RV came with a single <100ah 12v battery though. Which means in perfect sunlight and minimal other 12v appliances on you'll get just around a day running the fridge, in pretty good sunlight situations. I tend to end up in trees or there's clouds, so I got really poor performance out of just that small 50w panel in real-testing.



With the old-unbranded battery they included and the 50w panel in great sunlight, I got just under 1 day before I had <25% battery life left. I upgraded with 4x100w panels and 2x 100ah 12v batteries. I'm not sure if I could go 7 days on that system unless I had great sunlight (or charged on the road driving every few days between sites), but my RV's limitation is my water tanks, so I was only shooting for ~3-4 days dry-camping in most partially-shaded areas that I might actually want to stay.



You can extend the runtime of your system some by cooling everything before you leave, opening the fridge as few of times as possible, keeping the interior of the RV as cool as possible, putting in some large ice bags (that you can drain/drink the water from as it melts - dual use), and making sure your panel gets direct sunlight (partial shading on a panel that size will drop actual output extremely). You may also want to test your battery, make sure it's in good condition, I was really disappointed by the POS they threw in my RV. Apart from that I would also check your fridge door seals. Mine were not sealed properly and was causing difficulties on really hot days maintaining temperature and humidity. I fixed my door seals with a heat gun and made a new latch because the latch that came with mine was poorly machined. Since then at the middle upright temperature setting my fridge stays exactly 4-5°c (measured at the same spot in the fridge - different parts of the fridge will be slightly different temps) with little-no upper condensation (more stable humidity levels), regardless of exterior temps. Been running 24/7 even when I'm not camping - parked in my driveway - as a second fridge. The cheapest upgrade option to extend your systems runtime without redoing it all may be adding in a remote panel (useful especially if you park in shaded areas), you probably have an external hookup for it already - although it's probably limited to 10a or your charge controller, so it may still not be enough for your needs.
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Old 08-13-2020, 12:41 PM   #96
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I think Forest River should provide more solar and more batteries as it's not my fault the Furrions suck. So wish I had kept my 20 yr. old Keystone!
Forest River does not nor any RV manufacturer supply batteries on towables.
Towable batteries are dealer-installed items. And they usually install the cheapest 12v dual purpose marine batteries they can find. Good batteries are something that you have to negotiate with the dealer, before taking it home.
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Old 08-13-2020, 01:04 PM   #97
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Even at peak efficiency and perfect sunlight you won't get more then 4ah from that thing, and if you're in perfect sunlight somehow for 8 hours a day, that's 32ah of charge it can provide per day.
It won't even be close to that. With a PWM controller, it will be lucky to get 2.5A peak and probably less if its flat mounted. At least in my part of the country, you can count on 5 equivalent hours of sun. That would be 12.5AH per day and likely around only 70% of that since it is flat mounted.


What was that PT Barnum saying? It apples to people that bought 50W panels thinking they would do anything with a 12V fridge.


As far as blaming the dealer, they also say you can tow 7,000# with a Toyota Tundra.
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Old 08-13-2020, 01:05 PM   #98
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Keep in mind, to run off battery/solar, you have to set the dial to the off grid mode. Has anyone tried that yet? I might, but not until next week, too busy and an empty fridge is not really a good test platform either.

From the manual https://cdn.accentuate.io/2164270432...3398567291.pdf

page 11
Quote:
Where grid power is not available, the “OFF GRID” setting
can be used to maximize battery life.
● During travel, where a tow vehicle will provide constant
battery charging, it is recommended to operate the
refrigerator at a normal temperature setting dial (refer to
“Temperature Control” section). Once you have arrived
and are dependent on your battery reserve, rotate the
knob to the “OFF GRID” setting of the dial.
● It is recommended to store meat and dairy products
towards the back and middle shelf of your refrigerator.
Utilize the other space of the refrigerator for beverages,
condiments, and produce.
NOTE: Operation time of refrigerator in "OFF GRID" mode
depends on, but not limited to, factors such as; ambient
temperature, battery capacity, condition of battery,
thermostat setting, food qty, and frequency of door openings.
Reference the below chart to adjust operation time based on
ambient temperature.
Ambient Temperature Operation Time
68°F(20°C) 100%
77°F(25°C) 80%
90°F(32.2°C) 55%
110°F(43°C) 25%
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Old 08-13-2020, 01:33 PM   #99
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Keep in mind, to run off battery/solar, you have to set the dial to the off grid mode. Has anyone tried that yet? I might, but not until next week, too busy and an empty fridge is not really a good test platform either.

From the manual https://cdn.accentuate.io/2164270432...3398567291.pdf

page 11
The only way I can see that off-grid mode would decrease power usage is to increase fridge temps. Has anyone measured temps in off-grid mode vs full cold? I keep mine at the coldest setting and temp is about perfect. I tried off-grid my first time out and it just wasn't cold enough to support keeping meat in the fridge long term. I didn't do any temp measurements though.

That chart doesn't make sense to me. Unless I'm reading it wrong, they're saying that as the ambient temperature increases, run time decreases? I think they've got that completely backwards.
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Old 08-13-2020, 02:30 PM   #100
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It won't even be close to that. With a PWM controller, it will be lucky to get 2.5A peak and probably less if its flat mounted. At least in my part of the country, you can count on 5 equivalent hours of sun. That would be 12.5AH per day and likely around only 70% of that since it is flat mounted.


What was that PT Barnum saying? It apples to people that bought 50W panels thinking they would do anything with a 12V fridge.


As far as blaming the dealer, they also say you can tow 7,000# with a Toyota Tundra.

Yeah I know, I think the highest I measured min my inline meter was 20ish AH (don't recall specifically - I got rid of it pretty quickly). I was trying to use absolute absurd 'best case' scenarios to prove how ridiculous the dealers claim was. I'm not sure why FR includes 50w panels with these fridges, it doesn't help nearly enough to be worth it for anyone. My dealer said it and the battery would last me 'about a weekend'. He was at least closer. I didn't really listen to him about much because I had already run the numbers and knew I wanted to build a better solar setup day 1.
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