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06-03-2019, 07:01 PM
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#41
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NewBee
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Irving, Texas
Posts: 23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PupCamper
Hey everyone. I was thinking of running my 3 way fridge off the battery while I was towing. My logic is that the truck will charge the battery while we go so the battery won't be dead when I get to the RV park. Anybody tried this? Good idea or bad? Thanks!
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We have an LG residential in our fiver. We turn the inverter on while towing and it works great. No problems so far leaving the fridge on.
__________________
The Ramaraos (Balaji and Indhu)
New to this lifestyle and have tons of questions
2015 Palomino Columbus 340RK
2015 Chevy 3500HD SRW Duramax with Alison
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06-03-2019, 07:20 PM
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#42
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Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 6
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I was always told to close the propane while traveling for safety reasons. Is that incorrect?
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06-03-2019, 07:45 PM
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#43
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Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 14
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We keep our residential refrigerator running while travelling. We have an inverter we switch on when we are going down the road. The inverter keeps from draining your trailer batteries.
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06-03-2019, 09:49 PM
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#44
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Tony Rpod 180
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 25
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Works great!
We tow all the time on battery.
With that said, The wife and I towed our tt 18 hours straight with fridge on battery. We were trying beat some bad weather ahead of us and the battery stayed charged. I usually keep it on the medium cool setting, and when at campsite turn it back up.
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06-03-2019, 10:19 PM
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#45
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Site Team
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Camano Island, Washington
Posts: 23,821
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Royalhope
I was always told to close the propane while traveling for safety reasons. Is that incorrect?
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Who has always been telling you this?
A quick search on any RV forum, will show you that the vast majority travel with the fridge on propane.
There are actually only a handful of places it's illegal(a couple of East Coast tunnels, for example).
__________________
Dan-Retired California Firefighter/EMT
Shawn-Musician/Entrepreneur/Wine Expert
and Zoe the Wonder Dog(R.I.P.) 
2016 PrimeTime TracerAIR 255, pushing a 2014 Ford F150 SCREW XTR 4x4 3.5 Ecoboost w/Max Tow Package
4pt Equal-i-zer WDH and 1828lbs of payload capacity
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06-03-2019, 11:23 PM
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#46
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Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 23
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but remember to turn off when pumping gas and put gas back on when done
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06-04-2019, 12:30 AM
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#47
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 2,472
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PupCamper
Hey everyone. I was thinking of running my 3 way fridge off the battery while I was towing. My logic is that the truck will charge the battery while we go so the battery won't be dead when I get to the RV park. Anybody tried this? Good idea or bad? Thanks!
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I'm late to the thread , When i had my truck mounted pop-up camper with 3 way fridge i would run on batteries while driving and it worked great and never drained the battery . so it seems my truck at least would keep battery charged or at least provide what was needed to run the fridge
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06-04-2019, 05:04 AM
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#48
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Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 15
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Frig on dc power
Did this when I first got RV thinking tow vehicle would keep RV battery charged. PRan RV battery down. Now run frig on “auto” which defaults to gas when traveling.
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06-04-2019, 05:16 AM
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#49
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: California
Posts: 7,616
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Anders
We have a two-way (110 and gas) fridge and when we travel long distance we use the auto function with the gas turned off (tried using gas and the pilot light blows out and I don't think it is recommended). We then turn the power on (solar) We have two 160 watts solar panels, 4 deep cycle batteries on the trailer and dual 220 amp alternators on the truck. Works like a charm.
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If you have a 2 way fridge with the gas off, you better have an inverter for this to work.
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06-04-2019, 07:31 AM
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#50
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: Sarasota florida
Posts: 147
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The Engel man
I’ve been a cruising boater for years. Solar and wind generator. All my smart friends had Engel fridges installed. 12/120 v auto switch and it runs 36 hours on one deep cycle batt. Finally bought one. I now have it in my land yacht. I get by overnight with a single group 24. 27 is better. Runs all day on solar power. It’s a true Freon cycle so it cools and recovers very quickly as opposed to the sterling cycle or cold plate systems used commonly in Rvs.
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06-04-2019, 07:34 AM
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#51
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: Sarasota florida
Posts: 147
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Ps
My Engel will run off the car while driving. That was the question after all
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06-04-2019, 08:13 AM
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#52
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: North Port Florida
Posts: 2,050
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always on propane when driving ... not sure where you live that the frig stays cold for hours but here in central Florida not so much...
__________________
Frank & Cindy--- (SOB) 5th Wheel ---2019 Ram 3500 Cummins 6.7 SRW 4x4 8' bed--- Payload 4394------Remi & Sage camping pups---TST 507 TPMS ... B&W Patriot 18K---3.73 axle ... Predator 3500---2019 48 days ---2020 28 days Camping
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06-04-2019, 08:20 AM
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#53
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Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Dayton Ohio
Posts: 1,876
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Just towed 400 miles.
My recording voltmeter shows 12.9 volts while towing. Truck has a 200 amp alternator.
Does help the battery, but not a lot. Ours went from 12.1 volts to 12.5 in 7 hours with basically no load. Likely an amount of surface charge. When plugged in the house charger went to 13.6 for 48 hours then the converter went to 13.1 volts. So the truck does not provide much. .2 volts less than the converter minimum.
We have 460 amps of battery.
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06-04-2019, 08:26 AM
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#54
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: Sarasota florida
Posts: 147
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its an Engle !
Quote:
Originally Posted by frank4711
always on propane when driving ... not sure where you live that the frig stays cold for hours but here in central Florida not so much...
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I live right by you in Sarasota. Google Engle refrigerator freezer. They are awesome.
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06-04-2019, 08:32 AM
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#55
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: North Port Florida
Posts: 2,050
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Papadave
I live right by you in Sarasota. Google Engle refrigerator freezer. They are awesome.
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Hey neighbor .... is it plugged into 12v when you travel? and is it a back-up to your camper frig on your primary .... I cut grass Sarasota/Bradenton 25 years...
__________________
Frank & Cindy--- (SOB) 5th Wheel ---2019 Ram 3500 Cummins 6.7 SRW 4x4 8' bed--- Payload 4394------Remi & Sage camping pups---TST 507 TPMS ... B&W Patriot 18K---3.73 axle ... Predator 3500---2019 48 days ---2020 28 days Camping
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06-04-2019, 08:39 AM
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#56
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: St. Paul, Minnesota
Posts: 3,183
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheRamaraos
We have an LG residential in our fiver. We turn the inverter on while towing and it works great. No problems so far leaving the fridge on.
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X2! Also have an LG residential and inverter. We tow all day and our batteries (two) are 100% charge at the end of the day.
__________________

2018 F250 Lariat 6.2 4X4 w 4.30s, 2018 Wildcat 29RLX
2012 BMW G650GS, Demco Premiere Slider
1969 John Deere 1020, 1940 Ford 9N, 1948 Ford 8N
Jonsered 535, Can of WD-40, Duct Tape
Red Green coffee mugs
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06-04-2019, 09:22 AM
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#57
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Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 2,403
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John Boates
Why do that, your fridge will stay cold for 8 to 10 hrs freezer also if you open to get something out for lunch. Being doing it for years.
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Not the small (less than 3 cu ft) fridges in a PUP. The model the OP doesn't even have a freezer. If you watch a thermometer monitoring inside the fridge temps, my experience is that PUP and A-frame fridge temps will generally rise 3-4 degrees an hour while towing (assumes fridge off, sunshine, outside air temps 75-85). Full TTs with large fridges do a lot better I'm sure.
One of the attractions of the high wall (to us) folding campers is the higher cabinet height and resulting larger fridge. The larger fridge is still a 3 way, but has auto-ignition and enough chimney height to mostly stay lit while towing on propane, and auto-relight if it does blow out. Being able to run the fridge on propane while towing allows the 10A the fridge would take on DC to be used for battery charging.
Fred W
2019 Flagstaff T21TBHW A-frame
2008 Hyundai Entourage minivan
camping Colorado and adjacent states one weekend at a time
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06-04-2019, 09:35 AM
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#58
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Richmond VA
Posts: 1,623
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3-way refrigerators are common in popups and will seldom stay lit on propane leaving only the 12vDC option on the road. All switching is manual. The trailer battery will supply cold during stops assuming the truck connection cuts off as it should. Otherwise there's the risk of a dead truck battery if the stop is too long. Fords cut off with the ignition; don't know lesser brands.
Larger refrigerators with roof venting will usually remain on propane during transit. Simply select Auto on the control panel and let the refrigerator figure out where it wants to draw power from. On very hot days I run on LP when parked as it provides the most cold especially on low park voltges.
-- Chuck
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06-04-2019, 11:23 AM
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#59
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: Sarasota florida
Posts: 147
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Primary or secondary
Quote:
Originally Posted by frank4711
Hey neighbor .... is it plugged into 12v when you travel? and is it a back-up to your camper frig on your primary .... I cut grass Sarasota/Bradenton 25 years... 
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It’s my primary when traveling or staying a few days. I cut off the one that came with the rig dry it out and use it for a pantry. Car will run the Engel. Solar panels will run It. The Engel is secondary when I set up for a month or so plugged in. Engel makes different sizes. Mine is a top load that is like a large cooler. Full size fridge came with the coach. When it quits I’m getting another Engel to replace it. Poor man can only afford the best.
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06-04-2019, 02:55 PM
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#60
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Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 12
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If you don’t have an inverter in your trailer with two large ah batteries leave on auto. Tried in an old Montana and lost things in my frig with dead battery upon arrival at our destination.
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