Overnight Fridge/Battery life on CS.

CanuckTabber

Will the battery last long enough if you just pull over for the night at Walmart or Cracker Barrel?  This is a concern.

Tabster

Short answer is... probably. I have a cs and use a Zamp 120w solar. I run my fridge pretty cold (like to take ice cream sandwiches with us) but don't run fan or lights when only on battery, and the fridge is still going in the AM. If your TV has been charging the battery and you pull over for the night you should be ok. 

Mouseketab

I've never done the Wal-Mart thing overnight, but I have stopped at a hotel overnight, and the battery and clamshell fridge were just fine the next morning. We cranked up the truck and continued our trip.

Playc

like to clarify - with overnight parking at Walmart situation, should we run the refrig with propane or battery?  assuming either one is at its full capacity ... TIA

Verna

Hang on PlayC. You have the "S" model with the propane option. Yes, you can run on propane.

CanuckTabber has another model with the two-way fridge and PlayC's model is a three way fridge.

So, to answer Canuck's question, if your battery is fully charged, it "should" last through the night, one night.  To insure it will last, it's a good idea to have three or four frozen bottles of water to help keep the fridge cold. I had four frozen 1/2 liter bottles of water in the fridge, along with some other unfrozen bottles of water and a couple of bottled Cokes. I drove for 7 hours with the fridge off, but closed. When I got home, the frozen bottles were still pretty much frozen, and the water and Cokes were still very cold. The fridge is well insulated, but use the frozen water bottle trick to help it along.

Canuck, try it in your driveway.  Get the fridge cold, add the frozen bottles, some other stuff, and run it on battery overnight. See what happens. That will be your best answer. And make sure to charge up the battery the next morning.

CanuckTabber

Awesome !!  Thanks for all of the feedback...best community going !

Now when can get the 400 model here in NA.??

Thanks again.

Playc

Verna - Thanks on the advice on propane.  As mentioned in this thread, battery mode can run the refrig overnight fine.  Hence I will use the battery mode for refrig for overnight at Walmart and save the propane for other situations.

Verna

Playc said:

Verna - Thanks on the advice on propane.  As mentioned in this thread, battery mode can run the refrig overnight fine.  Hence I will use the battery mode for refrig for overnight at Walmart and save the propane for other situations.

You 're welcome, but PlayC, these truly are different fridge's. The three way may drain your battery very quickly, while Canuck's will "probably" last all night. As I advised Canuck, try it in your driveway first. See how long the battery lasts. Read your manual or look it up on the Internet. Research to see if it turns off if the battery gets to a specific low voltage. I don't know, as I haven't researched mine for that piece of info. 

It's always a great idea to try what you can in your driveway, rather than to be in a campground with no internet and to be unable to reference this forum.  I even ran clear water through the toilet to see how it worked since I had never used an RV type toilet before . I put a bucket under the black water pipe and then used the water on my flowers...BUT ONLY IF IT'S FRESH WATER!

Mouseketab

Not necessarily Playc. The 3-way fridge uses a LOT more power on battery than the 12v fridge. The battery mode on a 3-way can only be used while driving and a charge line attached from your tow vehicle. As Verna said, you need to run your 3-way fridge on propane without hookups. Your battery will die in a couple hours with a 3-way on battery.

Playc

Big thanks to Verna and Mouseketab - you folks are great and I continue to learn almost daily.  We won't camp until last week of September (too hot in TX) so I will try all kinds on my driveway including the black tank as Verna so wisely suggested.  Maybe you folks can come to visit us in TX campgrounds in early winter.  I will for sure buy a 24pack so we can drink all night long.

Verna

Playc said:

Big thanks to Verna and Mouseketab - you folks are great and I continue to learn almost daily.  We won't camp until last week of September (too hot in TX) so I will try all kinds on my driveway including the black tank as Verna so wisely suggested.  Maybe you folks can come to visit us in TX campgrounds in early winter.  I will for sure buy a 24pack so we can drink all night long.

Thanks for the invite. I'll pass through Texas on my way to Arizona in early January. Last year was a marathon drive to stay ahead of freezing rain, so I didn't get to do much site seeing in TX.  I'll bring some wine, weather permitting.

Playc

Hi Verna - Great.  Be sure to post your January dates and campground sites in TX.  We will try best to join you.  We are in Austin/Houston area.