Fridge - Propane While Traveling?

Verna

@lapowers57, do you have a link to the product you are referring to?

ericnliz

Verna, Click on the blue highlight on Michigan_Mike's post, and it will take you to the Walmart post. Is that what you were asking?

Verna

ericnliz said:

Verna, Click on the blue highlight on Michigan_Mike's post, and it will take you to the Walmart post. Is that what you were asking?

No, I forgot to put Lapowers57 name there.....fixed

ericnliz

Sorry, just tryin' to help out!

Verna

ericnliz said:

Sorry, just tryin' to help out!

Thanks for your help, Eric! That's what happens when I try to ask a quick question on my way out the door. "Distracted walking and typing"!

Nomad

At least it just affected your typing and not your walking - could have been a fall instead.

ericnliz

PXL, Glad to see with all you're dealing with 'ya haven't lost your sense of humor!

Nomad

No biggy, just deal with the hand your dealt each day - inconvenience, yes :-)

lapowers57

Michigan_Mike said:

An easy way to check your battery voltage is the Equus Innova 12 volt LED cigarette style meter that is available for around $10 at Walmart.  I have one and have used it for many years.  I also have a fixed meter inside my trailer on the lower passenger side bench area and  can quickly glance through the window for a quick visual and the other built in meter that is part of my SeeLevel ll tank monitor system.  

I was asking what information this product would give me that my SealeveL II does not.  I am relatively happy with the SealeveL II as a way to keep a rough gauge on my batteries level of discharge.  I know there are better options that will ignore most of the load on the battery but they require lots of work and cost a good bit.  Given that this just plugs into the 12 volt socket I can't imagine that it provides a more accurate reading then the SealeveL II, if you have one.

Michigan_Mike

The only thing the Equus Innova will do differently is provide you with a quick visual reading of the voltage, whereas the SeeLevel ll meter would need to have the battery button pushed in to read it.  

Fergie

I recently installed a Drok LED Readout Battery monitor that I packaged in a ABS box with a lighted switch directly connected to my battery in the propane/battery housing on the front of our T@B. It is connected independently of anything else including the battery cutoff switch I also recently installed. This way I can directly monitor battery voltage at the battery no-load and load under various conditions without concern for voltage drop in the leads.

I am writing a detailed article on how it I did this with B/M and pictures and will share it with this forum once I figure out how to do it as it is rather long.

In the meantime here are a couple of pictures.

Fergie

Nomad

Cool

ericnliz

Nice, details with photos would be really helpful, thanks!

Nomad

It appears that my blowouts - both while traveling and in campgrounds - weren't "blow"outs (wind related) but a shot thermocouple. We'll see.

AldebaranJill

I wanted to add some actual data to this discussion, as driving with the fridge on 12V vs propane mode is a continual debate I have with myself. I have a Trimetric meter installed, so the current drain or charging is being measured accurately. Below, - means current drain and + means charging.

Baseline: -0.09A (from LP detector)
Fridge on 12V: -10.3A
Car connected and running in idle: +4.13A (Fridge is off)
Car connected and running in idle with Fridge on 12V: ranging from -1.5A to 0.2A

The car input current is varying and I suppose it's possible that while driving down the highway it would overcome the fridge draw and venture into positive, in my configuration, it's clear that running the fridge on 12V while driving risks draining the battery beyond what my car alternator can replace.

Data is good. More data is better. :-)

Nomad

All depends on ones alternator size but yours is probably typical I'd guess.