Wondering about T@B400 Battery consumption with 12 volt refrigerator

Jginz · April 27

We have a 2021 T@B400, and we are considering trading up to a 2025 T@B400 with the Black Canyon package. We do a lot of boondocking, and have gone as long as 10 days without shore power. Our 2021 has the three way refrigerator , so we run it on propane when boondocking. We are concerned that the 12 volt refrigerator may limit how long we can go without shore power. The 2025 would have 620 watts of solar, compared to just 150 watts on the 2021. While I am not planning on getting the lithium package with its four 100 Ah batteries, I will add a second 100 Ah BattleBorn Lithium.
I would appreciate hearing about the experience of other T@Bers regarding this question. We spoke to someone at NüCamp, and he estimated only a few days without shore power. We don't have a generator, and would like to keep it that way.
Thank you.

pthomas745 · April 27

Lots of threads about the fridge consumption. Most of these threads may be for trailers with smaller battery setups and less solar input. In your trailer (if it still has the stock dual 6V AGMs) you had about 135 amp hours available. With 2 100 ah lithiums, you would almost double that capacity. Not to mention almost 4 times more solar capability, with the possibility of portable solar panels added at some point.

https://www.google.com/search?q=2+way+fridge+power+consumption+site:tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com&client=firefox-b-1-d&uact=5&oq=2+way+fridge+power+consumption+site:tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com

Horigan · April 27

If the 2025 is a two way refrigerator, I wouldn't worry about it since they are much more efficient on 12V than the 3-way refrigerators (compressor vs absorption). Your solar will keep up, unless you're deep in trees. Your battery capacity would mitigate the tree issue a lot.

ckjs · April 27

Jginz said:

We … have gone as long as 10 days without shore power... We are concerned that the 12 volt refrigerator may limit how long we can go without shore power. The 2025 would have 620 watts of solar, compared to just 150 watts on the 2021. While I am not planning on getting the lithium package with its four 100 Ah batteries, I will add a second 100 Ah BattleBorn Lithium.

We use around 500wh/day with our 12v fridge and miscellaneous lights. Our 200Ah of batteries last 4 days without any solar - i.e., a shaded campsite. You might expect about half of the rated generation for panels on a curved roof. Even with that derating, yours should recharge a kilowatt hour or more on a sunny day, perhaps even recharge 200Ah entirely. We see useful recharging in just a few hours under a thin pine forest.
So: long trips in the sun should be easily covered. All shade? If it is a problem, eventually get a supplement, like a portable panel. We haven’t, because it is another thing to bring along.

Jginz · April 27

We use around 500wh/day with our 12v fridge and miscellaneous lights. Our 200Ah of batteries last 4 days without any solar - i.e., a shaded campsite. You might expect about half of the rated generation for panels on a curved roof. Even with that derating, yours should recharge a kilowatt hour or more on a sunny day, perhaps even recharge 200Ah entirely. We see useful recharging in just a few hours under a thin pine forest.
So: long trips in the sun should be easily covered. All shade? If it is a problem, eventually get a supplement, like a portable panel. We haven’t, because it is another thing to bring along.

Thank you Charles and Judy, Your reply is very helpful. I am especially interested in hearing how other campers are managing to boondock with the 12 volt fridge. Is your fridge a replacement or did the 2018 T@B 320 come with a 12 volt fridge? What size fridge do you have? The 2025 T@B 400 has a 4.6 cu. ft. I wonder how they compare on power consumption.

pthomas745 · April 27

@Jginz Isotherm has some pretty good manuals that spell out the power consumption of all their models. The 4.6cu ft fridge is listed as the "CR130" with a couple of variations. This is the manual for several versions of the fridges. Page 25 of the manual linked below gives the average watt hours used under specifically noted conditions. All of the CR130 types seem to fall in around 400 watt hours or so, which comes out to about 33 amp hours per day. (Your amp hours may vary, of course).

https://pantherrvproducts.com/content/Refrigerators/Indel-Webasto-Cruise-Refer-Manual.pdf

elbolillo · April 27

We have 400ah of LiFePo4 batteries and we were in Big Bend, TX for 12 days at the beginning of February. We had abundant sunshine and have a 220w suitcase panel. In addition to the fridge we also used our Starlink extensively (via 12v not inverter) and never dropped below 60%.

We also did a 10 day trip out east with limited solar charging and arrived home with 20% in the bank.

I think you should do fine.

Bill&Suze · April 27

@elbolillo, do you have the Black Canyon 400 with 620W solar to feed those 400ah?

XenanMe · April 29

We have a 2024 400 and we installed a 290AH LiTime battery. We find we can Boondock comfortably without any solar for 6 days (takes us down to 20% battery). If you get any solar then it significantly extends the time because the rooftop panel is very efficient. We previously had a 2018 400 (with 12v fridge) with 200AH lithium and were comfortable with 4 days boondocking without solar. That fridge was not as efficient as in the newer trailers. Note: We don’t use the inverter which uses a lot of power. If you use the inverter then your boondocking potential could be shorter.

elbolillo · April 29

Bill&Suze said:

@elbolillo, do you have the Black Canyon 400 with 620W solar to feed those 400ah?

No. I have the original 180w panel and I installed another 180w panel and wired the two in parallel and then I have an external 220w panel.

This setup allows me to keep everything charged up nicely. On travel days the two rooftop panels do a great job keeping the batteries topped off.

gkreitzburg · April 29

We have a 2023 and added an extra 100ah battery to the original. While we do not boondock for long periods, we do for over nights while traveling (ie. harvest host). While using lights, fridge, and heat we never got below around 70% in a day.

andytabrv · April 29

Mentioned by a few people on this forum, but to repeat here: To help the IsoTherm fridge run more efficiently (cool more effectively) remove the defrosting drip tray from under the freezer box when it's on. Keeping it on when running tends to insulate the rest of the fridge from the main cooling portion of the fridge making it run harder. I simply put mine in the drawer when it's running and put it back when my trip has ended and I've turned the fridge off to catch the condensation from the thawing freezer.

I noticed the fridge has to work much less hard (I can turn it down) when the drip tray is removed.

dlb · April 29

We have 300ah of lithium and the 12v fridge in our 400. On our last trip, overcast with occasional sun through the trees our solar roof, 160W, left us with 80% charge after 4 days, 3 nights. We used the lights and heat, propane priority, at night. The upgrade from the original 200Ah AGM was a very noticeable improvement. We are happy with the outcome. If I had your set up I would not be worried at all about boondocking for 2 weeks.

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Wondering about T@B400 Battery consumption with 12 volt refrigerator

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