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Old 01-27-2021, 03:10 AM   #41
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Originally Posted by taylorbob1 View Post
I owned a large Engel chest fridge/freezer on a sailboat I once owned
It used very little power.
I could hear that tiny compressor running.

So I’m now open to the concept in an RV.
We mostly BoonDock in our RV, but in my boat I was BoonDocking with only one 12v house battery.

Norcold is a well known brand, like Engel, but this is a new model so we’ll have to wait to see how reliable, durable, and energy efficient it is. I’m optimistic so expect good results.

The new Norcold fridge has a fairly large freezer (for its size) which I like, but power usage seems a little high; although power may be expressed as maximum rating, where average is much less. It’s impossible to tell how much lower without testing. If it’s 50% as David guessed, that would make it fairly efficient. Still, it may use more power than smaller Engel.

In any case, just under 100 Watts during day isn’t that high; and can be supplied easily by alternator while driving. If boondocking, you’d hate to run any generator full time if required just to power 100-Watt (or less) refrigerator. That’s where a larger battery bank along with faster charging could come in handy depending on how fridge is used.

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Old 02-19-2021, 02:19 PM   #42
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Model: Deposit: Chateau 28A
State: Ohio
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To me that sounds great since I’ve been anticipating more and more motorhomes to switch to compressor refrigerators. That they use 12V direct current so it doesn’t need an inverter sounds even better. Granted, much depends on refrigerator model and quality.

In many cases manufacturers can fit a +/- 10 cubic foot fridge where a 6~8 propane went before. That’s an added plus. It’s likely lighter too.

Can you post model and size? And also current or Watt rating that should be displayed inside fridge. This is great news to me although I know others will feel the very opposite.
They are nice, we currently have a 12v fridge in our trailer. However we boon dock mostly so for us the 12v fridge doesn’t work well. We have to drag along a generator unless we get lucky and the Hipcamp site we are going to has electric. One of many reasons we are switching to a class C. The built in generator will be nice but not the only reason we are switching. The fridge in our current unit is about the worst on the market, its the Furrion. The complaints on that fridge have been so numerous that the manufacturer is switching them out with the cannon on a case by case basis under warranty. We have what the manufacturer calls the “Juice Pack” which is just a 50w solar panel, dual purpose deep cycle battery (1) and a PWM charge controller. No where near enough power to keep the battery charged running the fridge by itself for one day/night let alone a weekend or week.
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Old 02-19-2021, 02:57 PM   #43
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They are nice, we currently have a 12v fridge in our trailer. However we boon dock mostly so for us the 12v fridge doesn’t work well. We have to drag along a generator unless we get lucky and the Hipcamp site we are going to has electric. One of many reasons we are switching to a class C. The built in generator will be nice but not the only reason we are switching. The fridge in our current unit is about the worst on the market, its the Furrion. The complaints on that fridge have been so numerous that the manufacturer is switching them out with the cannon on a case by case basis under warranty. We have what the manufacturer calls the “Juice Pack” which is just a 50w solar panel, dual purpose deep cycle battery (1) and a PWM charge controller. No where near enough power to keep the battery charged running the fridge by itself for one day/night let alone a weekend or week.

Sorry to hear, sounds like you have many things working against you.

The 12V refrigerator technology is proven, but my concern (as mentioned previously) has been the quality, particularly of the 12VDC compressor. Most of these refrigerators are manufactured in China at a much lower cost than their European counterparts, so there’s potential for inferior quality — hard to say. When a company like Norcold puts their brand on a refrigerator, I hope they exercise greater control on design and quality.

In your case the numbers don’t add up at all regardless of poor refrigerator quality. I’m surprised an RV manufacturer would install a 12V refrigerator in a trailer, particularly without a generator, with a single battery, and only 50 Watts of solar which is next to useless. It has ZERO chance of sustainability on its own. Devil is in the details.
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Old 02-19-2021, 03:10 PM   #44
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I too will be sad if the day comes that absorption fridges go extinct. I really like their simplicity and low energy consumption. They are a bit quirky compared to their residential counterparts but they get the job done and I like ‘em. Might feel differently if I had a mega coach and lived in it full time but that’s not going to happen.
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Old 02-19-2021, 03:28 PM   #45
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Sorry to hear, sounds like you have many things working against you.

The 12V refrigerator technology is proven, but my concern (as mentioned previously) has been the quality, particularly of the 12VDC compressor. Most of these refrigerators are manufactured in China at a much lower cost than their European counterparts, so there’s potential for inferior quality — hard to say. When a company like Norcold puts their brand on a refrigerator, I hope they exercise greater control on design and quality.

In your case the numbers don’t add up at all regardless of poor refrigerator quality. I’m surprised an RV manufacturer would install a 12V refrigerator in a trailer, particularly without a generator, with a single battery, and only 50 Watts of solar which is next to useless. It has ZERO chance of sustainability on its own. Devil is in the details.
Agreed. I truly am not sure how these dealers can get away with some of the things they get away with. This was not my first camper by any means however it was our first “New camper” and we were unaware of the changes that have been made over the years in the industry. The salesman pointed out how efficient the new 12v refrigerators are and even went as far as to tell us (when we told him we would be mostly boon docking) that this combination would work fine for boon docking. Our first trip out boon docking proved that he did not know what he was talking about. By the time we went on our next trip we had a generator in the back of the truck. Now from much research I know that a minimum of 200 watts of solar/ 2 6v golf cart AGM batteries/MPPT controller is what we will need to sustain the fridge. Because of this and other issues we have decided to move up to the Chateau 28A.
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