Boondocking with a Residential Refrigerator

SWharton · January 21, 2016

We have never had a residential refrig before and are planning to boondock.

1) Should we turn off the refrig. at night?

2) We have a 160w solar panel to charge the batteries during the day plus we will be able to run the generator for 2 hours each evening.

3) We have 4 house batteries, of unknown amp hours(not documented on battery, not on NAPA website). We have an email to our mfg asking about the amp hours.

4) We could also run our generator from 8am-10am each day but we are usually out touring by that time so we don't want to depend on it. Can we buy a timer for the generator that would turn it off at 10AM(kind of like a light time).

5) We are not going to get another solar panel so don't suggest it.

Thanks.

Yarome · January 21, 2016

If they are napa 12v batteries then you could safely expect to have at least 180ah's available (360ah@50%soc) possibly more. If it's the only thing running overnight (no furnace, water heater, etc) then you should be able to leave it on as long as your running your generator every day. I don't know what your daily energy requirements are or what generator or charger you have so I can't recommend how long to run your genset. 2 hours 'may' be sufficient in conjunction with your solar.

If I had a choice, I would prefer to run my genset in the AM when your batteries will take the largest chunk of current and let the solar top them off throughout the day.

Adding in a timer would also depend on what genset you have.. or the poor man's timer.. limiting fuel and letting the carb run dry IF your genset is such that it would not cause any issues. A lot of the small inverter types have no problem running dry, but the larger diesel variety don't like that too much.

lenp · January 22, 2016

I have 450 amp hours of battery bank and 750 watts of solar. Most of my boondocking is in national forest and I only get 3-4 hours of sun per day at that campground. When there I always run my generator for an hour or so in the morning to get the most charge out of it as Yarome suggests. I also have a Bogart Engineering battery monitor so I can easily see how the batteries are doing. If needed I can always top things up with an hour of generator run time in the evening.

Highly recommend a battery monitoring system if you plan to boondock much. Very hard to get a good indicator of battery charge levels without one.

As Yarome said, not knowing what your daily requirements, battery charger specifics makes it difficult to do any more than make an educated guess.

Lenp

hdrider · January 22, 2016

I certainly do not disagree with the statements above however,,,,, if you are a early riser like me and happen to be boon-docking in an area that running a generator at 5 or 6am is possible you could do as I do and turn off the cooler on the refer so I have enough battery for a pot of coffee and heat in the mornings.

SWharton · January 22, 2016

This will be our first time boondocking with our new rig so we will be on a learning curve as to our usage. We do have a monitor system so that is all good. I will need to look around for a timer. Our generator has something called "quiet time"(or something like that). I'll get out the books and start reading.

Thanks for all the input.

Bill Joyce · January 22, 2016

"Should we turn off the refrig. at night?"

I would not do this without verifying it will not heat up enough. Our Whirlpool fridge's freezer was up to 25 degrees after 5 hours and thus will not keep everything frozen when shut off overnight. Some fridges can go 8 hours without power, others can't. We use this wireless thermometer to monitor the fridge and freezer sections - http://www.amazon.com/AcuRite-Refrigerator-Freezer-Wireless-Thermometer/dp/B004QJVU78.

Rif · January 22, 2016

I did some extensive research into overnight power usage and temperature drop a few years back. I found that turning it off overnight saved a lot of power, but also that the temp rose too much for my liking. I solved that by putting the refer on a 24 hour timer that shuts it off around bedtime but turns it on again for a half hour during the middle of the night. It still reduced the power consumption significantly but kept the temperatures where I felt comfortable with them. I still use that same technique when boondocking.

As for batteries and charging, I have 900 AH of batteries and 800 watts of solar. In full sun I can eke by without the generator, but my electrical requirements may be nothing like yours. I run 2 large TV's, DirecTV DVR's, two computers, phone chargers, and a myriad of other devices. Our refrigerator is a 21 cu. ft Whirlpool that is not energy star rated. I only mention these things to point out that everyone's electrical needs are different. Only you can determine how much you need.

I will say that 160 watts of solar is not much. I would not expect it to do much more than top off your batteries once you have finished bulk charging them with the generator, and you will probably need to charge both morning and night. I'll be surprised if the solar even keeps up with the refrigerator power usage during the day.

hdrider · January 22, 2016

Yes, be sure to do a test of how much the temp rises on your refer. For us if we urn it off at 10PM and back on at 8am we loose about 5 degree's this time of year. Well within what I'm comfortable with.

Yarome · January 22, 2016

We use this wireless thermometer to monitor the fridge and freezer sections - http://www.amazon.com/AcuRite-Refrigerator-Freezer-Wireless-Thermometer/dp/B004QJVU78.

I use the same one myself and wouldn't be without it. There are wired units that aren't too difficult to install, don't take up much space, and are hardwired into your 12v system, but I like the fact that, even if my 12v system were to fail, these sensors will keep on ticking. Excellent for monitoring temps from the TV when in transit, but that would depend on your rig and distances. It also alarms at your preset limits.

SWharton · January 23, 2016

We have a wireless thermometer installed even without the boondocking. Good idea to try turning the refrig off while in controlled(have electricity) conditions and see what happens.

Agree everyone's energy needs are different but wanted to get a feel for "norm".

Solar panel was installed for keeping the batteries charged while in storage, any secondary benefit is a bonus.

We will pull out our manuals for the generator and learn about "quiet time". I am hoping to be able to turn the generator on at 8 AM and have quiet time turn it off at 10 AM. Did some reading about using a timer and don't have a warm fuzzy about the timer.

Jack Mayer · January 23, 2016

If the generator has a "quiet time" setting then it has an auto gen start, and likely also has a programmable setting where you can set the times that it will run. There are various ways to trigger a run....voltage settings being the primary one. So it would seem that you have the issue solved to some extent. You should be able to run the genset per "schedule". But that alone may not keep your fridge at expected temperatures. The solar is insignificant and does not play a role here.

The best thing to do is as you suggest. Try it and see the results. There are too many variables to say for sure. But you will have to run the genset a fair amount to keep it cold. The solar will do little-to-nothing to help.