Here WE are!!!

[Firstime RVer]

Originally Posted by chily3

Since we have not had ours out yet and not looked at all the manuals, doesn't the fridge also run on 12 volt.

My refrig is a Norcold N611v basically the manual says it will run on elec. when available. If no 110 V AC elec is available it will switch over to gas.. The manual doesn't say anything about 12v operation.
I expect to try it out on a long trip without gas or elec and see what happens. At least with the 400w inverter I would have the option of using LP or 12v when boondocking.. I could use my truck to charge the battery but would have to go out and find a place that fills LP gas bottles, if I'm low on gas..

[Firstime RVer]

oops didn't think the first reply went thru..

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by chily3

Since we have not had ours out yet and not looked at all the manuals, doesn't the fridge also run on 12 volt.

Probably not. There are several types of RV fridges, most installed in travel trailers are two way they will run on LP or 120 volt. They do make a 3 way that run on LP, 12 volt DC or 120 volt AC. Typically those are used in truck campers and popups. I have not seen them installed regularly in a travel trailer in many years.

Aaron

[chily3]

Originally Posted by Firstime RVer

Hey thanks Mike,
Didn't even know it existed.... Would love to turn those doors grey.. or is it gray?? Would love to make the doors match the paint job... LOL
Pat

The covering will match close if not exact the grey color and hoping to get a small continuation of while stripe as well.

Going to have it done around the 20th and will post pictures of the finished product. Anything will be better than the white.

[MartyG]

Congratulations! Like you, we bought ours when we retired. This year we've travelled over 6000 miles! I applaud you for keeping it simple and avoiding slides. Besides the complexity and possibility of malfunction, it's easier to arrive and depart without them. Don't worry about propane, and save the inverter money! Leave the fridge on gas, except when going through a tunnel. That's the only place where you have to turn it off. Some turn it off when refueling, also.

[donzinger]

Originally Posted by Firstime RVer

My refrig is a Norcold N611v basically the manual says it will run on elec. when available. If no 110 V AC elec is available it will switch over to gas.. The manual doesn't say anything about 12v operation.
I expect to try it out on a long trip without gas or elec and see what happens. At least with the 400w inverter I would have the option of using LP or 12v when boondocking.. I could use my truck to charge the battery but would have to go out and find a place that fills LP gas bottles, if I'm low on gas..

Firstime - where the manual says it will run on LP - for clarification, running on LP requires 12V to operate. Test it ahead of time and be aware that it will drain the battery as it is running unless connected to a charging source such as a vehicle or shore power.

[Firstime RVer]

Thanks Donzinger,
About 5 minutes after I posted the reply, it struck me that I hadn't thought about 12V control power being required for both the refrig and furnace when operating on gas..


I would think that using 12v to power the cooling function of the refrig would take a lot of power.
ie: 3 amps X 120V = 360 watts which translates to 30 amps at 12V.
If that's a continuous load that would drain a 200AH battery is just over 6 hours. The generator and LP gas options are starting to look a whole lot better..
Pat

[donzinger]

I went solar and never looked back. Only run the generator for A/C now

[Firstime RVer]

Thanks Marty,
Can't wait till my better half retires so we can "hit the road". Trying to learn the ins and outs of RV use without having taken it out yet is like trying to learn how to use a computer before buying one.
RV's being a lot different than your standard stationary house systems and its gonna take some homework for me to fully understand their workings and how to maintain them..
The members of this site provide the kind of info that is not only helpful in developing that understanding, but downright critical
in keeping newbies like me out of trouble.
All the best in your travels.
Pat

[Firstime RVer]

The solar part sounds really intriguing.. That might be a way to go when I graduate from being a newbie to advanced RVer.
What do you have in the way of batteries and how do cloudy days affect maintaining the battery charge level?
Pat

[donzinger]

I have 4 - 6 volt golf cart batteries. My for panels are very efficient even on cloudy days

[Firstime RVer]

Originally Posted by MartyG

Congratulations! Like you, we bought ours when we retired. This year we've travelled over 6000 miles! I applaud you for keeping it simple and avoiding slides. Besides the complexity and possibility of malfunction, it's easier to arrive and depart without them. Don't worry about propane, and save the inverter money! Leave the fridge on gas, except when going through a tunnel. That's the only place where you have to turn it off. Some turn it off when refueling, also.

Hey again Marty,
I agree with the KISS principal. Had a professor in college who drove the point home when he said that all of the components on a rocket ship are 99.999% reliable but when you consider the huge number of components that could fail, it reduced the overall reliability to only 30% !!! While I don't mind performing occasional repairs, and enjoy the occasional challenge, I do like being able to improve the odds in keeping that kind of thing to a minimum..
Pat

[hddecker]

Originally Posted by Firstime RVer

The solar part sounds really intriguing.. That might be a way to go when I graduate from being a newbie to advanced RVer.
What do you have in the way of batteries and how do cloudy days affect maintaining the battery charge level?
Pat

Pat,

Aaron is right, way back almost before I can remember, the 3 way fridge was common. The last time I saw a 3 way in a TT was in the '70s.

An inverter is nice to have, but you need something to keep the battery/ies charged. Using your truck to charge the battery, is like using a very expensive generator.

My 2 cents worth on the subject of batteries and maintaining them, based on how we travel and camp. We don't watch much TV or use 120V appliances when we are traveling. The biggest power draw is the furnace when it is needed and your 12V lights.

First thing I would do is replace all the 12V lights with LEDs. We like cool white bulbs as it makes easier on the eyes when we are reading. Next replace the 12V battery with 2-6V golf cart batteries wired in series. That will give you around 50% more reserve power.

Now I would add a solar system to keep batteries charged while we are boondocking, which makes is a big part of our travels. I started with a 100W panel and a 30A controller, which was great in Alaska, but I'm adding another 100W panel to give the system a boost when it's overcast. For any 120V appliances that we might use we plug the inverter into a 12V socket that I wired specifically for that purpose.

Finally I would add a generator, for heavier 120V usage (A/C to cool down trailer when we are boondocking) and them rainy days that rarely EVER occur. My Yamaha generator is 11 years old and has around 100 hours on it, the majority of those hours were from camping at a race.

It took us awhile to get it all figured out and we all have different power requirements, so you are going to have to do some experimenting.

A great place to be working those details out is in your driveway, that way when your battery goes dead from the furnace running all night you can be nice and warm in the house. Once you get things figured out for your type of usage, you can cross the counrty and never have to hook up to the grid.

[Firstime RVer]

Originally Posted by hddecker

Pat,

An inverter is nice to have, but you need something to keep the battery/ies charged. Using your truck to charge the battery, is like using a very expensive generator.

First thing I would do is replace all the 12V lights with LEDs. We like cool white bulbs as it makes easier on the eyes when we are reading. Next replace the 12V battery with 2-6V golf cart batteries wired in series. That will give you around 50% more reserve power.

Now I would add a solar system to keep batteries charged while we are boondocking, which makes is a big part of our travels. I started with a 100W panel and a 30A controller, which was great in Alaska, but I'm adding another 100W panel to give the system a boost when it's overcast. For any 120V appliances that we might use we plug the inverter into a 12V socket that I wired specifically for that purpose.


It took us awhile to get it all figured out and we all have different power requirements, so you are going to have to do some experimenting.

A great place to be working those details out is in your driveway, that way when your battery goes dead from the furnace running all night you can be nice and warm in the house. Once you get things figured out for your type of usage, you can cross the counrty and never have to hook up to the grid.

I agree HD,
At this point I am looking forward to trying all the different types of camping, and expect to pretty much gravitate to the type that suits us the most. Once we reach that point, we'll be in a better position to decide on what equipment would work best.

I couldn't agree more that I'd rather perform repair work in my driveway than at a campsite.. LOL

Between my early backpacking days and the 9 years I spent tent camping with my sons in boy scouts, It didn't take long to realize that a lot of those fancy camping gadgets added weight, were more complicated than necessary and always had to be fixed. I always seemed to be fixing things from lanterns to zippers to camp stoves, with wire or duct tape using my trusty leatherman out on the trail!!

We already have LED lighting which I really like.

I've seen references to 6 V batteries in many of the posts, and was curious as to why they provide so much more capacity..
They sure do cost a lot more!! Guess I'll have some time to think about it before spring..

All the best
Pat

[hddecker]

Originally Posted by Firstime RVer

I've seen references to 6 V batteries in many of the posts, and was curious as to why they provide so much more capacity..
They sure do cost a lot more!! Guess I'll have some time to think about it before spring..

All the best
Pat

Pat,

The 6V batteries have bigger plates than the 12V, packed into the same size footprint, but a taller case.

I should have noted that I went from 2 - 12V Group 27 batteries to the 2 - 6Vs, resulting in the 50% more reserve power. I presume that you were gifted 1 - 12V Group 24 battery, at least that's what we get on our new TTs.

Jim

[chily3]

Originally Posted by Firstime RVer

The solar part sounds really intriguing.. That might be a way to go when I graduate from being a newbie to advanced RVer.
What do you have in the way of batteries and how do cloudy days affect maintaining the battery charge level?
Pat

Take your time on updating, etc take a few trips and find out what you really need. Also for putting up things inside. We did the basics now will take the shake down trip for two nights this month with our pad and paper to make notes on what we still need to make the trailer function.

[DesertRat]

Originally Posted by Firstime RVer

Thanks Donzinger,
About 5 minutes after I posted the reply, it struck me that I hadn't thought about 12V control power being required for both the refrig and furnace when operating on gas..


I would think that using 12v to power the cooling function of the refrig would take a lot of power.
ie: 3 amps X 120V = 360 watts which translates to 30 amps at 12V.
If that's a continuous load that would drain a 200AH battery is just over 6 hours. The generator and LP gas options are starting to look a whole lot better..
Pat

You will find that the frig should be set to auto when running. That way if connected to 110v it will run on it. While boondocking or running down the road it will switch to LP. On LP it requires some 12v power but very little.

[chily3]

As mentioned earlier I have had the work done to my 1900RB trailer to have the storage doors and entry door wrapped. It turned out excellent and sure makes the trailer a "finished product" To bad Dutchman did not do it.