Residential Refridgerator-- How Do They Work?

[Dave_and_Angie]

Most of the fifth wheels we are lookng at, "new used", have the residential refridgerator and when shopping used options are not an option.. I know they run off the invertor on 12 volt when towing down the road, but when plugged into park/shore power do they stay on 12 volt or auto-switch to 110 on park/shore power. How well do you like the residential fridge compared to propane/electric? Having the extra capacty of the residential style would wenice but the reliability of the 12 volt inverter style of power gives me (a nonuser of the residential fridge) a concern for an rv appliance.

 

[osims]

When on shore power the frig automatically switches to 110 volt. We have really enjoyed ours, we were recently on a trip where we drove over 400 miles a day and the inverter and refrigerator performed perfectly. I don't think we will ever own another rig without the residential refrigerator.

 

[Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn]

We love our residential fridge !!!!! Work perfectly all the time. Runs on 12 invertor​Power when you're unplugged from shore power, when you remember to turn on the inverter. ,:-\
If you do any dry camping at all you'll definitely need solar and a Gen to keep it going.

Jerrod

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[Oregon_Camper]

I guess the biggest question to ask first is will you ever "Dry Camp"? If not, then you just need a nice battery (and power from truck while towing) to get you from site A with power to site B with power.

If you "dry camp" then you can do stuff like add more batteries, generator and/or solar to keep batteries charged and powering the inverter to run the refrigerator.

 

[Nabo]

We also really enjoy the residential refrig. There is a switch inside the control panel that when you disconnect from shore power, you turn on which switches from shore power to the inverter and battery power. The refrig which is off because of loss of shore power, will re-power on. Once you get to your location and plug back into shore power, we turn the inverter switch off.

 

[Dave_and_Angie]

Not much dry camping ,but do have a generator for charging batteries and running lights when needed. Great testimonies for the residential fridge and good to know it switches to 110 when plugged in to park power. Thank you

 

[BLR]

We opted for the residential frig when we ordered our Cyclone, so glad we did. We mainly do dry camping and we can go for 3 to 4 weeks and the only reason we have to go to a store is for fresh veggies. Not set up with solar yet but we run our 2000watt generator for about 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours sometime in the evening and we are good. Even when the weather was in the 90's

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[Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn]

We opted for the residential frig when we ordered our Cyclone, so glad we did. We mainly do dry camping and we can go for 3 to 4 weeks and the only reason we have to go to a store is for fresh veggies. Not set up with solar yet but we run our 2000watt generator for about 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours sometime in the evening and we are good. Even when the weather was in the 90's

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That's good to hear are you just running the 2 batteries or did you add more ?


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[BLR]

That's good to hear are you just running the 2 batteries or did you add more ?


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I believe LBR added 3 VERY old and used optimas just for a little a extra help..
1 day/night we were out for a SXS ride and we always seen to find a bar to stop at well one thing lead to another and it was 53 miles through the desert back to camp.. needless to say neither one of us was in any shape to pull the start rope on the genny.
The batteries held up through the night till one of us crawled out of the bed the next morning.. such good memories

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[danemayer]

If you'd like to understand the Residential Refrigerator power system better, take a look at our owner-written Residential Refrigerator Guide.

 

[WyoCyclone]

We opted for the residential frig when we ordered our Cyclone, so glad we did. We mainly do dry camping and we can go for 3 to 4 weeks and the only reason we have to go to a store is for fresh veggies. Not set up with solar yet but we run our 2000watt generator for about 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours sometime in the evening and we are good. Even when the weather was in the 90's

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I'm very curious as well how you did this. I went boondocking this weekend with our new rig and the residential fridge and ran the generator for 3+ hours a day and barely kept up with it and temps weren't that hot. I have a bank of 2 12 volt, deep cell batteries that are brand new and they STRUGGLED. We were being super conscious too of keeping the fridge open, running lights ect. and we'd be dead by 1:00-2:00 in the morning. I'm a little frustrated to say the least. Like the capacity of the fridge, however, not a fan of the battery situation at this point.

 

[Oregon_Camper]

I'm very curious as well how you did this. I went boondocking this weekend with our new rig and the residential fridge and ran the generator for 3+ hours a day and barely kept up with it and temps weren't that hot. I have a bank of 2 12 volt, deep cell batteries that are brand new and they STRUGGLED. We were being super conscious too of keeping the fridge open, running lights ect. and we'd be dead by 1:00-2:00 in the morning. I'm a little frustrated to say the least. Like the capacity of the fridge, however, not a fan of the battery situation at this point.

All batteries are not created equal. Do you know the amp hours for your batteries?

For example, I have 2 Trojan T-1275 Deep cycle and combined we have 300 amp hours.

Perhaps a small (portable) solar panel will help resolve the issue. We have a 4 panels on the roof and have 100% power everyday, but we don't have residential refrigerator.

This GoPower panel gets high marks on Amazon.




You might also want to check the output from your converter to see how well it is working. Perhaps you're not getting all the amps from converter to your battery while running your generator.

 

[WyoCyclone]

Glad you chimed in Oregon. How would I go about checking the output of the converter? I did shut off the inverter while the Gen was running, not sure if that matters or not, but I thought having the Gen power the refer while charging I thought was best. I did check with Go Power and they were pretty confident the small, portable set up would do me no good. I would need close to 400 watts to keep up with fridge. Not sure where to go from here, but I'm thinking the Trojans and maybe a small portable set up would be okay.

 

[Oregon_Camper]

Glad you chimed in Oregon. How would I go about checking the output of the converter? I did shut off the inverter while the Gen was running, not sure if that matters or not, but I thought having the Gen power the refer while charging I thought was best. I did check with Go Power and they were pretty confident the small, portable set up would do me no good. I would need close to 400 watts to keep up with fridge. Not sure where to go from here, but I'm thinking the Trojans and maybe a small portable set up would be okay.

You can check the output at the converter (might be hard to get to...behind basement wall) or at the BusBar. Unplug RV from shore...remove converter connection at Busbar and plug RV back into shore power. Now use voltmeter and test the converter line. Should be 13.4v to 14v coming in.

I can't believe GoPower said that. I know folks that have that exact portable panel and it does a great job.


Here is the layout of my BusBar.

 

[WyoCyclone]

^^^Thanks for the tip.

What I'm thinking about doing is buying one and seeing if it works. Not sure what their return policy is or if I can work with one of their dealers, they might let me take it for a day or so and see if I can manage. We'll see and I'll be sure to post up my findings.

 

[Oregon_Camper]

^^^Thanks for the tip.

What I'm thinking about doing is buying one and seeing if it works. Not sure what their return policy is or if I can work with one of their dealers, they might let me take it for a day or so and see if I can manage. We'll see and I'll be sure to post up my findings.

I'd go 100000% Amazon.com. Their return policy is awesome....like Costco. Plus free 2 days shipping (assuming you are Prime member)

 

[WyoCyclone]

Great idea!! I'll post up results.


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[Dave_and_Angie]

If you'd like to understand the Residential Refrigerator power system better, take a look at our owner-written Residential Refrigerator Guide.

Thank you

 

[jrzygrl64]

We have a residential refrigerator and love it! We quickly realized that the 2 house batteries that came with the 5er were not enough. Instead of investing in a huge heavy generator, we opted for a full solar system. We have 7 160 watt solar panels on our roof, 6 6 volt AGM batteries, the original 1000 watt PSW inverter (that is used exclusively for the refrigerator) and added a second 2800 watt PSW inverter for everything else. We only need to use our Honda 2000 when there is heavy overcast and rain (or snow - ask me how I know!). We have a second Honda 2000 generator we have used (in parallel) only when boondocking and we needed A/C.

 

[LBR]

We have a residential refrigerator and love it! We quickly realized that the 2 house batteries that came with the 5er were not enough. Instead of investing in a huge heavy generator, we opted for a full solar system. We have 7 160 watt solar panels on our roof, 6 6 volt AGM batteries, the original 1000 watt PSW inverter (that is used exclusively for the refrigerator) and added a second 2800 watt PSW inverter for everything else. We only need to use our Honda 2000 when there is heavy overcast and rain (or snow - ask me how I know!). We have a second Honda 2000 generator we have used (in parallel) only when boondocking and we needed A/C.

I remember you posting your setup a couple months ago...our planned setup will be bang on to yours ...6 AGMs, 2800 W inverter, and about 1000 W of topside panels. With the 5.5K onboard and a 2K suitcase gensets, we will be golden off of all grids.