Residential Fridge and Inverter

[phillyg]

It appears my Montana on order comes with a 1000w inverter for the residential fridge. I doubt it comes with two 12v batteries, but it should and I'm going to request the dealer install two. Even if they provide two, I'm sure they will be the cheapest 12v combo starter/deep cycle marine/rv type batteries they can find. Assuming two 12v batteries, is a 1000w inverter adequate to power the fridge, and will it work for at least 24 hours.

[dieselguy]

There are lots full of Montanas and SOB's with 1000W inverters if equipped with the residential fridge, so it must fit the bill. To accurately answer your question of longevity we'd have to have the wattage of the fridge and the amp hour of the batteries. Others will be responding to how long they can go on batteries alone.

[brenkco]

Dieselguy is on the right track. I have a SOB, residential refer, 1000w inverter and 4-6v golf cart batteries. The 1000w inverter is plenty. Your question about the batteries is a bit more complicated. If all you have running is the refer, you should have no problem running the refer for 24 hours or more. In fact, it doesn't use that much power. The question is what is the rest of your 12v load during a given period of time.

For instance, when I boondock (which isn't that often), I run my entertainment slide 24/7 on a second 2000w inverter. At night, I power the whole rig with that inverter. I have a heated cpap machine, the refer and other small loads such as lights, etc. My goal is to have enough battery power in the morning to be able to brew a pot of coffee using my 900w coffee maker before the end of quite hours. If I'm careful, I can accomplish the goal. 2-12v would not have enough amp hours to provide enough power overnight for my use.

Hope that helps,

Ken

[SHILO1977]

I have a 2015 Montana 3791RD with a residential frigerator and a thousand watt inverter that only Powers the refrigerator. The dealer said the inverter will run the refrigerator for about 18 hours to 20 hours. It all depends on the temperature inside your rig and what temperature you set your refrigerator on. On the inside of my refrigerator the recommended temperature says minus 2 degrees Fahrenheit can you believe that

[PeteandJoan]

We have a 2015 3611RL with Res. refg. and 1000 watt inverter also. We have 2 12v 24 size (small batteries in my opinion. Rather have 27). Our dealer service manager told us that it would only power the refg for 2-3 hrs, maybe 4. WHAT? We proved him wrong on first trip. Have been on road for more then 7-8 hrs many days and all was good. No drop in temp. I know this is not the same as boon docking but it works for us. Dealer knowledge was somewhat lacking.

[Bigboomer]

We have the Samsung rf18hfenbbc for 9 months now and know it draws 7 amps per hour. If you have 2 - 6 volt Trojan T -105 's you will have plenty of juice to run the frig between campgrounds or overnight on the way to hook-ups.

[rames14]

Your dealer will put in whatever batteries you pay them to - it's not included with he unit. They ship without batteries. You need to know the amp hour rating of the battery. You can only use half of the rated amp hour before recharging. Then, find out how much load (at 12 V) you intend to use, for how many hours. We do not have the residential refrigerator and we like to boondock. So, we have (4) 6v Golf Cart batteries. 220 amp hours each at 6v, so running at 12V, we have 440 amp hours. And, we can use half of that - 220 amp hours. Find out how many amps your refrigerator draws and you'll get an idea of how much your batteries will use just for the refrigerator. But you also have lights, CO detector, etc. Hope this helps.

[TLightning]

Two 6 volt deep cycle will be better in the long run that two 12 volt deep cycle.

[phillyg]

Thanks for the responses. I am hoping to get more than 2-3 hours on two 12v batteries; we'll see. Will change over to 6v if necessary.