Inverter question

[modela2007]

First trip in our new 2016 HC353RL. When left home the battery was 100% charged. The inverter was on and the frig was on and temp in frig was 38. 4 hours later arrived at our destination and the inverter was off. The battery showed 75%. The frig was up to 60 degrees inside so the inverter must have been off for a while. The dealer said the truck was probably not charging the battery and to check the fuse on the truck (2013 Ford F250 Lariat) and that the inverter will kick off if the battery goes low. But shouldn't it last longer than 4 hours? Should the inverter kick off when the battery is 75%?

[WaltBennett]

A good inverter will definitely turn off before damaging your battery, but I'm surprised you're dealer let you drive off with only one and a residential refrigerator. I would think the current draw for the refer would be probably great enough to do what you experienced IF the weather was hot enough, but you didn't mention that or where you are. If it wasn't that hot (70 or less), your closed ref. should still be under 50 after a couple of hours. They are well insulated and that's what doesn't make sense to me. I'd try charging the battery all the way while on shore power and also cooling the ref. down. Then disconnect from shore power and see how long the inverter/battery lasts while sitting still. Might only be an hour or so, especially if you've a smaller sized battery. Then see what the ref. temp is after a couple of hours sitting. Should still be fairly cool - think of how long one will last if your power goes out and you don't open it.

Besides all that, you do need to ensure your truck is charging through the Bargman connector. I'd also get two of the biggest deep cycle batteries I could find and put them in at minimum. Even with the truck charging them, I'd want to have enough power to at least stop in a rest area and have lunch before the battery died!

[Dam Worker]

All of the 15 and 16 models that I saw that had residential fridges had a battery box that was designed for two batteries so I assumed that they were supposed to have at least two batteries. Make sure that your truck is charging the trailer through the seven prong Bargman harness. My old fords came with a kit (tow package option) that had a couple of relays and or extra fuses to install to get charging power to the trailer.

Tom Marty

[modela2007]

We went from southeast Kansas to Lake of the Ozarks and it was hot. When we arrived at the lake it was 90 degrees.

[tooth ferry]

Do any HCs have residential frig?

[jcurtis934]

Think of it this way. Your fridge when it cycles on will draw somewhere around 7 amps of 120vac that the inverter is supplying. Inverters aren't 100% efficient, so to make that 120vac from 12vdc it will be greater than just a factor of 10...which means that that 7amps of 120vac is more than 70 amps out of the battery. And that is why you really need two big batteries with high amphour ratings. Bet your one little 12vdc battery has a modest amphour rating. So 1) is the truck charging rv battery and 2) you need more. John

[cw3jason]

Here is a post I made on another thread. I added a second interstate 24 battery to take the trailer down to Disney. Here are my results. batteries were fully charged, fridge running on inverter. stopped first night at Walmart, next morning everything still running. drove to campground second night pluged in to shore power. everything worked. day 3 not enough juice left in batteries to keep inverter running if truck was shut off. The inverter shuts down before batteries are completely drained, safety feature to save the batteries I suspect. had to start truck and reset inverter everytime I stopped and shut off the truck. Lesson learned: 2 batteries are good for 1 day, maybe alittle more. after 24 hrs even being plugged in or when driving, the batteries do not charge fast enough to replenish what the inverter has used, so the fridge will only run off the truck alternator and inverter and shut down if truck is turned off. If you plan on Wallydocking more than 1 night, you need to get better batteries. 2 deepcycle 6 volts possibly. Same results on the return trip from Disney, accept we didnt Wallydock untill the seccond night and some time in the early morning the inverter and fridge stopped. just reset once truck was running and home we went.

[tony d]

When we were looking we came close to getting the 353RL but I was worried about running the fridge on batteries as I had bad experience on my TT with batteries draining in a short time just off of simple things that don't shut off unless you have a battery disconnect switch that the TT didn't have. the sales person said it should run about 18HRS off the batteries, but I think the trailer only had one 12 volt. being a sale person he kept pushing that it wouldn't be an issue and once I got to my destination and plugged in it would be fine. where I have my trailer on my property there is no power so to cool a fridge down I have to start it the night before going so it would run at least 8-10hrs just sitting and then It doesn't leave much room for travel. we opted to get the 352RL with the gas/electric fridge instead and with just the two of us not full timing the fridge is plenty big enough.

[TLightning]

Sounds like you need more battery power. We have some motor home friends that have four 6 volt batteries and a 2,000 watt inverter only for the refer. They have another four 6 volt batteries and inverter for the rest of the coach.

[mhs4771]

OK, here our personal experience with a Residential Fridge:
Per the Inverter remote display, when the fridge is running there is a 10 to 11 amp draw from the batteries (we have four 12 Deep Cycle).
Did a test before our big summer trip, ran the fridge for 36 hours and voltage only dropped .1V, from 12.6 to 12.5.
Now this is a new unit so it has the latest and greatest in fridge technology and these new fridges are really power misers.