Quote:
Originally Posted by Stephene1219
I have a new 2722 and am getting ready to do my first trip starting this weekend, I have spent the last few months making a lot of mods and adding 500 watts of solar. In getting ready to leave I flashed to the refrigerator. Had never thought about how to mange during towing.
This thread is the most current I could find and Bili indicates that you should just turn off the frig when down and towing. My longest driving time will be less than 4 hours. Is this still the best way to go. The retrig has plenty of room for me and I plan on using it has my primary cooling source for my food.
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If I recall correctly you have a newer TrailManor with the 3 way frig (Gas/AC electric/ DC electric)...with that being the case you may be able to use DC electric with no problems during your 4 hour tow.
I said "may" because I don't know your TrailManor's battery capacity or if you're headed to an electrical hookup campsite or to boondock.
Have you upgraded your battery capacity? If you haven't and are traveling without a high amount of sunshine, you may significantly or completely deplete your stock (lead acid) battery by the time you get to your campsite.
If your destination has electric hookups available, discharging your TrailManor's battery significantly during the tow won't matter (as they will recharge from the converter when on shore power). If it doesn't, you may arrive at your destination with little battery power for lights, the refrigerator vent fan, and water pump.
If you're traveling on a sunny day, your 500 Watts of solar charge capacity may offset your refrigerator DC electrical usage.
I currently have 600 Watts of solar panel capacity along with 210 Amp Hours battery capacity and am often able to exceed my refrigerator power use (and charge my battery bank) while towing, but I still precool the TrailManor's refrigerator before towing using propane or shore power (AC power) usually so that I arrive at my campsite with as full a battery bank as possible.
One important thing to remember about using your refrigerator on the DC setting when towing-
If you exceed your TrailManor's battery capacity during your tow, the refrigerator will draw power from your tow vehicle. That's not normally a problem unless you turn the tow vehicle off (while the TrailManor continues to draw power for the frig) and park long enough to deplete the tow vehicle battery. Unplug the Bergman connection from the TrailManor when parking for any length of time (when the fridge is set to DC mode) unless you have added TM battery capacity.
***Quite important (as others have pointed out) is the fact that depleting the TrailManor's battery also impacts the trailer's break-away braking system...so it would not be able to function properly in an emergency.
If you've invested in a battery shunt with bluetooth capabilities you should be able to monitor your TrailManor's battery status from time to time to see the live drain from the refrigerator. If you've left your battery on the tongue you may be able to check via bluetooth while inside your tow vehicle.
I would ensure that you have a means to monitor your battery before attempting more than a couple of hours tow using refrigerator AC power mode.