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Old 05-24-2022, 06:19 PM   #11
Stephene1219
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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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Old 05-24-2022, 07:21 PM   #12
rich2468
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Originally Posted by Stephene1219 View Post
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.
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.
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Old 05-25-2022, 08:26 AM   #13
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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).
Be a little careful here. Discharging a lead-acid battery below 50% capacity will significantly damage it. New TMs are often equipped with a Group 24 or Group 27 dual purpose (aka Deep Cycle/Marine) battery installed by the dealer. These batteries have a capacity of about 70 amp-hours, so about 35 amp-hours is actually usable. On DC, the refrigerator uses 11-12 amps (about 150 watts), so the usable life of the battery is about 3 hours, ignoring any other power consumers that may be on. So if you leave the refrig turned on while you drive, you must stop after 3 hours, open the TM, and turn it off.

As noted, if you have a significant solar capacity operating while you drive, that will extend your time. Larger batteries will contribute to extended run time. Lithium batteries are better. But none of these is part of the basic TM configuration.

Surprisingly, the +12VDC line from most tow vehicles will actually contribute very little to the situation.

For that reason, my advise is to cool the refrig completely before you begin to drive, then turn it off. It acts as a well-insulated cooler, so you can go for considerably more than 3 hours before significant warming occurs.

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Old 05-25-2022, 09:06 AM   #14
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Default Roadways are never underneath trees. (Solar is more than adequate, in daytime)

On a relatively clear day, from 10 AM until after 4 PM (daylight time) your panels (if exposed on the front shell) should be creating more than the "11-14 Amps" of which the fridge needs to run on electric. And during hours 11 AM - 3 PM, vastly more than that (the peak in my "490 watt configuration is above 30A).

If you leave early, as Bill described, you might have a shortfall during the morning - but can probably last for around 3 hours on batteries alone. (You didn't describe the size and type of your batteries). Following those early hours, your HUGE configuration will recharge the batteries AND run the fridge until about 5 PM. After that, your batteries will begin to get drawn down (slowly, at first).
- - -
But, under clouds or driving at night, Solar doesn't work. This device would solve your problem: https://renogy.com/12v-20a-dc-to-dc-...ttery-charger/.

This machine converts "low voltage" power from the TV into useful "battery charging voltage". The "Trailer Battery Charge" wire goes into a 3-way wire nut behind the refrigerator, but you don't need to make any wiring changes there. (Behind the fridge, it gets too hot to install the "DC-to-DC Battery Charger" device anyway).

Instead - identify and then remove that "12v" wire (coming from the 3-wire nut) at its WFCO 12-volt fuse board connection. Using a small 3-way junction, attach that wire as the "input" AND "ignition detect" wires on the "Trailer Battery Charge" unit. Pull a new wire from the fuse board, that becomes the output "Battery Charge". Connect the grounding wires together with other TM 12v grounding wires (on one of the little bus bars).

Secure the "DC-to-DC Battery Charger" to the floor, and you're done. While towing, this can run the fridge from the TV, and still have extra power for charging batteries. But don't buy a unit bigger than this "20A" model, a larger unit will burn out the bargman cable.
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