Fridge running on AC while closed

Sopper · 08-11-2014, 01:04 PM

All,

I have a 2010 Trailmanor 2720 and was curious to know if the Norcold fridge would run while the camper is closed. I have heard it will run of DC or propane when closed, but am uncertain if it would do the same on shore power. I would certainly run the fridge fan...but am curious as we like to load the camper a day or two ahead of time and would like for the fridge to be cold up until we unplug at home and drive to our camp location.

Thanks in advance for any information you may be able to lend!

TrailManorMan · 08-11-2014, 01:37 PM

I have numerous times, remember the fan and you should be fine.

ZekenSpider · 08-11-2014, 02:30 PM

We always (for the five years that we have owned our 2010 3326) precooled the refrig on AC in front of the house for a day before loading it. We leave it on AC until just before closing it. We turn the fan on and switch it to DC, then close it, keeping shore power on (even over night) until just before connecting the Bargman with the TV engine running and leaving.

Even with it on DC, with the Shore Power connected, the converter supplies the DC for the refrig to cool properly. After disconnecting Shore Power and connecting the TV we see a gradual drop in battery voltage as we tow the TM. At the end of a 7 hour tow, the battery voltage has dropped to about 12.6 VDC.

If we stop for a lunch break (usually 30 min), we always disconnect the Bargman (so I don't discharge my TV battery) until we are ready to get back on the road. Even though I have a #10 gage wire circuit in the TV to the Bargman, I lose about 40% of my battery charge during a long tow.

My experience.

Jerry

Padgett · 08-11-2014, 04:16 PM

My notes show two alternators being available on the 2004 Suburban 1500, a 100A aand a 140A. If you have the smaller one, that may not be enough for everything (when I replaced the 95A with a 140A in my Vixen the lights stopped dimming at idle).

If you have the smaller one, replacing with the CS-144 140A is usually easy.

My TV has a 160A alternator and has been pleanty so far.

08-11-2014, 06:27 PM

Not so much of an alternator problem, but more of a loss of voltage due to the long run from the TV battery to the battery in the TM ( especially the 2720SL) and the current drawn by the Fridge on DC. Not quite as bad with the TM that have the batteries on the tongue.

tentcamper · 08-12-2014, 08:20 AM

We pre-cool it with the top up on AC. The night before our trip, I close the top and have to put the 30A shore power cord back in the mouse hole. I then run it on propane with the fridge fan running.

Padgett · 08-12-2014, 08:45 AM

Is the 2003 different ? I can access the 30A AC line with my '06 closed.

tentcamper · 08-12-2014, 09:49 AM

Yes, it must be. I know somewhere they move the elec plug after 03 so you could close it. Then I think they changed to a plugable shore power cord in the last few years.

My 03 the cord comes out of a mouse hole about 10" up on the side panel. About the height or the middle of the outside shower.

It has not become a problem, except I need some re-training from all those years of campers and always putting the cord away last. A few times I forget to unplug when I drop the top. One time it ripped off the mouse hole door. Now its on my check list. We prefer to travel with the propane fridge. So all is good.

I have for 25+ years traveled with propane fridge. In the old campers there was not an option for 12V. I tried the 12V fridge once when we dropped the camper about 1/2 hour before heading out. Five - Six hours on the road, we arrived at the campsite with a low camper battery and soft ice cream. Seems to be a common TM issue that the TV charge line does not keep up with the fridge. So it was back to propane with the TM, which works better then the 12V. So when I close the TM, I switch to Propane.

The 12v fridge option I could attach my 40 amp battery charger to the camper the night before heading out when we close up the camper. Not worth the effort and risk having soft ice cream to re-freeze hard and have ice crystals.

Padgett · 08-12-2014, 12:03 PM

Guess this is another slipstreamed change. Can also remove top of bumper cover when closed and get to both electric cord and dump hose.

Just an obsevation but the gas exchange cycle heats the fluid (ammonia probably) which raises the pressure, It then passes through the heat exchanger on the back of the fridge. This is the finned device and relies on a flow of cool air over the fins to cool the charge before expansion. If there is no air flow over the fins and the air isn't cool/cold you will expend a lot of power and do very little. The fridge vent is a help but not really channelled well and in my part of the country pavement temps in the day are often over 100F.

Bottom line, with the cooling mechanism used to be propane compatible, the electric components (12 and 120V) are not very efficient at best and just consume power with little cooling at worst.

You'd be better off just putting the ice cream in a Peltier cooler.

tentcamper · 08-12-2014, 12:20 PM

Now I like the 03 bumper more. It has a dedicated spot for the slinky hose and lots of storage under the cover that not mixed with the dirty slinky. I heard they changed the bumper in 04 to reduce the trailer length from 20'3" to 20'

I think there are lots of small changes throughout the years with 03 being the big year for the structure.