New owner, 2006 2720SL

[Tymanthius]

Originally Posted by Shane826

Tymanthius- Is that am AC/DC compressor fridge?

That's what it appears to be.

[Kmikesell]

Originally Posted by Bill

For those with the stock refrig, there are two ways to handle the issue. The first is easy - make sure the refrig is cold at the beginning of the day, and then turn it off as you travel. It is very well insulated, and will serve as a very good cooler while you are on the road. My wife and I do this every day, and after 8 hours of travel, everything inside is still cold / frozen.

We do a similar process but we have two 20 oz soda bottles filled with water and about 1/2 tblsp of salt in each with about 1/2 of head space. When frozen they are VERY cold and take a long time to thaw. We keep them in the freezer, then when we shut off the fridge for travel, we move them into the lower fridge. Keep everything nice and chilly! Then when we relight the fridge we place them back into the freezer for the next days travel. We adjust when freezer space is needed, but this system has worked for us for many years.

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by Bill

Tymanthius -

You are right - the tow vehicle does send 12-volt power to the TM.



The second is a little more complex. One of our members has designed an ingenious electrical device that boosts the voltage sent from the tow vehicle to the TM, and then reduces it back to the proper value at the point of use. This overcomes the voltage drop in the LONG wire. Although it is kind of elaborate, it works well, and keeps the refrig running for as long as you need it.

The solution you do NOT want is to let the refrig totally exhaust the TM battery. This will harm the TM battery.

Bill

One other solution is to increase the size of the wire running from the TV battery to the TM connector (suggest 8G). Then you need to increase the size of the wire from the TM connector to the TM batteries. Be sure to fuse the charge wires at both ends. Be sure to increase the ground wire as well but you only need to go from the TV frame (through the connector) and to the TM frame.

The problem with using the vehicle's factory wiring is that the factory wiring is too small to send a full 14V from the TV to the TM batteries. There is a lot of voltage drop over long distances and if your TV alternator is putting out 14.8V, the voltage drop over that distance may result in 13V (or less) reaching the TM batteries. That's not enough to keep up the charge on the batteries.

I did this years ago on my 2009 Silverado and 2005 TM. It worked well and my TM batteries stayed charged on long hauls.

The other option is to install about 200W worth of solar panels on your TM. However, that limits you if you are in a cloudy or shaded area.

[Bill]

Your Nova Kool R4500 is indeed a compressor refrig. The specs say that it will use 4.4 amps when running on 12 VDC. This is much less than the 15 or so amps needed by the TM's stock Dometic refrig. In addition, the compressor is much more efficient at producing cold, so it will run much less often. And your Nova Kool does have an automatic low-battery shutoff, which would / should prevent the battery exhaustion problem inherent in the Dometic.

The place where you lose, of course, is that it is a 2-way refrig (no operation on gas) rather than 3-way. Three-way operation requires a different cooling mechanism (absorption rather than compression) that is by definition very inefficient - it is not just the Dometic unit that suffers this limit. Absorption refrigerators were invented 100 years ago, and have continued through the era when solar power was very expensive. Solar power is now quite cheap. I have to believe that 3-way refrigerators will soon be considered a dinosaur, and likely will disappear

If you are talking about using a microwave and an electric skillet, then you are expecting to camp where there is an electric hookup. Once you have a hookup, you don't care what the refrig draws. So as your initial post indicated, your only concern is power while driving. My recommendation, as I mentioned earlier, is simply to turn it off while driving. But since it is going to consume only 50 watts or so, a small solar panel - even 50-75 watts - would keep the TM battery charged while driving, even if the tow vehicle battery doesn't. The panel would have to be mounted on the roof of the TM, of course.

So you have a couple options. A nice situation to be in.

Bill

[Shane826]

Bill- Is the Dometic 3-way fridge as power hungry (especially in 12V mode) as the old Norcold 300.3?

[Bill]

I have a Dometic RM2354, which is relatively new to the TM line. And yes, it is a power hog, at somewhere between 11 and 15 amps as near as I can tell from various RV discussion boards (Dometic seems reluctant to say). As I recall, the old Norcold 300.3 was spec'ed at about 11 amps. The new Dometic is spec'ed at 3.0 cu ft, while the old Norcold was 2.7 cu ft.

Bill

[ShrimpBurrito]

My Dometic (can’t remember the model off hand) only consumes 9-10 amps.

Dave

[kjfatl]

If you recently purchased a used TM, I recommend getting the battery checked or replaced. Make sure basic maintenance is done, in particular, check out brakes, axle lubrication and tire age. If the tires are over 10 years old and look perfect, replace them. This includes the spare.

We just purchased a new TM 3124. I have 2, 25 foot cords and an adapter to go from the 30A twist lock to 30A park power connector. That way if one cable fails we have a backup. For some camp sites, 25 ft is not long enough. I should probably get some electrical tape to wrap the connection in case of rain. We also have a 12AWG 15A cable that we can use 'just in case 30A is not enough".

[Tymanthius]

Originally Posted by kjfatl

If you recently purchased a used TM, I recommend getting the battery checked or replaced. Make sure basic maintenance is done, in particular, check out brakes, axle lubrication and tire age. If the tires are over 10 years old and look perfect, replace them. This includes the spare.

We just purchased a new TM 3124. I have 2, 25 foot cords and an adapter to go from the 30A twist lock to 30A park power connector. That way if one cable fails we have a backup. For some camp sites, 25 ft is not long enough. I should probably get some electrical tape to wrap the connection in case of rain. We also have a 12AWG 15A cable that we can use 'just in case 30A is not enough".

I got lucky on this one. The battery is no more than 2 years old, bearings recently packed, one brake replaced (he bought the whole brake before he found out the wires were just clipped, so I have a spare used brake), new shoes on other side, tires still have a few of the new tire dangles on them. Spare too.

I'm thinking of adding a 50' 'spare' 30A line soon, and already have a good 15A extension cord, plus adapters, and a 50A to 30A dogbone.

I've ordered some gaffer's tape to keep in it (and some for home, it's been on the list for a bit), and I'll add some Rescue Tape (silicone tape that only sticks to itself) for water repairs.

But thank you for feeding me ideas! It helps to make sure I'm not missing anything that will be annoying when I'm at a campground.

[BaconLover]

For the kitchen, I sprung for this set of nesting pots/pans.

https://smile.amazon.com/STANSPORT-H...8001170&sr=8-7

They are a little heavy, but I cook a lot in our TM, and they have been really awesome. Plus, they take up just the space of the biggest pot. I also keep one of these folding steamer trays inside the smallest pot.

Get some nesting bowls too, and another option for cheap but good utensils and silverware is to go to IKEA, Target or Walmart. For when we have hookups, I bought cheap plastic plates from Target that’s meant for college students. I also also have this as a drying rack over the sink

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...e?ie=UTF8&th=1

And I bring extra little $1 drying towels I got from Daiso to dry the pots with. Don’t forget a meat thermometer and a stick lighter for when your stove won’t light. And I bought a small tea kettle that has a temperature gauge since I like to drink tea.