Bought a trailer with no fridge. I have a living quaters with a solar panal. Is it okay to put in a dorm fridge? Trailer will be plugged in at the house and will be run by a generator at the races.
Posted 2011-05-01 8:26 PM (#133737 - in reply to #133736) Subject: RE: Fridge
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 379 Location: Missouri
I assume you're thinking of running the fridge on an inverter while in transit, it will take a very expensive inverter to run a fridge compressor. In our prior trailer we had a small RV fridge and I had the idea of putting a dorm fridge in the front stall. My first attempt was to just cool it down at home and leave it off in transit, good thing it was only full of drinks, it defrosted during the 2 hours traveling time. Second attempt was to run it on an inverter but that failed even though I had a big enough inverter for the load, it wasn't a true sine wave type so the compressor wouldn't start. The price of a true sine wave inverter made me scrap the whole plan of a second fridge.
Posted 2011-05-01 8:52 PM (#133739 - in reply to #133736) Subject: RE: Fridge
Member
Posts: 5
Location: Wisconsin
Okay I'm sorry but I have no clue what you are talking about. Why would the battery and charge system already in the trailer not be sufficient? There is no fridge currently in the trailer. So this is not a second fridge this would be the only one.
Posted 2011-05-01 9:30 PM (#133742 - in reply to #133736) Subject: RE: Fridge
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 379 Location: Missouri
First what is currently in your trailer will not power a dorm fridge. Dorm fridge runs on 120vAC, the trailers solar panels and charger put out 12vDC. Hence the need for an inverter that converts 12vDC to 120vAC. But like I stated an inverter that can run a fridge compressor which needs 120vAC is in the price range of $500-$1000.
Posted 2011-05-01 10:58 PM (#133744 - in reply to #133736) Subject: RE: Fridge
Elite Veteran
Posts: 714 Location: Minnesota
CTRider and Hornet are right, the dorm fridge will not run on your 12 volt system. I had the same idea for a previous trailer, but traded trailers before I made it happen. My plans were like yours, keep it plugged in at home, travel with it off, then either plug in at the campground or run the generator. Not really efficient. They don't keep cold very well. Also, you can't run a generator 24/7 at a campground or event. If you have short distances to go, and a ready source of electric when you arrive, go for it. Probably just as good as a cooler, and even better as a second fridge at home.
Posted 2011-05-02 6:58 AM (#133749 - in reply to #133736) Subject: RE: Fridge
Regular
Posts: 69 Location: Tennessee
Check on the prices of inverters now, like all electronics they get cheaper in price each year. I am running a 2000 watt pure sine wave on my refer and it works well. Plus I use the inverter in our work weekly. The inverter and the dorm refer will be less that a 3 way refer
Posted 2011-05-02 9:50 AM (#133754 - in reply to #133736) Subject: RE: Fridge
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 379 Location: Missouri
I just did a quick search, prices are a little cheaper but still in the $300-$800 range. While I'm not a "brand loyal" kind of guy, you get what you pay for in electronics. Buy something cheap, don't expect too much. One of the better known units I'd trust is still $719 for a 1000watt unit. Another option which I didn't explore much was taking a regular AC fridge and changing the compressor to a DC compressor. There are mfg of DC compressors but I couldn't find anyone you built a fridge complete with a DC compressor. My guess is by the time you bought the fridge, paid a refrigerant guy to change the compressor you'd still be over the price of a propane RV fridge. And don't even bother with one of those DC powered coolers, I bought one years ago, they aren't worth squat. They'll only cool to about 40 degrees below ambient temp.
Fridge
