Refrigerator power.

rickwe818 · August 2018

We're new to all of this, and we just bought our Tag used last week. I'm confused as to what will power our Norco fridge while traveling. Will solar panels keep it powered? Or, will it run off the battery ok until you can plug in somewhere? I'm strongly thinking about a solar system on our Tag because we're going to be doing some extensive travel with it next year. Also, is it possible to have enough solar power on a Tag to run the AC all night? Your input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

BBsGarage · August 2018

First off welcome !!

Solar is used to charge the batteries, not run the camper. The fridge will run off of the battery and if you have the charge line from the tow vehicle connected the fridge will run off of the tow vehicle while towing. The AC will not run off of the 12v system, you need to be connected to shore power or a generator.

LuckyJ · August 2018

And as for gemerator, so far, the word is that a minimum of 2000 watts will run the ac. So a 2000 inveter connected to battery would drain t very quickly.

rickwe818 · August 2018

So what you guys are saying is the AC needs to be plugged in to shore power, or a generator. Reason I was wondering about the air running off of enough banked solar power is I've seen the big RV's with numerous panels, and wasn't sure if you could bank up enough to run all night off of that. Thanks!

LuckyJ · August 2018

The number of batteries you would need for this is just wow. You would probably overload you trailer with batteries.

LuckyJ · August 2018

The Danby small unit window is a 15 amps, 120 volt unit, so basically pulls 1500 watts. So you would need a 2000 watts inverter that also cosume energy to transforme 12 volts to 120, lost in heat and other stuff.

I am still new with battery capacity, so I will let others jump in from here for the calculation.

Verna · August 2018

My two 100 Watt solar panels take up about 4’ wide x 3’ tall. So you would need twelve (12) 200 Watt solar panels (you need to plan on extra), and you can do the math to figure out the size you need just for the panels. You could install two 6 volt golf cart batteries, giving you 225 AH (amp hours) of storage for each 200 Watt panel(s) plus the 11 more sets of batteries, and you can figure out the math there, also. Each battery weighs approximately 68 lbs each.... I’m not being a smart alec, but you would need a rather large trailer to hold all of this, plus a large tow vehicle to tow the heavy trailer.

If you bought a 2000 Watt Honda generator for around $1,000, it would power the A/C unit. But, you have to be very considerate of any neighbors. A few weeks ago, a T@B parked next to me with 4500 Watt Champion generator and my new T@B 400 was instantly filled with his fumes. And it was loud enough to rattle my blinds. I moved to another campsite.

Also, if you are in a primitive campground, there are only certain hours that you are allowed to running generators.

How do I camp with solar, but without A/C? I have two DC powered fans, plus a 10 speed roof Fantastic Fan, I close the sunny side blind(s) and pull the shady side air through the T@B. It works, although you won’t be as cool as with A/C.

Fourman110 · August 2018

30W Shore power = you can run everything. No shore power = run fan, 12v outlets, fan, water pump, stereo but only to the capacity of the battery. Generator or solar can recharge the battery, but you need a battery sized to handle all the electrical needs you have then enough charging capacity to do it. Several of us have upgraded to 2 6v batteries for this reason.

One really needs to make electrical use estimates and then start planning from there. There's some really good writeups on the T@B forum on how to calculate.

Your tow vehicle (TV) will charge while towing but you don't want to use it while in camp ad it will drain that battery.

As far as the fridge...its a power hog. I usually put several frozen bottles of water in it, set to freezing or below while towing, then to 40 degrees after I set up camp if I don't have shore power. Tempted to pick up a big cooler fore those sites without power.

SueBHunny · August 2018

I long ago gave up on using the Norcold when I don't have shore power. My Igloo coolers are more efficient for the cold foods, and I just use the Norcold for dry goods storage when I boondock. At least until I get some solar panels...

rickwe818 · August 2018

I wish the fridge wasn't such a power hog, because that's one of the reasons I liked the Tag. I still love it, but like not having to get ice all the time.

LuckyJ · August 2018

@rickwe818 said:
I wish the fridge wasn't such a power hog, because that's one of the reasons I liked the Tag. I still love it, but like not having to get ice all the time.

Well, if you realy like your T@G, then an ARB fridge would be a bery addition to it. Sell the norcold to someone looking for a cheaper style of fridge that would still be superior to an electric cooler.

TomD · August 2018

I love my Norcold! I upgraded my battery situation and now can boondock for at least 4 days before having to recharge. Very seldom do I camp where there is shore power.

TennTim · August 2018

I ran some numbers on the side and I think you should be able to keep your battery charged and using the fridge if you get a good charge on a 100+W solar panel during the day.

Someone once measured the Norcold pulling around 4 amps when the compressor runs, about 0.2 when idle. About a day or two would make sense with a “normal” battery or twice that for an upgraded setup.

Of course how often you open the cooler, place uncooled stuff into it, the outside temperature, and your temperature setting all play huge roles.

TomD · August 2018

TennTim makes some good points on cooler use. I make sure I have the wine and beer in a separate iced cooler and not in the Norcold. The iced cooler can then be opened all day and night and not effect the Norcold temp and the essential food therein.

rickwe818 · August 2018

I think we're going with a premium cooler, and store the norcold. That will open up some storage for food items and stuff. As far as the AC we'll just use it when power is available, or whenever we get a generator. I know national parks usually don't have electricity. Won't hurt to dry camp every so often. Between a premium cooler and our cook facilities we're not really going to be roughing it. Thanks for the input everyone!

SueBHunny · August 2018

@TomD said:
TennTim makes some good points on cooler use. I make sure I have the wine and beer in a separate iced cooler and not in the Norcold. The iced cooler can then be opened all day and night and not effect the Norcold temp and the essential food therein.

Who could possibly fit their beer in the Norcold anyway?

TomD · August 2018

SueBHunny...exactly!

OutdoorEd · August 2018

I have no complaints about the Norcold. In addition to it, we power the water pump and the 2 bed lamps in the cabin, and sometimes the fan and TV. Our battery dips to 70%-80% over 24 hrs, which is easily recharged by the 100w solar panel. We use a cooler for beverages, like TomD said. No worries, mon.

Michigan_Mike · August 2018

@rickwe818 said:
I think we're going with a premium cooler, and store the norcold. That will open up some storage for food items and stuff. As far as the AC we'll just use it when power is available, or whenever we get a generator. I know national parks usually don't have electricity. Won't hurt to dry camp every so often. Between a premium cooler and our cook facilities we're not really going to be roughing it. Thanks for the input everyone!

Some good tips above and I'll throw in a few more to ponder:

What I normally tell people considering a venture into solar is to think about it long and hard before just jumping in with both feet because it can be very expensive if you purchase a good/quality solar panel(s), solar charge controller, battery upgrades, etc . If your plan is to dry camp and be off grid the majority of the time then this type of upgrade might be the way to go. But on the flip side, if you plan to camp in areas with electric hook-ups and amenities you might not want to go solar and end up leaving a portable set-up in the garage. This is what happens to people.

And as Luc noted above a premium refrigerator/freezer unit like an ARB is an alternative you might want to consider. I entered into this arena about 3-4 years ago and grew tired of looking for ice, emptying out water from the cooler, seeing the mustard, lunch meat and other food staples floating in water and decided to take the leap and purchase a 50 quart ARB unit. Understandably these units are not cheap, so for many the price is a sticking point as they are very expensive. I have been traveling/camping all my life and for me, the purchase of the ARB was an investment for the future. And let me just say that this was undoubtedly one of the best decisions I've made in my life as it eliminated the above, it is an excellent unit and it is a miser on power consumption. It also can be adjusted (should you plug it in to your tow vehicle and leave it running) so that your tow vehicle has enough energy to start and will shut down in advance to allow this to happen.

I do use solar and have for a while now, I am able to power up the ARB in remote areas, keep our food refrigerated and fresh and can camp remotely for long periods of time off the grid. Using solar and consuming battery power is a balancing act too and it does take time to understand your personal needs and the amount of power needed to accomplish them. You need to monitor the voltage of your battery(s) and should purchase a cigarette style plug-in LED voltmeter that is available at Walmart or a local auto parts store. And another important point is that you do not want to let your battery voltage drop below 50% or less than 12 volts as over time this will damage a battery via sulfation. And one last tip, you might want to consider installing two 6-volt batteries and increasing your available power or consider this down the road, after doing some camping/travel, understanding your power consumption and needs and factoring them into a future decision. Battery University is a great resource and the chart below will help too....

One last tip... Ryobi makes an outstanding portable fan that runs off their 18 volt batteries. The fans are small, powerful and run off both 110 volts and 18 volts DC, just something to know about and consider for times when you cannot use your air conditioning unit in the trailer. They are available at Home Depot.

Good luck to you!

SueBHunny · August 2018

I love that Ryobi fan! I've been using one since my tent days.

Michigan_Mike · August 2018

@SueBHunny said:
I love that Ryobi fan! I've been using one since my tent days.

We have two of them out in Arizona and two here in Michigan. Great product for sure!

Sparrow · November 2018

I'm thinking of the 100 w renogy suitcase just to trickle charge the battery to keep the Norcold cold in my tag. Thats al i really need to power if i was to be minimalistic, however the water pump would be sweet too..

Sharon_is_SAM · November 2018

@Sparrow, you should be fine with that as long as there is available sun. The Norcold chest coolers are pretty efficient and it does not sound like you use your battery for much else. A lot like us, really. Even though we have a large AGM battery, we still use Lucci lights!

mgreen2 · November 2018

@Sparrow said:
I'm thinking of the 100 w renogy suitcase just to trickle charge the battery to keep the Norcold cold in my tag. Thats al i really need to power if i was to be minimalistic, however the water pump would be sweet too..

We spent 11 days in Florida helping to clean up after the hurricane last month. Used the Renogy solar suitcase to charge the battery and it kept the Norcold at 40 degrees, running lights and fantastic fan 24x7 with no problems

rickwe818 · November 2018

To be honest, we're thinking of upgrading to a larger travel trailer. And, several if not most can run on either propane or electrical.

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