Norcold 30L cooler and Solar question

michaelsandovalngc · May 2018

Hey guys just bought a T@G boondock edition and had a question about the Norcold cooler and solar panels. Looking and the manual and the watts that the cooler uses I cam up with a usage of of 4 amp hours for the cooler. I have the group 24 interstate battery (84 amp hours available) that came with my T@G. With all this information I have the following questions bellow.
1. I wanted to know what the duty cycle would be for this cooler? (average cause I know that outside temps. would change this)
2. I bought a 100 watt solar panel and was wondering if anyone had used this to charger their battery while using this cooler and boondocking. Wanted to know if this would be enough or should I think about getting a generator.

Verna · May 2018

My rule of thumb is to have the solar panel watts number as close as possible to the amp hours of your battery. With 84 AH and 100 watts, that is close enough.

Be sure to look at the attached chart for battery usage. Just in you’re not familiar with this, try not to go below 50% of your battery’s storage capacity.

michaelsandovalngc · May 2018

Thanks. I have seen all that info before and was more wondering what i should expect when i use the cooler for the first time

michaelsandovalngc · May 2018

I did get a voltage meter for my T@G also to keep track of the battery

Verna · May 2018

Good, I’m glad you already have that knowledge.

@michaelsandovalngc, what most people seem to do is to chill their Norcold for a couple of days before a trip. Plug your T@G into 110V and let it chill. Then I would have a couple of frozen 1/2 gallon milk jugs or a few frozen water bottles to put in the fridge to help keep your food cool during your drive to your campsite.

If your tow vehicle’s alternator is strong enough to keep the Norcold turned on while driving, by all means turn it onto 12V while driving, providing you have the 12V wiring from your battery to the 7-pin in place.

michaelsandovalngc · May 2018

That is good advice. Thanks. We are going a week long trip here soon and just wanted to know how these things perform

mgreen2 · May 2018

You shouldn’t have any problems charging with a 100 watt solar panel. We ran the cooler for 2 days at 0 degrees last summer without solar and had no problem. Assuming you have the solar panel in Sun it will take care of charging the battery

michaelsandovalngc · May 2018

Thank you guys really appreciate the comments. Cant wait to do some Teardroppin’!!!!!!

Michigan_Mike · May 2018

Just remember, don't let the battery voltage drop below 50% or around 12.1-2V DC as over time this will damage the battery. So if your battery is rated at 84 AH you really only have around 42 available AH at 50%. You also need to factor in your lights, fan, pump (if you have one) and TV/DVD UNIT, etc.

And as Verna noted, if you upgrade the wiring to the cooler that will help too. Optimal sunlight and moving the panel will also help your cause and if it cools down at night you might even be able to shut the unit down and conserve power too while boondocking. I do that with my ARB frig out in the desert and it works well. Obviously this will depend on heat and current weather conditions, but it all takes time, practice and becoming familiar with your energy consumption pattern while boondocking and what you feel are necessities at the campsite.

Buy a digital LED cigarette plug style voltmeter that you can use and keep inside the trailer and this will help you monitor the battery voltage. And if you want to really learn about power consumption and get more detailed information look into installing a Victron or Trimetric battery monitor as these devices will give you real time voltage readings and an exact percentage of available power at the battery. I use a Victron monitor out west on my travel trailer to monitor 4 6-volt batteries and this is a cheaper alternative than the Trimetric setup but does the sand thing. My two 235 watt panels have the system fully charged by 10:30-11 AM every day!

Have fun and let us know how things go!

michaelsandovalngc · May 2018

Thank you for all the advice guys. I really appreciate. I will let you know how it goes

michaelsandovalngc · May 2018

Ok guys back from my kayaking trip. So just to give you some background information we kayaked 55 miles down the Colorado river from Davis damn to Castle Rock. Temps each day were from 75 degrees at night to 100 during the day. Every morning we moved the vehicles to stage them for the day. So, the battery would charge during the morning drive and that was it (drive was about 20 minutes each morning). Every morning before we started the vehicle and left I would check the battery charge to see what it was at. Just to keep in mind that we were also using the lights, fan, and charging our cell phones during the night. And with all that the battery charge never went below 80% (or 12.4 volts). We were super impressed with the coolers performance. So, anyone that is worried about its performance don’t be. Oh, and just some more info, we used the whole cooler as a fridge and kept the temp at 36 degrees. If anyone want some more info on how it went let me know.

DakotaRed · July 2018

Wow that sounds good, only 20 min of charging and never below 80%. I was out over the weekend with mine and could not get 1 day without going to 40% or less. The temps where in the 60's and 70's. The fridge was set at 34 no lights no TV but did charge 2 cell phones at night. Wonder if I just got a bad Interstate battery from the dealer. Should be able to get more than a day without firing up the generator.

TennTim · July 2018

@DakotaRed said:
The fridge was set at 34 no lights no TV but did charge 2 cell phones at night. Wonder if I just got a bad Interstate battery from the dealer. Should be able to get more than a day without firing up the generator.

Someone once did a test and logged amp draw for each trailer component. In theory you could estimate the “on” time, add everything up and compare your estimated amp-hours pulled, the battery voltage, and the battery’s rated capacity.

Let me know if you would like that table or help with the math.

Sparrow · November 2018

I called Norcold and was told the amps it uses is 4.3 and to get cold plugged in. The battery will keep it cold but it will not charge it up. I too want to try solar and boondocks. Just want to keep the cooler cold.

LuckyJ · November 2018

@Sparrow said:
The battery will keep it cold but it will not charge it up.

I have to admit, I am a little puzzeled by this sentence. The battery will not charge what??

racpat · February 2019

I want to get a plug-in volt meter to monitor the battery status on my T@G. I see Michigan Mike mention one above. I looked for them on Amazon, and it seems most are intended for use on cars. Are these the same for the 12v battery on the T@G? am I correct that is is crucial to monitor the battery status and not let it go below 50%, or are these "deep cycle" batteries meant to be drained more often?
Sorry if this is a dumb question, the whole low voltage electrical thing is new to me.
Can someone point me to a good digital cigarette style plug-in meter.
thanks, Patrick

BBsGarage · February 2019

@racpat Your really overthinking the meter. Doesnt really matter what it is plugged into DC voltage is DC voltage. And yes you should be monitoring the battery level irregardless if you are using solar to charge it or not.

Also no real dumb questions, so ask away.

Check out this for battery info.
http://teardrop-trailers.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/85/battery-reference-information#latest

Sharon_is_SAM · February 2019

INNOVA 3721 Battery and Charging System Monitor

This is the one we have, although usually priced around $10-$15 on Amazon.

For battery longevity, you should not discharge below 50% as a routine. An occasional discharge south of 50% will not do too much, just would not make it a habit.

Misterbee · March 2019

Hi, total newbie here, still doing research. Can anyone tell me which model of cooler comes with the T@G? Thanks!

tagurit · March 2019

Norcold NRF-30

Jeeptag · May 2019

What setting 1-3 do you guys use to get the best efficiency out of your fridge? I’m having trouble making it 7 hours with mine on 1 set to 40 degrees and running the fantastic fan on 1 I wake up my battery is at 11.9 and it’s in the 50s at night.

BBsGarage · May 2019

@Jeeptag said:
What setting 1-3 do you guys use to get the best efficiency out of your fridge? I’m having trouble making it 7 hours with mine on 1 set to 40 degrees and running the fantastic fan on 1 I wake up my battery is at 11.9 and it’s in the 50s at night.

Pretty sure the recommended setting is 3.

WilliamA · May 2019

I too have trouble working out where everyone's volts get to. I run my Norcold at 38-40 degrees and it has never given me any grief. I charge off my TV and use whatever electrical device I want without issues for days. The worst I've ever had was 2 days before I needed to charge the battery up from a low of 12.3V. That was with my brother along using the radio, fan, lights and twice the devices charging on my old grp 24 battery (2 years old at that point). I think the stock ceiling fan might be the power thief for lots of folks. Even on low it uses a lot of power. I have not used my ceiling fan much for that reason. I generally use my tiny in-wall fans for ventilation summer and winter and that's usually enough for me to be comfortable. I think if all I was using was the fridge, it would run for several days on a charge. There is a wide disparity of energy use that bears investigation.
Just a thought, but I think the stock galley light (lid light) uses a LOT of power. I should put a meter on it and see. I rarely use it as I've found that it's a mosquito beacon. I have an LED light strip for the galley that is pleasant and pretty efficient, voltage wise.. If I set it to red or yellow, it seems to attract a lot less bugs. Not a scientific observation, but I do see a difference.
WilliamA

Joabmc · May 2019

The VictronConnect app does a pretty good job of giving you real-time feedback to what your current draws are. I played around with mine the first few trips to see what the draws were while different devices were running. The Norcold spikes to around 4.1-4.4 when it initially kicks on and then drops. Can’t remember what the fan was showing but don’t remember it being that much on the lower settings. I had the stereo, TV, fridge and fan on, and was varying between 3-5 depending on the fridge.

The biggest culprit on our rig is the light bar in the galley.

Jeeptag · May 2019

So I figured out my power problem. The nuts connecting the wires to my battery were so loose I can’t believe it was ever transferring power to my tag. After towing for 3 hours we made it to Breaks interstate park and my battery read 12.8 after unhooking and running the fan for a while with the fridge. Check your connections first if you are having power issues

Fourman110 · May 2019

I'm struggling on a campouts right now
Had 13.1V upon arriving at the campsite. Ran the fan for 15 minutes and the Nordcolds been running and set for 36. Voltage dropped to 12.4. Had frozen items in the fridge to help minimize the cooler power and added ice about 4 hrs after arriving. My solar setup keeps raising the voltage but I drop so quickly I'm concerned. I've got two 6v golf cart batteries and still struggling to keep voltage up. The batteries were in my heated basement and hooked to a trickle charger for a few days once a month. I've turned the jvc lighting to as dim ad it will go and added the toggle switch to the TV and power is still dropping to 12.3V at times. I've been monitoring with a cigarette lighter battery monitor. Come to think of it I should drag our the two probe volt meter tomorrow to double check accuracy.

Sharon_is_SAM · May 2019

@Fourman110, as long as your battery is under load (Norcold, lights, etc) the voltage from your 12 v monitor will be artificially low reflecting the appliance draw. To assess the true State of Charge (SOC), you need to turn everything off, wait at least 30 min., then check your voltage. Make sure the battery is isolated from the solar, too. You have two 6 volts and solar - you should be fine. I would suggest getting a shunted battery monitor to get a better feel for your SOC, solar production, and draw. Be aware, depending on the setting, the fan can be a big draw.

JamesDow · June 2019

I utilize a 100 watt Renogy solar suitcase and have had no problems keeping the Norcold running even when in 108 degree desert camping.
On an aside, I did just purchase a little 700 watt propane generator (Baja) from Home Depot and It has enough power for the air conditioner and Norcold. At just 26 pounds, I highly recommend it. Runs on 1lb or 20lb propane canisters. I also refill my 1lb canisters and have had no issues.

gto · June 2019

James I can’t find “baja” 700 w generator on Home Depot site..any suggestions?

willbingham1 · June 2019

I have recently added and now road tested a Renogy 50 watt panel with their charge controller and #10 wiring attached to only a 100 amp #24 lead acid wet cell RV dual purpose and the lowest I saw on volts after a cloudy day was in the morning as the sun came up was 12.6 volts on battery. It was a 70 degree night with Norcold running from battery. During the charging day the battery was at 13.8 volts with panel holding it there under charge controllers float program (was somewhat cloudy day). From what I am reading on most tests of Norcold its draw is 4 amps when cooling down and then 1 amp float. Once cool and with items in fridge, it holds well. My Norcold is set for 33 degrees and floats up to 37 and then back to set. I use to run at 35 but it floated up to 39 degrees and felt I wanted things a bit cooler. This is my experience with a rather small lead acid deep cycle dual purpose and small 50 watt panel which is mounted on top of a tongue box which replaced my blue tongue tub. Bill

JamesDow · July 2019

Looks good! Does your charge controller allow for another future panel? I know I am happy with my 100 watt Renogy suite case with the Voyager vontroller.

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