[Flick]

I have never set camped so managing my batteries when not plugged in is new to me. I am at my parents place in the hills. If I have nothing else on except my outside Dometic fridge/freezer on the freezer mode will it draw my batteries down too far overnight?  I realize there are probably a couple other small draws here and there like the clocks that don't turn off but there are no lights or anything running. 

[Fulltiming]

I have no idea what the drain would be on an older outside Dometic refrigerator/freezer but the newer series seems to draw about 7.5 amp at 12 volts and depending on ambient temperature can run from 25-40% of the time. Although I don't have one of the outside Dometic refrigerator/freezers, I do know that running the stand alone Dometic Ice Maker when dry camping would pull my batteries down dramatically. If the temperature in the bay is pretty warm, I would turn the the Dometic off or at least raise the temperature up to reduce the current draw.

Make sure that the engine batteries and house batteries are NOT merged and try it. You will learn how low the voltage drops on the house batteries with the Dometic running AND if they are too low to start the generator in the morning to recharge the house batteries, at least you can start the engine and let the alternator charge up the house batteries enough to start the generator very shortly.

[prairieschooner]

Michael gave some very good advice to make sure that the engine batteries are not connected to the system when dry-camping.
When I dry-camp I turn that refrigerator/freezer OFF because it does use more amps than I would like when no shore power.

[whatsnewell]

Same here Todd.....I turn off our Norcold refer when dry camping.....just draws batteries down too much.

[prairieschooner]

So how is the camping going Flick? I thought that I would share that I have installed switches on the LCD displays for the clocks in our '82. This way the power drain is substantially diminished and the clock still keep time, just have to switch on the display to see what time it is.

[Brad Townsend]

Our outside fridg/freezer used in freezer mode pulls when running 4 amps. Thats 4 amps per hour. Ratings are per hour weather amps or watts. If your batteries are good and are 8D and you have 2 of them you would be fine. 4 amps per hour times 12 hours = 48 amp hours used, that is if it was running all the time. Running time depends on outside temp or bay temp and how much is in the unit. My 8 D batteries are rated at 255 amp hours X 2 batteries = 510 amp hours. You should not pull your batteries below 50% which is around 12.2 volts resting not when there is a load. So with my 2 batteries my usable amount of amp hours would be the equivalent of one battery 255 amp hours. I removed the 110 volt wire on mine so it always runs on the house batteries because one time I was plugged into bad shore power and fried the compressor on the unit because of low voltage. Ice makers are the power hogs because they run off the inverter and anything running off the inverter will pull 10 time the rated capacity. Example if an AC apliance is rated at 10 amps and is powered through the inverter it will pull 100 amps from your battery in one hour of run time. I see no problem with you running your unit if your batteries are in good shape. As I stated in a previous article a battery monitor is an essential item to have in order to understand the state of your batteries. Otherwise you are just guessing and hoping. I have been living off grid for 6 months a year for the last 9 years and use our freezer 24 hrs a day 365 days a year no problems.

Brad

[Rjbjfire]

Currently I have 10 marine deep cycle batteries on the house side. I can unplug and run the fridge only for almost three days. This is the stocked fridge, it's not real big. (1974) I think I still have the original fridge but don't know for sure.

When were traveling more than 10 hours a day I try to run the generator for about five hours to keep things charged. If we're going down the road we have radio, lights, TV, fridge, etc. turned on. When it's in my driveway just the fridge is on. The kids think they need everything turned on going down the road.

Roy...