My boondocking weak spot is the damn dc fridge. It sucks up so much battery that it limits my time in the field. I’m not sure what to do about it. I can’t add more solar as I’m out of roof space. To make matters worse I don’t like parking in the sun. I really, really don’t want to buy a generator.
We run ours off propane when we’re not hooked up to anything.
Anyone have any thoughts on propane vs DC when b’docking?
Love the suitcase for the mobility and flexibility. Like the other guy said, sometimes parking in the sun can be a detriment.
Buy a generator. It really is okay to have one. And let us know how your panel setup does with the fridge. I’m genuinely curious.
We bought a 1200 watt solar panel with our trailer but haven’t used it yet. I’m curious how you set up holds out since we have only gone to powered sites so far.
Edit it’s been pointed out I was wrong with 1200 and it’s only 120 watt.
We’re in the same boat but worse. Our original battery is junk – the 12v Norcold fridge starts beeping and giving us a low voltage code on the front after about 20 or 30 minutes of being unplugged. I’ve ordered a 280 AH china battery and will get a small generator to be able to top off the battery as needed, hopefully only once a day for an hour or 2. I think 3 days is going to be the outer limit of our tanks so I’m not worried about going longer than that.
I sell campers and RVs. What you’re doing is about as good as it gets bud. It should do the trick barring any clouds.
We just put 350 W of solar on the roof of my tiny vintage trailer, that feeds a 170Ah / 2.176kWh LiPO4 battery. This is more than enough to keep my crappy 120V AC 1.7 CuFt dorm fridge & tiny freezer, all lights, 2 iPads, computers, phones and even run the tiny AC a couple hours a day. We still bring the small generator converted to use propane – we can plug it into the system via an automatic transfer switch so no need to disconnect anything. But we havent had to use it yet. Put most of your money into a good batter is my vote.
Source: Testing if my new solar suitcase and GC batteries will handle the DC only fridge
