Date:         Wed, 5 Aug 2009 21:56:13 -0400
Reply-To:     Karl <tdiguru@WESTYVENTURES.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Karl <tdiguru@WESTYVENTURES.COM>
Subject:      Re: Vitrifrigo trip results, wiring, battery life,
              charging issues, etc
In-Reply-To:  <6bc66ccf0908051644h4cef2e78v9284b6b00e96b259@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Best to size the battery bank according to expected usage. I'm
installing 200 a/h in one of my vans, 232 a/h in the other. That will
give me a solid week +, and 200 watts of solar on the smaller will keep
me going indefinitely, I believe.

Karl

Don Hanson wrote:
>>   Actually...I think the real story is....Maybe....trying to use a 12v
> battery powered fridge for an extended time without any plug-in is not so
> easy as it would seem.  For a few days, sure no problemo.  But...and I am
> sure I will be told.."Yeah, but MINE works fine" by a bunch of listers,
> we've spent plenty of winters off the grid,  camping amongst all kinds of
> rigs...Very few have successfully used just 12v refrigeration  (away from an
> electrical plug in).  Plenty of our 'neighbors' have tried...most of those
> have had some problems or end up with ice chests as an Auxillary reefer..
> With a large solar collection set up and plenty of battery capacity I guess
> you can do it...but it seems that for extended camping away from shore power
> our best bet is propane for the fridge...