2022 Imagine 2600RB Refrgerator Design Change

[Roicle]

We are about to receive our 2022 Imagine 2600RB and are excited about the adventures ahead.Grand Design has changed the refrigerator for our travel trailer to a 12 volt design versus the previous propane/12v combination in 2021. We enjoy boon docking camping at some more remote sites here in the Rockies where tree coverage might not allow for full sun battery charging. Seeking members feedback for this change to a non propane style fridge.
Thanks
Russ Oicle

[Toy Haulen]

We have done 1 night in rest area with 1 stock battery no problem, fridge has night mode to help. I have upgraded to 2 - 75 amp hour agm batteries which will help with our trip to Quartsite in a few weeks. We have the 8 cu ft. Norcold 12 volt and love it.
Congrats on the new Imagine 2600rb!

[Soundsailor]

You're probably going to need more battery storage than what came with your trailer. We have the larger 12-volt refrigerator and added 800 Ah of LiFePo4 batteries to handle extended boondocking in the shade.

[Ynot4me2]

I'd love to have that 12v fridge. I guess we bought our tt 1 year to early. Question is how long do you boondock? Can you run a geny? Depending on your answers, maybe look at different battery storage. 2 x 6v maybe or lifepo4. Also maybe look at increasing your solar panels maybe also add suitcase style so that you can move them in the sun.

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[goducks14]

I have a cheap solar setup of 4x100w Grape Solar panels (Home Depot) running through a Victron controller. When my TT sits at my house I can run my 12V fridge 365 without the 4 GC 6V lead acid batteries going below 12.41.
The biggest issue is the other 12V things you may run. Theoretically I could go unplugged for ever with what I have as even on cloudy days I still get enough charge to maintain the 12V fridge and batteries.
When we do camp I run a 2000W inverter, a Dish receiver and a 12V Jensen TV. The TV is on for about 5 hours from morning to later in the evening. So not all day by any means. The inverter and Dish receiver stay on 24/7 so the Dish won't lose it's setup connection.
Doing the above I can only make it into the 3rd day before I need to fire up my gen. This is with good sun draw also.
IMO if you have a good shot at the sun and are using at least 2 6V GC batteries along with 200W of solar and don't use any other 12V except for the water pump and some LED lights I think you should be able to get several days easily without needing a gen to recharge the batteries.
When we are in spots where we only get about 4-5 hours of peak sun we can't make more than 2 full days and need to run the gen around dinner time for a couple hours.
Again, we run a bunch of other 12V stuff along with the fridge and that's what really drains the batteries the most.
My Norcold tanked and since we already had the solar and batteries it was way cheaper to go the 12V route. So far we love our 9.8 cu.ft fridge. More room inside is the best part.

[Paul & Deb]

Here's my opinion on these and you know what that's worth .....

The solar and solar charger were added just to maintain these new 12v fridges for traveling or short stops or whatever. The solar wasn't added to help with dry camping. So, if you needed to use solar or a generator or whatever to dry camp in the past, I believe you still will. I think there's a lot of misunderstanding regarding these changes.

And GD isn't the only manufacturer doing this and none of them are trying to imply the solar "package" is to improve dry camping capability. Uninformed salespeople may be saying it is but that isn't their design and it's not the case.

If you're a big-time dry camper, you should invest in more and better battery banking and develop your preferred way to keep them charged just like you would have before. If all you do is drive from one full hookup campground to another, these will perform perfectly.

That's what I did in our 2022 22MLE by adding 800 watts of rooftop solar and 412 amp hours of lithium batteries.

AGAIN, they added a solar package to just get these new setups to be compatible with the units that have 12v/electric/propane fridges and not to make them great for dry camping.

I've got to add that I absolutely love our 12v fridge. It's got 2 cu ft more space inside the same box as a 8 cu ft gas/electric model, it cools down unbelievably faster, and it keeps the food a perfect temp. We couldn't be happier.

[Roicle]

I'd love to have that 12v fridge. I guess we bought our tt 1 year to early. Question is how long do you boondock? Can you run a geny? Depending on your answers, maybe look at different battery storage. 2 x 6v maybe or lifepo4. Also maybe look at increasing your solar panels maybe also add suitcase style so that you can move them in the sun.

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I've had some excellent feedback from Jeff Moerchen of Grand Design this week:
- the TT electrical system will charge the batteries when on shore power; also run the fridge and anything on the 12 volt system.
- the fridge has a setting for off grid when boon docking
- it appears that we should be able to boon dock for approximately 3 or more days on battery power and solar panel charging ( we will start with two 6 volt AGM batteries)
- we will consider a generator if we want to boon dock for longer periods, or add a suitcase panel as mentioned.
- also found out that if we ran out of battery power, we can manually retract the electric stabilizers and slide. (but not so for the awning)
Thanks

[Ynot4me2]

I've had some excellent feedback from Jeff Moerchen of Grand Design this week:
- the TT electrical system will charge the batteries when on shore power; also run the fridge and anything on the 12 volt system.
- the fridge has a setting for off grid when boon docking
- it appears that we should be able to boon dock for approximately 3 or more days on battery power and solar panel charging ( we will start with two 6 volt AGM batteries)
- we will consider a generator if we want to boon dock for longer periods, or add a suitcase panel as mentioned.
- also found out that if we ran out of battery power, we can manually retract the electric stabilizers and slide. (but not so for the awning)
Thanks

It seems like it going to work out for you. [emoji3]
Unless your awning is different you can crank it in manually via the motor head. If you have the Schwintek slide system (top and bottom rails on the exterior sides of the slide) there's no manual override. You can always hook it up to your TV and power it from it.

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[HarryB]

We have a 2022 model 2600RB ordered and am expecting it any day now (we hope). I went to the dealership and spoke with a tech yesterday because I was considering upgrading to a lithium battery. I was told that our TT would come with one AGM battery. I asked the tech if I went with a lithium battery would the charge controller need to be upgraded. He said the charge controller in the 2600 would charge the lithium without needing to change anything. They wanted $1,400.00 for the Battle Born battery so I went online and ordered one for $799.00. I'm considering adding another battery and an inverter in the future, but thought we would test things out with the one battery first. A second solar panel is another option I'm considering.
I was also told that the solar panel is 165 watts. It will be interesting to see if that will keep the one battery charged enough for the frig, dish, tv and a couple of lights.

[goducks14]

We have a 2022 model 2600RB ordered and am expecting it any day now (we hope). I went to the dealership and spoke with a tech yesterday because I was considering upgrading to a lithium battery. I was told that our TT would come with one AGM battery. I asked the tech if I went with a lithium battery would the charge controller need to be upgraded. He said the charge controller in the 2600 would charge the lithium without needing to change anything. They wanted $1,400.00 for the Battle Born battery so I went online and ordered one for $799.00. I'm considering adding another battery and an inverter in the future, but thought we would test things out with the one battery first. A second solar panel is another option I'm considering.
I was also told that the solar panel is 165 watts. It will be interesting to see if that will keep the one battery charged enough for the frig, dish, tv and a couple of lights.

I'm not a Lithium expert but it's my understanding that the WFCO charger in 99% of RV's won't peak out high enough to gain maximum charging capabilities for a Battle Born battery. I think you need around 14.2-5V at bulk and the WFCO won't go any higher than around 13.8 or less even though their literature says 14.5 or so.