Stock Furrion Solar - keeping up with fridge?

[NDIrishLacrosse]

Hello,

I tried searching all over the forum but cannot quite get an answer to what I am looking for. I am also have no sense in electricity and watts/amps/volts etc just boggle my mind.

I traded in by Imagine 2400BH and took in a 2022 2910BH. It came with the stock Furrion 165 watt solar panel, 25 amp charger controller, and the Furrion 12V refrigerator. As best as I can tell, the purpose of the panel is to assist that refrigerator along during travel days. From Furrion's website, the fridge draws 1.08 kWh per day.

The other day, I attempted to see how long the fridge/solar/battery would last while in storage and without any other draws. I set the fridge to the boondock settings and measured with a multimeter a couple times per day. All of the days we had full sun; location is the midwest so its got sun from at least 7:00am-7:30pm right now.

Battery was showing 12.4-12.6 volts on day 1 and 2 both in the morning and night; fridge was keeping cool. It was very hot outside though (90-95 degree days). The morning of Day 3 the fridge was found to be completely off (no power at all, including lights) with the likely cause being a failure in the glass bulb inline fuse.

So, can the Furrion charger even support the refrigerator? Obviously there were no other draws such as lights, pump, etc. I wonder if the failure occurred because the fridge was trying to draw so much power at night, particularly with it being so hot.

Anyone have thoughts or experience with this? Any insight is appreciated!

[A.Texas.Yankee]

Hello,

I tried searching all over the forum but cannot quite get an answer to what I am looking for. I am also have no sense in electricity and watts/amps/volts etc just boggle my mind.

I traded in by Imagine 2400BH and took in a 2022 2910BH. It came with the stock Furrion 165 watt solar panel, 25 amp charger controller, and the Furrion 12V refrigerator. As best as I can tell, the purpose of the panel is to assist that refrigerator along during travel days. From Furrion's website, the fridge draws 1.08 kWh per day.

The other day, I attempted to see how long the fridge/solar/battery would last while in storage and without any other draws. I set the fridge to the boondock settings and measured with a multimeter a couple times per day. All of the days we had full sun; location is the midwest so its got sun from at least 7:00am-7:30pm right now.

Battery was showing 12.4-12.6 volts on day 1 and 2 both in the morning and night; fridge was keeping cool. It was very hot outside though (90-95 degree days). The morning of Day 3 the fridge was found to be completely off (no power at all, including lights) with the likely cause being a failure in the glass bulb inline fuse.

So, can the Furrion charger even support the refrigerator? Obviously there were no other draws such as lights, pump, etc. I wonder if the failure occurred because the fridge was trying to draw so much power at night, particularly with it being so hot.

Anyone have thoughts or experience with this? Any insight is appreciated!

You solar panel will at best charge your battery at about 15 amps per hour. That equates to roughly 180 watts an hour AT BEST. You rarely get best. If you're getting more than 60-70% you're doing OK. Figure out your wattage being used by the fridge and that will give you a better estimate of how long solar can help maintain the battery. You will have parasitic draw as well so take that into consideration.

All that to say that 165 watts is just to help extend the battery a bit further and is much better than nothing.

Full-time Traveling Family ,'21 Momentum 395MS-R, '21 F450 King, 2000watts solar, Dual Victron MP-II 12/3000 2 x 120v, 1220ah LiFePo4

[Dale B]

I will try & explain it.

Your fridge consumes 1.08kw or 1,080w per day, if you divide by your battery voltage of 12vdc. You need 90ah of battery current per day or divide that by 24 hours you are needing 3.75ah per hour to operate your fridge.

You don't mention batteries & what capacity you have. If you have a good size 12vdc battery it probably has a 100ah rating. I would also guess it is a lead acid or AGM. Your usable capacity is 50% of the rating, so if you are a single battery you only have 50ah available.

The fridge needs 90ah per day, 1ea 100ah battery only has 50ah usable.

You solar panel @ best might supply 10ah, that would operate the fridge until the sun goes away. Your battery has 50ah usable, divide that by the fridge draw of 3.75ah. The battery can run the fridge approx. 13 hours.

Then your solar panel needs to recharge the battery & run the fridge. Panel @ best provides 10ah, the fridge needs 3.75 to operate. You only have 6.25ah to charge the battery.

Your charger will work if you have enough reverse capacity in you battery bank. Lead Acid & AGM don't charge to 100% capacity quickly, taking them below 50% shortens life expectancy.

A Bluetooth shunt will simplify your life dramatically, it measures power going in & out of the batteries. It knows your available capacity, calculates & displays in percent exactly where you are at. No guessing, easy to understand & everyone knows. More like a gas gauge.

[NDIrishLacrosse]

I will try & explain it.

Your fridge consumes 1.08kw or 1,080w per day, if you divide by your battery voltage of 12vdc. You need 90ah of battery current per day or divide that by 24 hours you are needing 3.75ah per hour to operate your fridge.

You don't mention batteries & what capacity you have. If you have a good size 12vdc battery it probably has a 100ah rating. I would also guess it is a lead acid or AGM. Your usable capacity is 50% of the rating, so if you are a single battery you only have 50ah available.

The fridge needs 90ah per day, 1ea 100ah battery only has 50ah usable.

You solar panel @ best might supply 10ah, that would operate the fridge until the sun goes away. Your battery has 50ah usable, divide that by the fridge draw of 3.75ah. The battery can run the fridge approx. 13 hours.

Then your solar panel needs to recharge the battery & run the fridge. Panel @ best provides 10ah, the fridge needs 3.75 to operate. You only have 6.25ah to charge the battery.

Your charger will work if you have enough reverse capacity in you battery bank. Lead Acid & AGM don't charge to 100% capacity quickly, taking them below 50% shortens life expectancy.

A Bluetooth shunt will simplify your life dramatically, it measures power going in & out of the batteries. It knows your available capacity, calculates & displays in percent exactly where you are at. No guessing, easy to understand & everyone knows. More like a gas gauge.

This is perfect, thank you! You mentioned that the panel, at best, will provide 10ah. eTrailer has some ratings that say maximum output is 8.82 amp. Does that 8.82 amp directly convert to 8.82 amp hours?

Additionally, given that same section you wrote, if I get 12 hours of "perfect sun" (unlikely, but to simplify the example), the 10ah provided will charge my battery 6.25ah so a total of 75 ah. So, if that is correct, the solar will never charge the battery 100% while there is a draw from the fridge (or similar), meaning after night #2 my battery would be even lower?

Is it possible that this is what caused the fridge's in-line fuse to blow as it worked hard to cool the hot air inside with a low battery reserve?

[Dale B]

This is perfect, thank you! You mentioned that the panel, at best, will provide 10ah. eTrailer has some ratings that say maximum output is 8.82 amp. Does that 8.82 amp directly convert to 8.82 amp hours?

Additionally, given that same section you wrote, if I get 12 hours of "perfect sun" (unlikely, but to simplify the example), the 10ah provided will charge my battery 6.25ah so a total of 75 ah. So, if that is correct, the solar will never charge the battery 100% while there is a draw from the fridge (or similar), meaning after night #2 my battery would be even lower?

Is it possible that this is what caused the fridge's in-line fuse to blow as it worked hard to cool the hot air inside with a low battery reserve?

Your welcome!

Your eTrailer rating of 8.82amp is the same as 8.82ah which means amp hour. "ah" is the abbreviation, different ways of saying the same thing.

When assuming solar energy you want to think on the low side of power ratings. Many factors reduce the output such as clouds, shade, angle & one thing I learned forest fire smoke.

Your estimate going into night #2 the battery has never reached full capacity is a good assumption.

A good starting point for your battery sizing would be to determine how long you would like your fridge & whatever other loads you have to run without solar.

My first system after the first evening, loads included the fridge, LED lights, stereo & maybe the TV. I would see the batteries 75-85% available capacity. In your case you would have to really minimize the loads during the day to try & get your batteries back up to capacity. Your fridge is a big load 24/7.

If you are a weekend warrior then your panel has all week to bring the batteries to full charge. You need enough capacity so you are never below 50% & the end of the weekend.

Your fuse blowing reasoning is possible, especially with a low battery. What happens as the battery voltage falls when you go below 50% of available capacity the current goes higher.....maybe it exceeded the fuse rating.

[NDIrishLacrosse]

Your welcome!

Your eTrailer rating of 8.82amp is the same as 8.82ah which means amp hour. "ah" is the abbreviation, different ways of saying the same thing.

When assuming solar energy you want to think on the low side of power ratings. Many factors reduce the output such as clouds, shade, angle & one thing I learned forest fire smoke.

Your estimate going into night #2 the battery has never reached full capacity is a good assumption.

A good starting point for your battery sizing would be to determine how long you would like your fridge & whatever other loads you have to run without solar.

My first system after the first evening, loads included the fridge, LED lights, stereo & maybe the TV. I would see the batteries 75-85% available capacity. In your case you would have to really minimize the loads during the day to try & get your batteries back up to capacity. Your fridge is a big load 24/7.

If you are a weekend warrior then your panel has all week to bring the batteries to full charge. You need enough capacity so you are never below 50% & the end of the weekend.

Your fuse blowing reasoning is possible, especially with a low battery. What happens as the battery voltage falls when you go below 50% of available capacity the current goes higher.....maybe it exceeded the fuse rating.

This is great. Thanks again!

[sirtate]

I have the same system on my Transcend 261bh...

The stock solar system will keep the fridge afloat if the ambient temperature doesn't exceed 70deg F...

I am running two GC2 batteries, so I have 235ah of storage, which will give me 3 days of summer time boondocking... (With the fridge opening and closing to retrieve beer, and such)...

I have an additional 200w panel I will be installing this weekend, and I will report back with the results...


Short answer, get big batteries and leave home with them charged.

Sent from my LM-G900 using Tapatalk

[NDIrishLacrosse]

I have the same system on my Transcend 261bh...

The stock solar system will keep the fridge afloat if the ambient temperature doesn't exceed 70deg F...

I am running two GC2 batteries, so I have 235ah of storage, which will give me 3 days of summer time boondocking... (With the fridge opening and closing to retrieve beer, and such)...

I have an additional 200w panel I will be installing this weekend, and I will report back with the results...


Short answer, get big batteries and leave home with them charged.

Sent from my LM-G900 using Tapatalk

Forgive my intrusion... wouldn't it be 117ah since you won't be wanting to run your 6v batteries below 50%?

[sirtate]

Forgive my intrusion... wouldn't it be 117ah since you won't be wanting to run your 6v batteries below 50%?

Yes...
Regardless, I can make it 3 days without drawing the Batts down.

Sent from my LM-G900 using Tapatalk

[NDIrishLacrosse]

Yes...
Regardless, I can make it 3 days without drawing the Batts down.

Sent from my LM-G900 using Tapatalk

Ah thanks, that makes sense. Any 6 volt battery brands I should stay away from?