Furrion 12 Volt Fridge Drains Battery on Shore Power

[trichwine]

My 2022 Imagine 17MKE XLS has had the solar panel and battery replaced to deal with the 12 volt fridge power needs being way too high for boondocking. I now have 400 watts of solar and 200 amp hours of lithium batteries.
I’m plugged into shore power overnight with food all loaded in cold fridge for early departure today. I find that batteries have drained down to 65% overnight even though it was plugged in to shore power the whole time.
Is there something with this fridge wiring that my solar/battery installer might have missed so that the fridge isn’t prioritizing shore power over battery or some other simple explanation? I had the battery disconnect out.
I have a service appointment for the rig for gas quick disconnect recall after this trip so I guess I’ll have it checked then.

Thanks,
Tom

[xrated]

Battery charging will NEVER take place with the battery disconnect off/open. The charging path from the Converter/Charger is through that battery disconnect.

[TripleG]

Battery charging will NEVER take place with the battery disconnect off/open. The charging path from the Converter/Charger is through that battery disconnect.

Agree that with the disconnect off/open that the batteries will never charge, and plugged into shore power the converter would supply 12VDC to the RV for any 12 volt loads. Just making a guess that the 12V fridge must draw straight off the battery since it depleted his batteries down to 65% SOC. If so it would have to be fused and coming off the battery positive.

[huntr70]

so that the fridge isn’t prioritizing shore power over battery or some other simple explanation?

Your fridge is strictly 12 volt. It can't prioritize 110 shore power over 12 volt.

Being plugged in to shore power would continually charge the battery, but you need the battery disconnect turned to "ON" for that to happen.

[TripleG]

Your fridge is strictly 12 volt. It can't prioritize 110 shore power over 12 volt.

Being plugged in to shore power would continually charge the battery, but you need the battery disconnect turned to "ON" for that to happen.

Just a question on that if the disconnect is off, but he is plugged into shore power wouldn't the converter supply the 12V dc loads and in his case the 12V fridge, if it was powered from the load center? The way he wrote his post it looks like the batteries drained down to 65% which could only happen if the fridge came straight off of the batteries like the propane detector does. Thanks

[xrated]

Just a question on that if the disconnect is off, but he is plugged into shore power wouldn't the converter supply the 12V dc loads and in his case the 12V fridge, if it was powered from the load center? The way he wrote his post it looks like the batteries drained down to 65% which could only happen if the fridge came straight off of the batteries like the propane detector does. Thanks

The battery disconnect switch is in the middle.....between the converter/charger and the battery itself. With the battery switch open, the 12VDC being produced from the Charger/Converter will never make it to the battery. So if the fridge did deplete the battery, then the fridge 12V circuit is downstream of the battery switch....which means that 12VDC power is coming directly from the battery.....and the converter power is NOT getting to the battery to charge it or supply anything on the down side of the switch.

Here is a rough sketch of what's there.....You can see that the converter/charger power goes directly to the 120VAC breaker/12VDC panel. From there, the 12VDC goes to the battery switch. If it's open, like his was, the converter can supply power to the fuse panel, but not any other circuit that is downstream of the switch.....hope this helps..

[TripleG]

Nice sketch, very helpful! So it looks the fridge must be off of what you labeled as "Individual Breakers Auto Reset". I believe that the break away switch would be another one of the dedicated loads that will pull directly from the battery regardless of the switch position. Thanks

[xrated]

Nice sketch, very helpful! So it looks the fridge must be off of what you labeled as "Individual Breakers Auto Reset". I believe that the break away switch would be another one of the dedicated loads that will pull directly from the battery regardless of the switch position. Thanks

Thank you. I made that sketch as I was figuring out where all the wiring went, prior to my DIY LiFePO battery build. My system has been modified somewhat from that sketch, but the drawing is a basic configuration of how they are wired from the factory....before someone like me starts changing things around! Yes, the break away switch wiring is connected there too. Keep in mind though, the break away switch does NOT use any power from the battery unless it is activated, it is a simple mechanical switch with zero electronics in it. On mine, there is also a feed for the level control and the bedroom Schwinteck controls and power, along with a another thing or two that I can't remember off the top of my head.

Here is what my front compartment looks like now...added another Main Battery Disconnect, an addtional fuse panel, a digital temperature controller for the heated/insulated battery box, a Victron 712 shunt, large Pos. and Neg buss bars, a BMS for the LFP battery with Bluetooth, a separate auto breaker for the 12V twin compressor mod on the norcold fridge. The wiring has since been "cleaned up" some, but I haven't taken a recent pic....so it looks like of messy up there....

[TripleG]

Nice clean job, very pro! Nice that you have heater control to protect your "babies" from freezing, lol. My batteries have the Daly BMS built in, they had a learning curve, but I like them now (2 batteries with each having a Daly). I have it set where it cuts the batteries off from charging at 2 degrees C. I also currently only keep mine at 14.2 VDC which seems to almost give me full capacity but is a bit gentler on the cathode rods inside the cells. So they claim. Glad you don't have the Smart Shunt, I was very disappointed in it. I have some other recent posts about my failures with it.

[TripleG]

Just seen that you have the Daly Bluetooth dongle also, nice!