simple newbie question , refrigerator

[lamoz1]

If using my fridge on propane how long will the battery last?
Does it draw the 12v from the chassis battery or the house batteries?

Will be dry docking for 3 days and Im wondering If i should run the engine every day for a bit or will running the generator recharge the batteries for me ?


thank you in advance.

[lamoz1]

Im sure of the wiring , two 12v batteries were wired in series. I'm thinking
that because of of them was a dead battery no major damaged occurred.
Now I'm happy that I may have solved my battery draining issue.

Thank you

[MrWizard]

6v batteries go in series,
2*(6v)= 12v

12v batteries go in parallel

12v in series will be 24v when first installed , but will not charge from the converter, and will probably burn out any lights you turn on

6v in PARALLEL will be to low voltage for anything to work, and will be over charged and damaged by the converter

If you can't be sure of the wiring
GET SOMEBODY ELSE TO LOOK AT IT, and help you

[lamoz1]

Ok,
Was still dealing with dead batteries, bought new one for the chassis and noticed
previous owner had them wired in series and not parallel.. I'm going to think
this is my problem. Now the question is, has this caused any damage to the electronics?
I don't see any so far, but will report later. I'm going to try an run my fridge on gas
for a couple of days to see if the bats hold on.

[MrWizard]

The tv antenna on the roof has an amplifier built in, usually needed, that red light means the power is turned on to the antenna, the little switch on the plate turns it off, most of the time you need it on, to watch tv
But you can turn it off, when you stop watching tv and lower the antenna
It uses a very tiny amount of power
It would take months to kill the batteries

[lamoz1]

got it... Convertor. NO my tv does not work without the gen running.
I think one of my house batteries is bad, shows low voltage. I will check
them again today, as i ran the gen and watched a movie so it was on for about 3hrs. Don't want to be stranded so I keep flipping the disconnect switch to my
chassis battery. Off topic, what is the red light on the coaxial thing by the Tv
I have an antenna and a sat dish and since the removed the tv prior to the sale
there is a bunch wires back there.

[MrWizard]

lamoz1 wrote:

MrWizard wrote:
do not disconnect the house IF you are in there
that will shut off all your lights, water pump etc..
that is for when you store the RV

how did you get the fridge working ?

did you splice any electrical wires ?

Well yeah if I'm not using the rv then I will disconnect the house
batteries. The fridge started working when I flipped the switch
by the floor that reads " LP detector " I thought it was used to
detect lp and did not control the fridge I guess it does. So yesterday i checked and I had power on all the batteries. Turn on my generator and checked that I was getting voltage to the house batteries, it read 13+ volts, turned the a/c and let it run for about 1-1/2 hours. I also ran the fridge. After that I turned everything off, lights, fridge everything and pressed the disconnect switch to the house bats.
I checked the inverted but that only changes the 110v do 12v at least
that's what I read. I also disconnect the (2) 110v power cables on the back of the fridge.
This morning they are dead again.. I'm at a loss

A: one or more batteries are bad
B: there is a 'heavy' drain on the system
C: charge them up then physically remove cables from the batteries and in between the (2) house batteries, also the engine battery

if the batteries die again, they are bad

LP detector, controls a 12v valve that turns on the LP
it is a safety, IF it detects leaking propane, it turns off "ALL PROPANE", no stove, no water heater, no fridge, no furnace heat
it is labeled 'LP detector' not 'fridge control'
perhaps 'LP control' would be a better description

it does not control the fridge
but the fridge can not work, if the propane is turned off

this does not explain why the batteries go dead with 'detector' on
it should not use that much power, are you absolutely sure that is the only thing you did

IF the cable disconnect shows batteries hold charge
try again with LP OFF
but i think there is something more involved with this

(the gas company does not control your stove at home or your furnace, but if they turn off the gas at your meter, your stove and furnace do not work)

[MrWizard]

that is 'NOT' an 'inverter'
that is a 'converter' aka charger, it there to charge your batteries

i ask you if your Television would work with out generator or plugged in shore power

leave your 'converter' plugged in, you need it

[wa8yxm]

You just described a CONVERTER. in fact the very converter that is in my motor home fits this description.

An INVERTER will also have a 120 volt outlet or wires goint out

Converter 120 in 12 out
Inverter 12 in 120 out
Inverter/charger `110 in `12out/in 120 out.

[lamoz1]

Maybe I can upload an image of my inverter, it is in one of he compartments outside the rv. Has a fan an a thick wire with 3 prong ( just like a 110v ) cord has, it is plugged in a receptacle just like you would in a house. Now is it drawing power from there 110 and changing it to dc 12v ? There is a sticker on it that states input 110v output 12v dc.
As for the lp detector it does have a solenoid switch. This is why my fridge was not working I had the LP turned off, thinking is was just a detector same as smoke detector. I learned something new today...

Gotta love the joys and pains of rv ownership. Still have to figure out what's draining my batteris

[wolfe10]

lamoz1 wrote:

I checked the inverted but that only changes the 110v do 12v at least
that's what I read. I also disconnect the (2) 110v power cables on the back of the fridge.
This morning they are dead again.. I'm at a loss

Sorry, this is really difficult to understand.

An INVERTER changes 12 VDC from the batteries to 120 VAC.

An INVERTER/CHARGER does that plus charge the batteries when it receives 120 VAC from either shore power or generator.

The refrigerator PC board works ONLY on 12 VDC. If the refrigerator does not have 12 VDC, no heat source will cool it. Said another way, the refrigerator must have 12 VDC as well as a heat source (120 VAC for the electric heating element OR propane).

Many LP detectors also control a solenoid at the propane tank to shut off propane with the detector off. Don't know if this is what you have, but a quick look at your propane tank will tell you.

[lamoz1]

MrWizard wrote:
do not disconnect the house IF you are in there
that will shut off all your lights, water pump etc..
that is for when you store the RV

how did you get the fridge working ?

did you splice any electrical wires ?

Well yeah if I'm not using the rv then I will disconnect the house
batteries. The fridge started working when I flipped the switch
by the floor that reads " LP detector " I thought it was used to
detect lp and did not control the fridge I guess it does. So yesterday i checked and I had power on all the batteries. Turn on my generator and checked that I was getting voltage to the house batteries, it read 13+ volts, turned the a/c and let it run for about 1-1/2 hours. I also ran the fridge. After that I turned everything off, lights, fridge everything and pressed the disconnect switch to the house bats.
I checked the inverted but that only changes the 110v do 12v at least
that's what I read. I also disconnect the (2) 110v power cables on the back of the fridge.
This morning they are dead again.. I'm at a loss

[MrWizard]

do not disconnect the house IF you are in there
that will shut off all your lights, water pump etc..
that is for when you store the RV

how did you get the fridge working ?

did you splice any electrical wires ?

[lamoz1]

The Rv does have a battery disconnect switch both the chassis and house.
I guess I'll start using them now.

Weird thing is that I've own it for a month now and the issue only recently appeared
after I got the fridge to start working, therefore my original question.

Thanks for all the good tips, I will try them all

[MrWizard]

The Ford v10 starter
Does not have the same battery drain issues as Chevy 454
Not saying it can't happen
Just saying it's not known for that to happen

Also you might try disconnecting the negative cable on the chassis battery
You can even install a battery disconnect switch if you want
This way you can keep the engine Battery from being discharged