08 189fbs frig

[chadman154]

How long will frig run off battery and propane?

 

[profdant139]

Propane is great for fridge -- not the battery

Propane is amazingly efficient -- we have had our fridge on propane for a month at a time -- we probably could go a month on one tank but have always refilled every two weeks, just in case.

The battery is another story -- the fridge drains it pretty quick. In our new X-139, they no longer even give us the option of powering it with a battery -- it is on 110 current or propane, period.

I should add that when you are running the fridge on propane, it still uses a little battery juice for the control panel, but not much.

 

[chadman154]

Re: Propane is great for fridge -- not the battery

Propane is amazingly efficient -- we have had our fridge on propane for a month at a time -- we probably could go a month on one tank but have always refilled every two weeks, just in case.

The battery is another story -- the fridge drains it pretty quick. In our new X-139, they no longer even give us the option of powering it with a battery -- it is on 110 current or propane, period.

I should add that when you are running the fridge on propane, it still uses a little battery juice for the control panel, but not much.

My concern was the current draw for control panel. Maybe i will bring a spare battery along. Its a 5 day trip in middle of july. We only have a switch for auto (ac voltage) or propane.
Thank you for your help

 

[profdant139]

Monitoring the draw of the control panel

Using the ammeter setting on any cheap multimeter, you can figure out how much current the control panel uses. I don't think it is a lot of juice. You may not need an extra battery just for the fridge.

 

[Experienced campers]

Battery drain

It sounds like your frig may be the same model I have in my 189FDS. If so, I found that mine came with the climate control feature turned on. This consumes 1.5 amps ALL THE TIME and is used to heat up the door seal area around the freezer door. This can be disconnected to save tons of battery life. Upgraded models provide a button on the panel for this. When this feature is turned off you may experience some condensation around the door depending on the humidity level where you are traveling. We only dry camp so this was the first troubleshooting I did.