I’ve got a smaller Everchill 12V refrigerator, and it works like a charm. My dealership put a deep cycle marine battery in my camper, and it does a great job keeping my camper going. My fridge can run 4 days just on battery power. That’s with the knob cranked to max setting! RV technology has come a long ways, that’s for sure.
Thank you so much for all of this information. I appreciate it very much. I have been in my 32 foot Class C motorhome for many years, I am now getting a travel trailer and it has the Furrion 12V fridge so I needed to learn a bit about it. The information you supplied about people running down the highway with the propane on has bothered me for so many years, I never left mine on and my brews were always cold when I arrived at my destination. Leaving the propane on absolutely burned many an RV to the ground on the side of the road. It always starts in the fridge area!! Wise up people turn the gas off, it is a Federal law besides all of the safety issues mentioned here.
I got the 12V Furrion refrigerator with my 2020 Forest River Cherokee 255rrbl 5th wheel toy hauler this year and love it! It’s great to be able to travel down the road for hours and all your stuff stays cold. Plus the juice pack solar option keeps the deep cycle battery charged.
It's interesting that one of the first things mentioned about 12 volt refrigerators is they cost less to produce. But when you consider that to camp w/o shore power you are going to need to spend a lot of money on solar power or generators to power your fridge there are no savings, actually price increases.
Thank you for fleshing out the 12 volt refrigerator story. I've noticed Open Range is offering this type of fridge on some models recently and a few others mention in it also in some of their models. As solar becomes more of the norm I think you are right that this is going to be very popular and over rule the industry soon. bill in Florida
Cool! ☺ Thank you! They have some new ones that i think are battery operated when driving . I think. Yeh, the one you mentioned...residential. Well, you can see why it is resisted, but a start that should keep improving. This may lead others to branch off with further developments that will become standard. After I am gone from Rving, but you never know. Boy i did not know that about using gas. Can you discuss this fire safety fact again in another RU-vid? I see discussions about whether or not to use gas in the fridge during travel. To me it only makes sense not to because of a possible accident. But i never heard about an open flame in a gas station or a chimney being blocked . Please do discuss this more. What should we be doing to prevent fire in fridges, and maintenance? Please?
Hi great video, the 12v fridge has many advantages, the major disadvantage is high power usage especially when boom docking. Someone has to design a low power use compressor. A lot of rental RV's have compressor fridges because they are safer and cause less problems. I have a small RV with a 5 year old 100L compressor fridge. I need a large solar battery system set up to run the fridge especially when boom docking. A generator would help but expect to run it every overcast day when the solar can't work. With what l have learned from my power usage problems with compressor fridges, l would never buy another RV with a compressor fridge.
with two 12 V deep cycle batteries and minor use of accessories these use about 10% of my battery power an hour. So when boondocking and the sun isnt cranking on my solar I really only can go 5 hours without the geny to keep batteries above 50%. Once sun is up it keeps batteries charged and fridge cold no problem. So beware what your goals are for RV use. We do 50/50 boondocking but use generator alot and thats a good compromise for us for the quick cooling down time and extra space.
There are two types of 12V compressor refrigerators. One uses a variable speed, Danfoss type compressor (Everchill, Dometic) and the other type uses a much less efficient, constant speed compressor. I see nothing that indicates the Furion uses the variable speed unit - someone correct me if I'm wrong. If there's any chance you want to run it off-grid, you want the more efficient design.
How do you power it overnight with no shore power and no propane? Do you have to have batteries big enough to power it during the dark if you have solar?
Yes you need several large deep cycle batteries and a rather large solar array and or a generator I would not recommend using the vehicle alternator you run a high risk of burning the alternator out .
OMG! I literally have been searching for info like this about this new Furrion tech. We just bought a 2021 Arctic Wolf 321BH 5th wheel and was curious about how this fridge cycles from battery (DC) to plugged in (AC). This is a brilliant overview and great info. Thank you!
This fridge is only 12v DC. But when you plug in your AC or generator, Your charger should charge your 12v battery's. I have this fridge with 300watts of solar up top. My batteries are charged by noon the next day. Doesn't take that much energy.
@@rvfuntimes6144 doing good! Only had one issue. The manufacturer of the compressor, I believe danfoss. They put an inline glass fuse that busted , but it's right next to the compressor, in the back without a good access. So I had to pull out the fridge completely and wire in a better buss fuse to the front.
@@rvfuntimes6144 I've ran mine on full with 300 watts solar and two 6volts 100ah. It's cycles them pretty good, once it was down to temp I could put a 3 amp fuse and it wouldn't trip it.
Great video... (since the dealership didn't know) ... quick question if you don't mind.... while traveling can you boondock overnight and will the fridge be good until you start traveling in the morning???? would getting 2 deep cell batteries be better? TIA
Well, ...sigh.... I don't know. Out of necessity, my wife and I along with our two sons, had to live in our 2003 fifthwheel with a gas / electric ammonia absorption system for seven years. We had outside power at times and then none at other times but gas. That refrigerator, ran faithfully 24/7 for a little over five years before burning out. It kept ice cream frozen solid. If one wants to boon dock, I just don't see burning batteries as a good option. And solar backup is great! ...as long as you got sun. Rainy days ain't going to do it.
You most likely also need solar to keep your battery charged. You can also buy the guts and replace it on an old absorption refrig, see youtube. I went cheaper and replaced old refrig with a 14 cuft electric unit, I already had an inverter.
We have a 2021 Wolf Pup and the solar panel will not keep the battery charged enough to dry camp with the 12v fridge. We have to take a generator with us in order to dry camp.
That is interesting, I have not heard that issue yet but again new technology is never without growing pains. Our dry climate in Montana may not present that particular problem either.
Other than condensation does it work good? Furrion screwed up when they went from the dc version the removed auto defrost internal circulation fan and separate temp controls
Im looking at a 2021 coachmen pursuit 31bh, it’s refrigerator is 12v, will batteries recharge when i hook up to campsite power or the generator onboard?
No xfmr. It runs off your battery so the converter that normally keeps the battery charged is just working a bit more - no big deal though. Going down the road, your vehicle keeps it going.
... like all the other guys that don't fully understand ammonia propane RV refrigerators the word "absorption" does not mean heat absorption!!! ALL refrigerators absorb heat. The ammonia is absorbed back in with the water in the supply bottle at the bottom of the cooling unit. That's why they call propane refrigerators "absorption" refrigerators. I don't blame this guy for being wrong. He... like all the rest of them... just repeat what the last guy said because it sounds right. Conscientious he still is... yes definitely. Not everybody is a chemical engineer. I get that. If you plan on being off the grid in the middle of the woods, you still need a propane fridge. Sorry they have not yet invented a plutonium based heating element that can run a fridge full time for 30 days straight. We are all still waiting for cold fusion. That's where they split the hydrogen atom to make heat. it will be a while. Until then I will make sure my propane fridge is clean and operating properly. I don't like generators. I like quiet. Solar panels are still too primitive for camping purposes. They have not yet invented a micro solar panel that can generate as much power as a big one. Sorry some old guy still has to do all the bitching. I'm done now.
We just bought a 2020 Arctic Wolf Suite 3550 Fifth Wheel. We have this same refrigerator but it is not working correctly. Do you have any tips? Dealer is not being helpful.
Again this is so new to my part of the world we haven't witnessed the issue that are going to arise yet. I would call into Furrion, I have had some great conversations with their tech guys and found them to be extremely jknowalageble on their products
I like the 'safety' reasons for putting 12 volt fridges in RVs today, but anyone who has been around RVs for a few years comes to realize the ONLY reason the manufacturers change technologies is to save a buck. Now they can pay less for the refrigerators they install and still charge us the same for the campers = more profits. I look forward to a couple years down the road when a lot of people have experience dry camping with these refrigerators. I have to think it will end up costing (the end user) a lot of money on extra batteries, solar panels, and generators if you want to dry camp with this refrigerator vs. absorption. Perhaps I will be proven wrong? I doubt it though.
I also dislike that you need to spend upwards of 1000 for a reliable solar panel that will only power for so many hours so long as you have sunlight. Where we camp theres a lot of tree cover and I worry if we lose power there won't be enough solar power shining through. I like the safety aspect though.
You should be able to rotate the dial inside the frig to "0" or "Off ". Worst case you can unhook the batteries or install a battery disconnect switch.
I own a 2021 274wkbl with juice pack and a power shut off switch installed and I have the same problem with power still going to the fridge and the light staying on.. I even took the battery off and still had power.. I assume power is coming from the solar panel so I took out the 15 amp fuse and problem solved
Did I miss all the info? How many amps does it draw? I'm thinking of having at least 400 amp hrs of lithium batteries, maybe 800 hrs, and 400amps of solar???
I am just trying to put out a basics video on how the system works and why its different form a traditional RV frig. If you are looking for specific ratings on a particular brand, you need to contact the company that built the frig.
Hi so... I bought a 2020 Cherokee black label travel trailer, I've lived in in for 1 year in April. Suddenly... my furrion refrigerator has stopped working! It keeps trying to turn on then goes off. I assume this is the pump but, because I am living on private property and cannot move it to a shop, I can't get any help to fix it. My questions is can someone recommend another refrigerator that will fit and work for longer then a year... I don't want to pay 1,500 / 1,700 For another refrigerator!! Thank you for any advice.
I just spoke to the Retail Customer who bought this unit and it is pulling a bit more power than we expected so RMRV is going to expand his solar system, but other than that no complaints to report
Would would have to research that on the company that builds the frig website. Each company will be slightly different, this one I think pulls 6 amps while the compressor is running
6 running, which under standard rating conditions seems to be about 75% of the time it's in service, so about 4.5 amps. You could probably get a day on battery power with a couple group 24s, assuming you don't go too crazy on lights or running the furnace.
This guy talks about safety, when all travel trailers are wired backwards at the power center/converter. They bring the main power in from the discharge side of a breaker .Apparently no electrical knowledge is needed to do electrical on these things
12 volt refrigerators are worthless! It keeps burning the fuse out. Havent even camped 6 times and at least 3 of those we had to use coolers. It wouldn't
You are wrong all refrigerator and air conditioning systems regardless of the power source for the type of coolant absorbs heat you can not make cold you remove heat cold is the absence of heat .get your science right if you clame to be an expert .if you are not an expert don't review something that you don't about get a little education first .
For starters I didn't claim to be an expert, I simply have RV experience and wanted to talk basics about a new technology that has come to the RV industry. I'm not sure how your comment changes how the end result of how the two systems are different . Since you gave me advise I'll give you some in return, before you post a comment take time to proof read so you don't look like an uneducated asshole yourself. Please find another channel to watch.
