Replacing a fridge with mini fridge

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bigbluefan02

Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2014
Posts
20
Location
The Bluegrass State
Ok I am new to the RV world and about a year ago just purchased a 1989 Coachmen and my fridge needs to be replaced (the company that does some work on my RV has said the fridge doesn't get below 50 degrees). SO my question is can I replace this fridge with just a mini fridge? As I was reading on other forums they are talking about 6 batteries and amps and this is stuff that is new to me so I am reaching out to you all for some input.
 
What brand and model do you have? Knowing that information, others may have some trouble shootings ideas for you to try before you junk it. It may be something simple.  Don't give up just yet.
 
bigbluefan02 said:
SO my question is can I replace this fridge with just a mini fridge? As I was reading on other forums they are talking about 6 batteries and amps and this is stuff that is new to me so I am reaching out to you all for some input.

To answer your original question, probably they were talking about whether your house batteries (not the coach batteries which starts your engine) were sufficient size with an inverter (if you have one) or a generator (if you have one) that could keep the mini fridge running.

Do you know if you have an inverter or generator on your rig?
 
Skyking I have a generator and that isn't working the best as of right now. I had a RV repair place tell me that I needed a new control panel and paid for it and it still doesn't work well. I've debated on getting a generator to hook up to the back when I use the rv or I am possibly looking for them to rebuild the generator I honestly don't know just yet.  But I am going into with the worst possible scenario thinking the only time i would use this fridge is when I am at camp site with electric. Does any of that make sense?
 
Sure you can replace it. The question is, will you ever need to operate the fridge when shore or generator power is not available. The old RV fridge can run off propane, or maybe even 12v battery power. The mini-fridge will not, at least not without help. That's where the battery question comes in.  You would need to add an inverter for 120v electrical power if you need cooling when not plugged to shore power or running the generator (if the RV has a generator). And an inverter needs substantial 12v battery capacity to run.

If you start out with everything chilled, you can probably drive for at least a couple hours without the fridge warming up at all, so you may not need the battery-powered inverter option.
 
Yes, you can add a small inverter. Probably a pure sine type, since those little fridges probably don't have any built-in power filtering or correction. If you only want to run the fridge off the inverter, wiring one is easy. The only concern is having enough battery capacity to operate the inverter for whatever time you require. An inverter sucks a LOT of AMPs from a battery. 100 watts of inverter output power takes something like 10-11 amps from the battery. Continuous as long as the inverter is providing power.

Something like this for the inverter:
http://www.theinverterstore.com/180-watt-pure-sine-wave-inverter.html
http://www.batterystuff.com/inverters/pure-sine-power-inverters/PST-15S-12A.html
 
Sure you can replace it with a mini fridge.
As long as you have access to 120 volts. at any rv park

You just won't be able to run it off gas if you are boon docking

Several years ago there was a short circuit in the main power that fed our trailer and we along with other campers lost our refrigerature and some other appliances.

I went out and bought a small dorm refrig. at Best Buy and we were good for the rest of our trip and then when we got home, I had the trailer rerfrig. fixed

Jack L
 
I recently purchased a "Sundanzer" brand minifridge (5.5 cubic feet) that runs on 12 volt or 24 volt only. Hoping to use my 4 200 amp hour 6 volt batteries wired in series/parallel. I've been unable to get the compressor to do any more than a cursory shake, but no running when attached with 10 gauge cable to my batteries. Any ideas to help me? Is this bank of batteries not enough? I also attached it to 2 100 amp hour 12 volt batteries wired in parallel with the same result. The batteries are all fully charged.
 
Thanks for the input fellas!! And thanks for the links Gary!! If it is ok I may be sending a couple of you guys a PM for some more explanation. Like I mentioned I am new to this so I am learning.
 
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