by mustangcats » Fri Jul 22, 2016 11:35 pm
I just got back from my 2 week trip to Yellowstone and wanted to share my experience with the Truckfridge TF49. Overall I am happy with its performance and it kept food cold with no worry about spoilage. However, I did have to watch the battery charge very closely. The advertising claims that it "sips" battery power and will power the refrigerator for approximately 2 1/2 days on a charge. I did not find that to be even close to reality. What I found is that if the ambient air temperature was over 75 degrees, then the refrigerator would run for longer periods of time...giving off even more heat and raising the ambient air temperature even more. It was very common for the temperature during the day inside my trailer to be in the 80's and even the 90's (it was very hot this past week) and I think that on some of those days the refrigerator ran non-stop. So in the 8 or so hours while I was out sightseeing, the battery level would drop to about 12.1 - 12.2 volts, which is getting to the 50% discharge level. I had to run the generator a couple of hours in the morning and evening just to keep the battery within acceptable limits. (I was not at campgrounds with shore power.) I am thinking about putting a solar panel on the trailer to help keep the battery charged during the day. I suspect the amount of insulation in the refrigerator is not enough, but don't know if there is a way to insulate it better without causing other problems and voiding the warranty. The refrigerator is well ventilated with far more air flow space than the instruction manual required. For anyone having this type of 12 volt refrigerator, what have your experiences been when trying to run it solely on battery power?