Refrigerator and microwave

[74bassman]

I looking for some advice and help from anyone who put a frigerator and microwave in thier truck. How are you powering it, and dies the frig drain the batteries when park for the weekend?

[Matt]

In my experience the built-in dometic fridge is usually good to run for about 24 hours, after that it can start to drain your batteries, depending on their condition, ambient temperature..I believe the built in fridge is powered by truck 12V. The truck I just bought doesn't have a fridge but has the switch wired to a cigarette lighter plug under the shelf so I use a 12v bag cooler and honestly i'm not sure i'll spend the money on a built in fridge for this truck, they're pretty pricey here in Canada, at least what i've seen. I'm only in the truck overnight a few days at a crack, long hauling that fridge might be nice.

The microwave i've used in the past has been a walmart special Danby 0.6 Cu-ft, holds up to the abuse and is fairly cheap to replace when it dies. I power it with a modified sine wave inverter that's overpowered for my application so i'm not over working it, in my new truck i'll be using a 3000W, hooked straight to the batteries with a fuse on each power cable (this inverter uses 2). I then get some bulk extension cord with buildable ends and run the power from the inverter under the bunk to the microwave so there isn't cords all over the place.

[snailexpress]

(11-22-2016 )74bassman Wrote:  I looking for some advice and help from anyone who put a frigerator and microwave in thier truck. How are you powering it, and dies the frig drain the batteries when park for the weekend?

I have walmart fridge and microwave in truck. In summer in hot weather it will drain. Plus bigger invertor will eat more idle power too.
fridge is 80 watt
microwave is 650 watt
laptop power 60 watt
laser printer 1100 watt

[74bassman]

I didn't know if getting one that plugs into that 12v plug would be enough. Or just getting a 110 fridge and using a inverter would be better. Since I do want to put a microwave in the truck I'm better off getting a better inverter.
Any suggestions? Also I do have 8 batteries on this truck. I'm thinking about replacing 4 with the optima blue deep cylce. This 4 run my aux heating and air, and other hotel loads.

[Matt]

I've wanted.to do the same, run 2 sperate banks using an isolator and then not having to worry about cycling out the main batteries or draining them and not being able to start the truck. I'm not sure where you are, up here I've always had good luck with MotoMaster Eliminator inverters from Canadian Tire, if you're stateside I'm sure someone here will chime in with a recommended brand.

[74bassman]

I live just south of atlanta. I know the switch you are taking about. It allows the current to charge the batteries, but doesnt allow it to drain from the other set.

[Old Driver]

I let my fridge on for 5 days (two weeks ago in mn) on and my batteries did not drain. I have a 12 volt fridge from the truckfridge.com people. I have 4 batteries all 1 year old.

[snailexpress]

(11-24-2016 )Bahdan Wrote:  I let my fridge on for 5 days (two weeks ago in mn) on and my batteries did not drain. I have a 12 volt fridge from the truckfridge.com people. I have 4 batteries all 1 year old.

Two weeks ago in MN not the same as mid summer in NM:big_smile2:

[74bassman]

Anyone have any suggestions on a microwave, and maybe a shore power unit.