Motorhome Fridge Thoughts

Motorhome Fridge power consumtion is normally not a consideration for people using a gas fridge, but for those using the newer 12V or 24V versions and intending to run purely from solar / battery systems then the calculations are crucial and having an understanding of the proper power conversions is i think, a must! It never ceases to amaze me how many people think that a 1 amp 240V house hold refrigerator will be fine to run in a motorhome from a battery bank through an inverter – this is simply not the case unless you have developed an all new way of charging batteries the rest of the world is yet to know about! Please let me know so i too can be rich with you! You must use a motorhome fridge to be efficient in my opinion.

The Basic Facts about power conversions with no loss for inefficiency

Power in watts = Voltage x Current (this is the big one for ease of comparison)
Current (A) = Power / Volts
Batteries are measured in amp hours

The simplicity of this is that a 12V at 1 amp and a 240V at 1 amp are not equal – one draws 12W and one draws 240W. That’s not to say a motorhome fridge will only use 12 watts – it won’t. A Motorhome Fridge will most certainly draw more than one amp – around six at start up and drop to about 3.8 or so whilst running (my experience with a clamp meter on a waeco 160 motorhome fridge with Danfos compressor) but thats still only around 48 watts or so whilst running after start up. The 1A house hold fridge through an inverter with no loss counted in the inverter will be more like 20A at 12V – a stretch for any battery system.

Hope this helps simplify Motorhome Parts and about a Motorhome Fridge / refrigerator