My TM battery recharges enroute even with the Refer on DC
Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones, but I always travel with the TM refrigerator running on DC while enroute and I always arrive with a fully or nearly fully charged TM house battery. Even if the TM battery is partially depleted at the beginning of that trip leg, it will recharge enroute with the refrigerator on DC. Furthermore, my refer stays cold enough that the cartons of ice cream I always take with me also always stay fully frozen...even in 95 degree ambient temperatures on a 5 hour trip.
I installed an old-fashioned +/- 30 amp analog ammeter in the wire that directly hooks up to my TM's battery. I have observed that even with with a half drained battery... and the refer running on DC...I was getting about a 5 amp charging current when I hooked my TM up to my Tow vehicle. This was before I installed solar panels; with the panels the current into battery is switched between panels or tow vehicle based on which source is at that point making more voltage at the battery.
The bottom line is a properly configured tow vehicle charge line will provide more than enough voltage and current to recharge the TM battery even with the TM refer running on DC. It will take some testing of current and voltage at the battery to confirm this....and if the tow vehicle is not providing enough voltage/current, then perhaps bypassing the factory system with a do-it-yourself directly wired 10 gauge conductor directly from the tow vehicle alternator to the bargmann plug is needed. But in any case, there's no need whatsoever to arrive with a depleted house battery and/or not use the TM refrigerator on DC as it was intended to be used while enroute.
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Ray
I use my TM as a base camp for hiking, kayaking, mountain biking, and climbing Colorado's 14ers
The Trailer: 2002 TM Model 2720SL ( Mods: Solar Panels (170 Watts), Dual T-105 Batteries, Electric Tongue Jack, Side AC, Programmable Thermostat, Doran TP Monitor System)
The Tow Vehicle: 2003 Toyota Tundra V8 SR5 4X4 w/Tow Package (Towing & Performance Mods: JBA Headers, Gibson Muffler, 4.30 gears, Michelin LTX M/S Tires, Prodigy Brake Controller, Transmission Temperature Gauge)
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