fridge question

Hey everyone.  I don't own a trailmanor, but I love RVs and had a question.  Where do you change the power supply for the fridge from 12V to propane, etc.  I'm just wondering because when travelling (with my parents pop-up), if we were to stop somewhere for an hour I would switch the fridge from 12v to propane so as not to wear down the battery.  With the trailmanor, do you have to set it up in order to do this?  

FYI..... I've loved campers since I was little.  Even now with two little kids, I still go to whatever RV shows are around my area just for fun and to learn.  I am not even close to being able to buy anything in the near future, but hope to some day.  I've taken a liking to Trailmanors and have taken my parents (2 different times) to the nearest Trailmanor dealer just to show them (and peak their interest as well).  This Sunday I am going to an RV show to show my wife the Trailmanor (she hasn't seen one yet, only the brochures).  I must give a plug for the dealer in Victor, NY.  They are Walker's Four Seasons and they were EXTREMELY nice and spent over 40 minutes showing us the Trailmanor and talking with us, even though I said up front that we were not in the market for one right now.  The salesmen are not on commission so there's less pressure on them which makes for a very enjoyable visit (I wish our local car dealership was that way) .  

Anyway, I just put all that up there since this is my first post.  Thanks!
David

Happy to respond to your question.  I remember years ago when we had a travel trailer (in the early 1970s) we used to drive during the day with the refrigerator on propane, not realizing how dangerous that is.  Fortunately, we don’t do that anymore.  When we stop for an hour or so, and I feel it’s going to be a problem with the battery or with the car, I simply disconnect the plug from the car.  I don’t think an hour or so is really going to hurt the battery of the trailer too much, plus, when its hooked up to the car again, you have support from the tow vehicle to maintain the RV battery charge (or at least that’s what everybody tells me!)

Therefore, I have never tried to change the fridge over from 12v to propane while traveling.  If you wanted to, however, you would have to at least open the front half of the unit and crawl in.  The switch that changes the fridge from propane to 12v to AC is right on the front of the fridge and it’s really easy to change it over.

Just my two cents!

F. J. & Ellen

If you're stopping for hour or so just leave everything hooked up [refer at 12v].  Both batteries operating in parallel will be fine.  If for several hours then disconnecting from car battery as previously advised is prudent.

By the way, if you chill down the refer the night before and have some blue ice, you can tow a day without using refer power.

While climate is important to the use of the refrigerator, we use our refer a bit differently.  We do the traditional overnight charging (getting it cold) the refer.  After it is cold enough, we load it while the items are still cold from being stored in the house refer.  This initial charge is from a 110 outlet.  While we are on the road, the refer is not turned on.  We found that we can go all day without it being on.  Ice cubes in the freezer compartment are still frozen.  Ice cream might get a bit soft but not at all runny.  In fact it is just right for eating.  When we set up for the evening the refer is turned on and cooled by campground 110 volts.  We have traveled through many states and found that our refer keeps everything in the condition that they are best preserved.  When dry camping, propane works much better than 12 volt.  So we really have no problems.

hal

I need to check this but I think my Ford truck drops the aux 12V power when the engine is off so the fridge will not discharge the battery while stopped.

The trailer must be "up" to run the fridge on propane safely per the factory.

One more thing David, I bought mine used to save some $s.
I suspect you will have one before too long.

Sure enjoy mine and that is after owning a Class A Motorhome for 10 +/- years.

Thanks a lot for all the input guys!  

We run our fridge on 12V while on the road, however I have installed a relay in line with the 12V source to the fridge. You will find this recommendation the fridge manual. The relay is operated by an extra circuit connected to the ignition wiring in your tow vehicle. When the ignition in the tow vehicle is off the 12V to the fridge is turned off. This avoids running batteries down and avoids running the fridge at a tilt if you park on a slope. There are some that say the latter item is not much of a concern in the newer fridges. I won't argue that point.

I have a question about the reefer in my TM. When I first got it home and set up, as well as when the rv shop tested it, it would get really cold on 115v ac. (Almost to freezing actually). The weather isn't much of an issue. Well, I switched it over to 12v to let it run overnight (trailer connected to an outlet here at the house). It was NOT cold in the morning. Furthermore, seems only the freezer gets cold now......16 degrees, while the fridge part will only get down to 58-60. (When switched back to 115v). Does anyone have any idea as to what's going on here? Also, when I try to light it on LP, sometimes I get a little spark/flame flash, but it will simply not light.....perhaps I've got mud daubers in the line somewhere....dunno....acts like it's not getting gas properly. It's an RM2300 model 3 way.........

Happytrails

[Bill]

Are you sure your converter is good? That is, when you switch it over to 12v, do you actually have a good strong source of 12vDC getting to the fridge? It takes a fair number of amps to run the thing on DC.

Bill

The converter is good, and btw, I did manage to get the reefer running on LP! Just didn't know what I was doing I suppose. I think the weather did play a big part in it though.....I was forgetting that on some of those days, it was only like 46 degrees outside. I've got it running on AC now with the fan running and it's 85 degrees in the trailer right now. I am curious if it'll still cool it. ???