12V refrigerator electrical hook-up

[rtwright68]

I have a propane/110 Norcold 611 fridge in our 2017 Minnie Winnie 31K.

I purchased a Norcold 10 cubic foot 12V only fridge and am not exactly sure where to hook up the new electric wire (10 ga) I will be running from the fridge. I have read some info on connecting directly to the house battery(s) with a inline fuse.

I would like to hook up to the existing fuse panel but there a no empty spots and the current fridge has a smaller fuse/wiring and is connected to another device (will have to verify once I get home which one).

If I connect to the house batteries only, would the fridge continue to run while on shore power (I believe it will, sorry if that is a stupid question)?

We are wanting to keep our food somewhat cold while we travel (normally under 6 hours before we plug back in to shore power).

Any advice from those who have done this or understand the electrical system better than me would be greatly appreciated,.

[tim myers]

Last year I had my Norcold converted to a 12 VDC compressor style. The installer connected mine to the House Battery with a 30A breaker/switch. In response to your question, being directly connected to your house batteries will provide power for your fridge as long as the house batteries have a sufficient charge in them. When on shore power your converter or Inverter/charger should keep your house batteries topped off. I don't know what type RV you have, so I am not sure how the batteries are maintained when in motion.


Most people here put information in the signature line that tells us what they have so we can help with more specific information.

[rtwright68]

Originally Posted by tim myers

Last year I had my Norcold converted to a 12 VDC compressor style. The installer connected mine to the House Battery with a 30A breaker/switch. In response to your question, being directly connected to your house batteries will provide power for your fridge as long as the house batteries have a sufficient charge in them. When on shore power your converter or Inverter/charger should keep your house batteries topped off. I don't know what type RV you have, so I am not sure how the batteries are maintained when in motion.


Most people here put information in the signature line that tells us what they have so we can help with more specific information.

Thanks for the reply.
Sorry, I will add my RV's info. It is a 2017 Minnie Winnie 31K (E450 V10).

[Morich]

Some info that may/may not help?
There are often several ways to do things and looking at drawings can only get ideas that may not fit when you look at real life!!

But I am looking at the 12VDC drawings here:
https://www.winnebago.com/Files/File.../000180019.pdf

It seems to show one empty slot for fuses? But that may be used for some option we don't know about, but something for you to check if you want!



Then moving on to other places if you want to add a fuse holder as it can be easier and simple?
I sometimes like to avoid putting more wires on directly at the batteries as that tends to corrode more quickly when close to the fumes.
One place to do that is on the mode solenoid. That solenoid is what connects the two battery groups together as we drive and it will have two cables on the lugs on either side, one to coach and one to chassis. That solenoid is what connects the coach batteries to the chassis battery and engine alternator to avoid any of that running down as we drive. Then when we shut the engine off it breaks the connection, to make sure we don't run ALL batteries down as we camp.
That "might" be a handy place to put a fuse holder that is a bit away from the batteries?

I'm not certain this is an exact match for what you have as there are both 6 and 12 volt as OEM options but the solenoid idea is the same. Find the cable going from solenoid to coach battery if you want to tie in here.

To help ID the battery cables they put tape wraps in the battery cables ends that should match this chart:


If you need to get into any smaller wires, they also stamp a label on those like this:


To "decode" that ID go here:
https://www.winnebago.com/Files/File...ical_guide.pdf

Lots of different options to look over to make the right choice for you!
Best of luck on the trek!!

[rtwright68]

Wow, thanks! Appreciate the info.

[Morich]

Failed to add solenoid drawing?? Click to get a better view but this is a spot to know about as it does burn the contacts reasonably quickly. Often that stops the coach batteries from charging as we drive!




Fairly simple to understand as there is a small wire LR that brings 12VDC from the dash, either when the enigne runs or as we push the boost /aux switch (they keep changing the name!) That 12 volts goes through the coil in the solenoid and to the ground wire FM. FM is often also laid on the mounting screw. The that energizes the coil the big contacts on each side are connected together.

[rtwright68]

Cool! Thanks again for the info. That sounds like the most logical place to run the cabling if I don't have an extra fuse spot available.

I was also thinking about the battery disconnect relay but I would have to leave that on while traveling to keep the fridge powered up? Probably not a good idea since other items would draw power.

[Morich]

I would not worry about the power use while driving as both batteries will also be tied to the alternator. RV have a really big alternator that normally is just kind of "resting" while we drive, so letting the power it is putting out power quite a few other things is not a problem.
One of the things some poeple do is to add an inverter which uses battery power to make AC for the kids to play all kinds of games while traveling! Watch TV while you are driving driving?

I think most people will leave the battery disconnect on any time they are in the RV and not stored. In fact there may be some items which will not work if the disconnect is thrown, but I can't say what right now. One would be the controls onthings like the furnace and air.
But the main idea is that driving gives so much power that using the lights inside and anything like that is not going to run the batteries down as the alternator is tied in and working.
Kind of the same as running the car lights, horn, radio while we are driving, we just assume the alternator is taking care of it! Only on the RV, it seperates the two and that keeps us from using too much power and running both the chassis and coach down to leave us stranded!

[No1Hunter]

I know with my 2529RG, there is a breaker block behind the drawer under the frig that powers the 12v frig. It is not powered through the DC fuse panel