Running Converter without Battery

[rmoyers@mssi.net]

Hi,

I currently have the WF-68100 converter. The manufacturer claims "The 6800 Series is designed to provide clean power with or without a battery". I'm considering running the converter without the batteries connected and would like to know if anyone has any experience with this. Any comments about how clean the signal is with and without the batteries connected?

As background, my goal is to connect an invertor to the existing wiring panel and power the fridge AC and DC circuits from the batteries through the invertor (and convertor) for short periods while driving. That's easy with the AC side of the fridge (the panel has circuit breakers) but the DC side is wired (with fuses, not switches) into the converter bus, which also charges the batteries. By turning everything off (except Fridge) and disconnected the batteries I believe I can 'realize the dream'. Comments/suggestions are appreciated.

P.S. I working with a 2000/4000 pure sine wave intertor I already have from another project. The fridge is the standard Dometic 2 way propane/electric.

[mhs4771]

Be advised trying to run an AC/Gas RV Fridge is a bad idea. The AC/Gas Fridge on AC draws quite a bit of juice. Our monthly electric bills dropped when we went from an RV Fridge to a Residential Fridge.
Not saying you can't do, but will require a good size battery bank.

[XCMARK]

with a battery connected your 12 volt connected would have zero chance of seeing a small amount of AC ripple from the charger. I would suggest you connect any cheap automotive or AGM battery to your 12VDC side of the charger for several reason.






#1 available current out of the charger is much lower then the available power from a battery on high loads.#2 I am not sure if that is a smart charger and know if 13.6 volt or float 13.2 without some form of reference voltage of a battery. If money is a issue a group 24 battery is about $48 at Walmart and you only need one. I don't have any proof that its a bad idea to not have a battery but my 35 years in the electrical industry tells me I wouldn't do it.

[rmoyers@mssi.net]

Originally Posted by mhs4771

Be advised trying to run an AC/Gas RV Fridge is a bad idea. The AC/Gas Fridge on AC draws quite a bit of juice. Our monthly electric bills dropped when we went from an RV Fridge to a Residential Fridge.
Not saying you can't do, but will require a good size battery bank.

Thanks for your reply. I agree with your observations. I just don't like running the propane side while traveling here in FL and AZ during the summer. Do you have any suggestions?

[rmoyers@mssi.net]

Thanks for your reply. It's valuable input. I haven't checked but assume something breaks (e.g. batteries boil, converter/chargers overheat, other) if I leave the battery connected to the converter charger (thus the perpetual machine minus conversion losses). Any comments?

[travelin' texans]

Originally Posted by rmoyers@mssi.net

Thanks for your reply. I agree with your observations. I just don't like running the propane side while traveling here in FL and AZ during the summer. Do you have any suggestions?

Been traveling with the fridge running on LP, furnace also in cold weather, as it was designed to do in every rv we've owned for 40+ years & never any problems. Your plan seems like a lot of work, trouble & money to bypass the design.

[mhs4771]

The only other thing I can add is: If you are going through all the trouble to avoid traveling with the Fridge on Propane, why not look into changing over to a Residential Fridge, been done by numerous folks, and new Res Fridges very low power drains compared to an RV Fridge running on AC.

[markw]

I also see no good reason not to run the fridge on propane.
Mark