12V Refrigerator Questions

BULBASOR

Active member
Norcold N200 series. I have the countertop style that will mount in a sprinter van right up against the roof. That makes it great for van use because it puts the food at eye level and gives you all the space below for storage or whatever.

Norcold_2090_03_Front_Closed_AngleLF_no-shadow-600x600.jpg



We have 300 watts on the roof and the reefer will run forever with no outside charging except the roof solar. In fact it's been running for the past month in the driveway on solar alone keeping our thanksgiving food cold cuz we ran out of space in the house reefer. This fridge is the best - no need to level, and never gets warm. It's always just the right temp. It uses very little power.

12 volt appliances have come a long way - we added a third battery and a 12 volt Velit AC to the roof and now we can run the air conditioner in all day AND all night without depleting the batteries too. I highly recommend 12 volt for reefer and AC now. All you need is 300 watts on the roof and 300 WH of lithium to run them all at the same time all day and night.
 

OrioN

2008 2500 170" EXT
Norcold N200 series. I have the countertop style that will mount in a sprinter van right up against the roof. That makes it great for van use because it puts the food at eye level and gives you all the space below for storage or whatever.

View attachment 281229



We have 300 watts on the roof and the reefer will run forever with no outside charging except the roof solar. In fact it's been running for the past month in the driveway on solar alone keeping our thanksgiving food cold cuz we ran out of space in the house reefer. This fridge is the best - no need to level, and never gets warm. It's always just the right temp. It uses very little power.

12 volt appliances have come a long way - we added a third battery and a 12 volt Velit AC to the roof and now we can run the air conditioner in all day AND all night without depleting the batteries too. I highly recommend 12 volt for reefer and AC now. All you need is 300 watts on the roof and 300 WH of lithium to run them all at the same time all day and night.
Norcold 200 series? All I see on the site is 2000 series.

"and 300 WH" Do you mean Wh? If so, 23aH is too small to run the fridge, possibly only for 2 hrs.
 
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BULBASOR

Active member
I paid 800 for the reefer and it only needs 2.5 to 5 Amp Hours to operate.
I have three 100 watt solar panels on the roof and with only one 100Ah battery getting charges by the solar panels the reefer will run forever. The three panels will recharge the battery to full in less than 2 hours as soon as the sun comes up. The reefer can run off just one battery for 24 hours so it only uses a fraction of the battery during the night and in the day the solar provides enough to run the reefer AND recharge the battery.

Same deal for the air conditioning except I have three batteries but it works the same way. The AC unit can run all day and all night but if I try to run it a second day the batteries will get low so I need to run the alternator (start the engine) for about 90 minutes to put it all back to fully charged and start all over again.

I have what I would consider the minimum system for a van. Most folks run way more solar and batteries than I do.

You can get those cheap chest style reefers but they will need a lot of battery power. The reason the Norcold works so well is the installation - I had to get it through an official upfitter and there were very specific instructions for insulation and venting to achieve what the specs claim. I installed it as required and it outperforms the factory specs.

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westyventures

In the Oregon Outback
If you're in the US, check eBay for deals on new/used Vitrifrigos. I recently picked up two like new 'scratch and dent' C85i SS fridges for $450 each.
 

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