Residential Fridge question

[YogiBear]

We purchased our new in August, model 38 MB2. We love our unit.
It is equipped with a Residential Refrigerator. I have been told that the temperature needs to be turned up as we drive to help the inverter keep the unit cold.
We had a issue this fall after a 2.5 hour drive back home from a state park, (hooked up to 50 amp prior to leaving) when I went to loft it off the truck, the battery didn't have enough charge left.

Really seems strange after such a short trip in fall temperatures.
I took my truck to the dealer and the truck is charging at the connection to the RV

I called my dealer and they told me I have to turn up the temp on the fridge when towing! Seems strange to me.

As we were shopping for our next RV no one ever mentioned raising the temperature of the ridge to assure batteries stay charged.

Asking what others may have experienced with a residential fridge, batteries staying charged etc

I appreciate any thoughts or past experiences

[Ford truck guy]

We picked up ours on a Saturday and left the following Sunday for a 3K round trip to the FL. Keys and did not do that.. Have had ours since Mid July and have not experienced that. Batteries were great between PA and FL...

[Rosey]

Haven't heard that one either (turn temp up?) I too have a 39MB with residential fridge & haven't had any issues with my battery draining (YET) when traveling. I'm by no means an expert with this stuff but the obvious places to look would be battery(s) connection(s)/ CONDITION, TIGHT cable connection to tow vehicle when towing, converter charging properly when hooked up to power........I'm sure someone else will chime in with more tips. Good luck

[brenkco]

Allen & Kim,
I have never adjusted the refer temps and have towed for long periods in warm weather. You didn't say what your battery configuration was but even still, it shouldn't be a problem for that short of a tow, even if there was no power from the truck.

It would have been helpful to check the magnum meter to see your battery voltage. Next, check to see that the magnum is set to charge the batteries and that it is configured to the correct type of batteries (check the settings on your meter). If that checks out, perhaps you should do a load test on the batteries to make sure they are ok. I would also check to see if any 12v devices were left on (furnace for instance) that would drain the batteries.

If it was only the refer, I suspect I could run the refer for a few days on batteries alone. Granted, I have 4 6v golf cart batteries.

You should not have to adjust temps and should expect the refer to not drain your batteries in such a short tow!

Ken

[Tomkidder]

It sounds like the inverter to me. The refrigerator should not care about towing or not. Look to see if the inverter is working or not. Load test the inverter with a 500 watt flood light and watch to see how fast the batteries drain. Also look to see if you have a battery isolation device between the tow vehicle and the coach battery that may have gone bad.

[mhs4771]

We've had ours since April and added two additional 12V Deep Cycle batteries and we can go a few days without power and the batteries are still at 12.6 to 12.4V (did a test prior to our Canadian Maritime trip this summer). Our fridge is set at 34 and freezer at 0 and haven't changed those setting.
You need to get the instructions online for the Remote and walk through all the settings to make sure they're set correctly. And as already mentioned, double check all connections to ensure everything is tight.

[atom ant]

Check the charge output on your truck too - you may have just blown a fuse and not known it. You shouldn't have dead batteries after towing.

[YogiBear]

Thanks everyone our coach is heading to the dealer on Dec 6th to have paint protection done. They are to check the coach to see if they find anything.