In praise of simplicity and the humble 3-Way RV Fridge

 

3-Way Norcold 323T RV Fridge

 

 

Since we bought our new to us 2002 Hawk ~ 5 years ago, we never used the Norcold 323T 3-way fridge for anything other than as a storage cabinet. With many trips to nearly all the western National Parks and camping/fishing outings the trusty green Coleman was always our go-to cooler. Many a bags of ice were poured down it always ready hatch. This COVID time with working from home gave me some ideas and one weekend I decided to take the Norcold apart and give it a really good cleaning. The many videos and posts on various websites helped provide the basics. Cleaned out the chimney, made sure all the previous charred residents have been evicted and all the orifices cleaned up with compressed air. After thoroughly cleaning up the burner area, I applied a match thru the tiny window and was thrilled when the blue flame caught on and burned with a nice blue flame. I tried lighting it with the piezo starter and was even more amazed when it worked perfectly every time. If the flame did not catch, I lit up the stove inside for 30 sec to purge the gas lines and every time it has fired up. This purging is especially handy after tank refill. We decided to use this on our next camping trip to our favorite high desert site in Oregon. Well, it worked so well that during the night it froze the milk (night time cab temp was 70F and inside the fridge was 25F – reminder for next time to use the LOW setting!). My 12 year old kept a log (nice math practice for him to log data and even plotted a trend). We noticed that when the camper  temp was  hovering around 85F, inside the fridge was 41-43F. We used a small wireless Accurite thermometer with remote sensor that I put inside the fridge.

Since someday I want to upgrade to either a newer model of Hawk or my ideal camper the Alaskan 6.5’ CO ( anyone have either of those to sell, feel free to contact me 😊 ) I don’t plan to put any solar in this camper nor buy those fancy $$$’s expensive batteries (yet). Neither do I have plans to be obsessive over battery power, usage, Bluetooth modules and shunts! I am keeping all those extra brain cells to convince those little red band trout to accept my fly or me getting better at stream side entomology.  Also living in the PNW, solar is somewhat limited and where we go, either we are seeking out shade during the day or there are clouds (perfect for BWO hatches). Now that propane is working so well, I wanted to try out a small experiment since the 3-way are power hogs on 12V. I have always wanted to upgrade the trailer plug wiring to improve the battery charging from the truck alternator (and battery) to the camper battery. The most optimal way and granted a bit of an overkill for our particular situation (details below) is to go to heavier gage wire direct from the truck battery for the minimal power usage we have.

I picked out the Renogy 20A DC-DC charger. This is a basic unit and a good way to get camper battery to charge from the truck.

Here is the set up I ended up with for my usage:

Ram 2500 Tradesman (2016) single battery set up. 4G welding cable positive from the truck battery terminal goes 8” into a 30A mini-ANL fuse, after another 6” goes into a 60A circuit breaker w/push to reset that I can use to cut power if needed. Then it goes to the back of the pick up bed and terminates in a Anderson Pole connector rated at 120A. The negative cable (4G welding wire) same as positive goes from truck negative terminal to the Anderson plug. Both cables follow the factory harness path and are shielded in their own split loop and zip tied to the factory loom (away from any moving parts and exhaust which is on the right side of the truck anyway). From this Anderson connector, a 4G dual cable and sense wire (tied to the 7 pin plug power for 12V+ sense) goes into the camper battery compartment. For this part of the wiring I used a good quality 4G battery jumper cable and cut off the alligator clips. Both cables (+/-) go directly into the Renogy 20A DC-DC charger. The output +ve goes to a 60A fuse and then to the camper battery.

Camper battery is a Optima Blue Top (66Ah). Our power usage is very minimal. 2 LED lights (0.5A) , exhaust fan (0.8A) amps while cooking, water pump and porch light (0.12A).  The output from the camper battery both +/- are fused at 30A to the camper power distribution block. The battery also gets charge from the old style IOTA DLS-30 (remember this is a 2002 model Hawk) when connected to AC.

What I really wanted to do was; run the 3-way Norcold off the camper battery while driving and continue to charge the battery at the same time, with minimal worries (apologies to those infatuated with solar set ups, large battery banks 😊 ). BTW, the Norcold pulls in 10.1A when on 12V DC  and I think we have been successful at that so far.

 

 

 

Just returned from our maiden voyage (more data collection will happen over future trips). Here is what we did.

Started the Norcold on AC at home 4-5 hours before we were expected to leave. Put in all of our pre-cooled food into the fridge that was already at 41F. Disconnected AC, switched the fridge to 12V DC and took off for a 3hr drive to our fishing spot. Stopped twice on the way (25 min total for gas and drive thru lunch). At the campsite switched from 12V to propane on the fridge and it did not miss a beat. Plus I did not miss buying bags of ice or lugging the cooler. We repeated the process on the way back. This time switching from propane to DC before leaving camp.

For the electrically minded, the Renogy is a 20A max unit, so nothing too crazy or dangerous. When outputting the max 20A, the input side is supposed to max out at 30A.  We have only done this once, this last weekend which was the hottest days in the PNW (Beaverton hit 100F) and there was no issue with the cooling. I know some of the folks run their 3-way on propane all the time while travelling. I did not want to bother with the flame shields, the auto relighters or switching it off before going to a gas station with an open flame. I used it as the 3-way was built, on AC, DC and propane and found it worked well for my situation. YMMV. Now if I can remember to check and clean the propane burner once per camping season, I think this will work for me.

Oh BTW, if you have a newer Alaskan or Hawk for sale, send me a note. 😊 Happy travels.