CAT Stephen

Jim, That depends on your inverter. What is the make and model of your inverter?

Never use ether with a diesel engine to avoid piston damage and piston melting due to the high compression ration of diesel engines. Onan fuel filters are small and clog easily. Replace the Onan fuel filter first then prime the fuel filter by turning over the starter in 15 second increments with a 1-2 minute starter rest time between increments for a total time of ~120 seconds

Here are your options depending on your use case. Your use case has a substantial impact on which option will fit best for you: - Option 1: If you are on the grid nearly full time and do not have significant solar power, then stay the course with your existing absorption refrigerator, but make the following changes: Buy a new 12V compressor style cooling unit for your existing refrigerator from JC Refrigeration. Then, if you are within a reasonable driving distance from JC Refrigeration in northern Indiana, have JC Refrigeration install the new compressor based cooling unit. You may also have JC refrigeration ship a cooling unit to a qualified local installer https://jc-refrigeration.com/product-category/norcold-12v-hvac-cooling-units - Option #2: If you have significant solar power (i.e. more than 300 watts) and have more than 200 amp hours of usable battery capacity (this is 200 amp hours of lithium or 400 amp hours of Lead Acid), and your solar power is available while your RV is stored , then do proceed exactly the same as Option #1: Buy a new 12V compressor style cooling unit for your existing refrigerator from JC Refrigeration. Then, if you are within a reasonable driving distance from JC Refrigeration in northern Indiana, have JC Refrigeration install the new compressor based cooling unit. These units only consume 60 watts when the compressor is running. You may also have JC refrigeration ship a cooling unit to a qualified local installer https://jc-refrigeration.com/product-category/norcold-12v-hvac-cooling-units/ Another equivalent choice of a 12V compressor RV style refrigerator that has the interior storage and features of a residential refrigerator are the RecPro RV 12V refrigerators. These refrigerators have doors that will not open when you are on bumpy roads just like your existing Norcold and they include standard mounting hardware so that you don't need to do a custom installation. The only catch is that they may or may not fit your existing opening, so measure carefully: https://www.recpro.com/rv-12v-refrigerator/ Another alternative, just for this use case, is to purchase a counter depth residential refrigerator that fits your existing opening, but keep in mind that will be a custom installation which requires that your inverter is on full time since residential refrigerators run on 120VAC. Although most residential refrigerators run on 75-200 watts, the issue is that most inverters draw a significant amount of additional energy (typically 45-100 watts) which put a substantial additional load on your solar system and battery bank. Be careful of advice to run a residential refrigerator without considering the additional electrical load of running an inverter full time. Other big disadvantages of residential refrigerators verses the JC refrigerators compressor cooling units is that the don't have a provision to keep the doors from opening when encountering bumpy roads and they expel their heat into your RV instead of outside your RV. Most RV rooftop ACs are barely sufficient, thus adding a residential refrigerator heat load will make make cooling your RV more challenging in the summer. - Option #3: If you are not on the grid nearly and do not have significant solar power, then stay the course with your existing absorption refrigerator, but make the following changes: Buy a new absorption style cooling unit for your existing refrigerator from JC Refrigeration. Also, buy the ARP Absorption Boiler monitor (Called the Fridge Defend) from https://www.arprv.com to eliminate the potential of a cooling unit fire. Then, if you are within a reasonable driving distance from JC Refrigeration in northern Indiana, have JC Refrigeration install the new absorption based cooling unit with the ARP Fridge Defend boiler monitor. The ARP Fridge Defend will also substantially increase the lifespan of your absorption cooling unit by protecting against boiler overheating conditions which lead to internal corrosion and failure of the cooling unit. For additional peace of mind and an absolutely "safe" refrigerant for an absorption cooling unit to make a fire impossible, JC Refrigeration also offers helium based absorption cooling units so you can optionally select a helium based cooling unit instead of an Ammonia based cooling unit: https://jc-refrigeration.com/product-category/norcold-gas-electric-cooling-units/ https://www.arprv.com/purchase.php Purchase Option #1 from ARP because JC refrigeration controls their fans with a thermostat to maintain your warranty Above all things, your personal safety comes first. So, if you fit into use case #3 above, be advised: In all cases, never buy the Norcold or Dometic OEM new gas absorption refrigerators or their associated replacement cooling units due to the risk of fire. Although both Norcold and Dometic have partially addressed their fire issue via safety cutoff safety switches for runaway boiler overheating situations, their cutoff switches don't turn off the boilers until a much higher temperature is reached versus the ARP Control. Also, the JC Refrigeration units have much thicker tubing than the OEM units and are MUCH more efficient at keeping your refrigerator and freezer temperatures down in the safe range. The #1 insurance claim in the RV insurance industry is refrigerator fires. NEVER run an ammonia based cooling unit without an ARP Fridge Defend and / or a fire suppression system attached to the cooling unit. If you are depending on the Norcold and Dometic recall kits alone (i.e. thermal runaway switches) then you are at risk for an ammonia fire when the thin OEM cooling unit tubing corrodes and dumps flammable ammonia on your open propane flame or electric heaters. I have personally been there and done that with my Norcold OEM cooling unit when it failed and was very fortunate. The JC refrigeration Helium based absorption units are vastly superior to the OEM ammonia based cooling units from a safety perspective as there is no potential for fire as Helium doesn't burn.

Here are your options depending on your use case. Your use case has a substantial impact on which option will fit best for you: - Option 1: If you are on the grid nearly full time and do not have significant solar power, then stay the course with your existing absorption refrigerator, but make the following changes: Buy a new 12V compressor style cooling unit for your existing refrigerator from JC Refrigeration. Then, if you are within a reasonable driving distance from JC Refrigeration in northern Indiana, have JC Refrigeration install the new compressor based cooling unit. You may also have JC refrigeration ship a cooling unit to a qualified local installer https://jc-refrigeration.com/product-category/norcold-12v-hvac-cooling-units - Option #2: If you have significant solar power (i.e. more than 300 watts) and have more than 200 amp hours of usable battery capacity (this is 200 amp hours of lithium or 400 amp hours of Lead Acid), and your solar power is available while your RV is stored , then do proceed exactly the same as Option #1: Buy a new 12V compressor style cooling unit for your existing refrigerator from JC Refrigeration. Then, if you are within a reasonable driving distance from JC Refrigeration in northern Indiana, have JC Refrigeration install the new compressor based cooling unit. These units only consume 60 watts when the compressor is running. You may also have JC refrigeration ship a cooling unit to a qualified local installer https://jc-refrigeration.com/product-category/norcold-12v-hvac-cooling-units/ Another equivalent choice of a 12V compressor RV style refrigerator that has the interior storage and features of a residential refrigerator are the RecPro RV 12V refrigerators. These refrigerators have doors that will not open when you are on bumpy roads just like your existing Norcold and they include standard mounting hardware so that you don't need to do a custom installation. The only catch is that they may or may not fit your existing opening, so measure carefully: https://www.recpro.com/rv-12v-refrigerator/ Another alternative, just for this use case, is to purchase a counter depth residential refrigerator that fits your existing opening, but keep in mind that will be a custom installation which requires that your inverter is on full time since residential refrigerators run on 120VAC. Although most residential refrigerators run on 75-200 watts, the issue is that most inverters draw a significant amount of additional energy (typically 45-100 watts) which put a substantial additional load on your solar system and battery bank. Be careful of advice to run a residential refrigerator without considering the additional electrical load of running an inverter full time. Other big disadvantages of residential refrigerators verses the JC refrigerators compressor cooling units is that the don't have a provision to keep the doors from opening when encountering bumpy roads and they expel their heat into your RV instead of outside your RV. Most RV rooftop ACs are barely sufficient, thus adding a residential refrigerator heat load will make make cooling your RV more challenging in the summer. - Option #3: If you are not on the grid nearly and do not have significant solar power, then stay the course with your existing absorption refrigerator, but make the following changes: Buy a new absorption style cooling unit for your existing refrigerator from JC Refrigeration. Also, buy the ARP Absorption Boiler monitor (Called the Fridge Defend) from https://www.arprv.com to eliminate the potential of a cooling unit fire. Then, if you are within a reasonable driving distance from JC Refrigeration in northern Indiana, have JC Refrigeration install the new absorption based cooling unit with the ARP Fridge Defend boiler monitor. The ARP Fridge Defend will also substantially increase the lifespan of your absorption cooling unit by protecting against boiler overheating conditions which lead to internal corrosion and failure of the cooling unit. For additional peace of mind and an absolutely "safe" refrigerant for an absorption cooling unit to make a fire impossible, JC Refrigeration also offers helium based absorption cooling units so you can optionally select a helium based cooling unit instead of an Ammonia based cooling unit: https://jc-refrigeration.com/product-category/norcold-gas-electric-cooling-units/ https://www.arprv.com/purchase.php Purchase Option #1 from ARP because JC refrigeration controls their fans with a thermostat to maintain your warranty Above all things, your personal safety comes first. So, if you fit into use case #3 above, be advised: In all cases, never buy the Norcold or Dometic OEM new gas absorption refrigerators or their associated replacement cooling units due to the risk of fire. Although both Norcold and Dometic have partially addressed their fire issue via safety cutoff safety switches for runaway boiler overheating situations, their cutoff switches don't turn off the boilers until a much higher temperature is reached versus the ARP Control. Also, the JC Refrigeration units have much thicker tubing than the OEM units and are MUCH more efficient at keeping your refrigerator and freezer temperatures down in the safe range. The #1 insurance claim in the RV insurance industry is refrigerator fires. NEVER run an ammonia based cooling unit without an ARP Fridge Defend and / or a fire suppression system attached to the cooling unit. If you are depending on the Norcold and Dometic recall kits alone (i.e. thermal runaway switches) then you are at risk for an ammonia fire when the thin OEM cooling unit tubing corrodes and dumps flammable ammonia on your open propane flame or electric heaters. I have personally been there and done that with my Norcold OEM cooling unit when it failed and was very fortunate. The JC refrigeration Helium based absorption units are vastly superior to the OEM ammonia based cooling units from a safety perspective as there is no potential for fire as Helium doesn't burn.

Hello Kenneth, So, you can retain your current thermostat control as is. Now this thermostat control will only control your furnace. The Houghton is only controlled by the included remote IR (Infrared) thermostat control and does not have a wiring harness available to integrate with any other thermostat. There is great functionality in the IR control as you will be able to control the Houghton from the drivers seat and you may also control the Houghton remotely if you have a cellular access point and purchase the Switchbot IR relay from Amazon. In summary, the Houghton will not work with any existing thermostat and there is no retrofit hardware for that possibility.

I have a Magnum 458 Freedom inverter with two (2) 20A 120VAC circuits in excellent condition that I had to pull last week due to my changeover to Lithium batteries. If you elect to replace your inverter, I can sell my inverter to you for a reasonable price and at a fraction of the new price.

I have owned the BlueFire J1706 Interface for two years. Initially, I had intermittent bluetooth connectivity dropouts that would require that I manually reconnect the tablet to the adapter via Bluetooth. BlueFire's latest firmware and software automatically makes adjustments to resolve the Bluetooth connectivity issue. I was initially disappointed, but I am now pleased with the product. I now rarely experience a disconnect (Once every ~3 hours of operation). When I do experience a disconnect, it now self-resolves the issue and reconnects automatically. I have dedicated an Android tablet as a display to monitor the parameters that my dash instrumentation doesn't display such as actual Allison Transmission fluid temperature, turbo boost, engine load, actual engine coolant temperature, engine intake air temperature, and may other parameters not covered by my RV's instrumentation. I would recommend this product to you based upon my experience.

Thanks Tom, Yes, in my use case, its all about redundancy. I RV primarily in the South-Eastern US where are trees are many and the open sky is in short supply. Verizon (Full 5G speed, $30/month) and AT&T (12Mbps throttled, $60/month) together have ~99% coverage in the Eastern US and I am usually under a tree canopy where I RV. Starlink doesn't work well under tree cover.

You have hit your monthly data limit which has caused additional throttling for video streaming. Since Verizon has no "true" unlimited data plan (except for those lucky Verizon customers who were grandfathered into the previous unlimited plans which are no longer available), I recommend that you add an additional cellular plan with unlimited data and video streaming. You can obtain the AT&T unlimited plan for $59.99 monthly from the Family Motor Coach Association here: https://www.fmca.com/index.php?option=com_fmcatechconnectv3&view=home This is a month to month plan so there is no long term commitment There is a one time nominal fee for the AT&T hotspot that is non-refundable (~$40) There is currently no other cellular plan in the industry that beats the AT&T plan from FMCA. Here are the caveats: You must be an FMCA member to get this offer (FMCA membership is $60 annually) You video is always throttled to 12Mbps which means HD only (1080P) but no 4K UHD Like you, I currently also use Verizon as my primary data service, and I have also used the FMCA AT&T unlimited service since its inception this year for video streaming. I have two cellular carriers for redundancy with AT&T primarily for video streaming and Verizon primarily for all other non-video streaming data.

And you can use your propane stove safely. Simply powering off the refrigerator from the panel is sufficient. Unplugging the refrigerator is not helpful because the refrigerator will still run off of propane automatically if you power on the refrigerator.

Ann, depending upon where you live, there are two professional installation options: RV Dealer or JC Refrigeration JC Refrigeration, located in Northwest Indiana, charges ~$300-$500 for the install of a new cooling unit. RV Dealers charge ~$500-$900 to install a new cooling unit Assuming that you prefer to keep your dual fuel propane refrigerator, I personally recommend JC Refrigeration for your new cooling unit: - https://jc-refrigeration.com/product-category/norcold-gas-electric-cooling-units/ And an absolute must to protect your new cooling unit from early failure is to add the ARP boiler controller: - Buy Kit #2 https://www.arprv.com/purchase.php So, your total repair bill will be: Install Labor Cooling Unit ARP Control New electric heaters (From JC Refrigeration, Don't use old heaters on a new cooling unit) New Condenser Fans (From JC Refrigeration, Don't use old worn out fans on a new cooling unit)

The extra 3000 BTU of cooling capacity will help you, but not by much. So, making that big investment of ~$3000.00 for new Penguin 15000 BTU AC/Heat Pumps plus installation fees will not buy you much more cooling capacity. My rig configuration is like yours (2 X 13500BTU Cooling). When I am stationary, I recommend and use this unit that you can vent out our your RVs window: https://smile.amazon.com/Whynter-ARC-14S-Conditioner-Dehumidifier-Activated/dp/B0028AYQDC/ref=sr_1_8?crid=33ZKHQ15FW46N&keywords=edgestar+12000+btu&qid=1654805009&sprefix=edgestar+12000btu%2Caps%2C72&sr=8-8 You will need to fabricate a small plywood partition for the intake and exhaust hoses to utilize your RV window. I fabricated mine with a 1/4" piece of plywood with a reciprocating saw and painted it to match my rig. Now the effective cooling capacity is 41000 BTU (13500 X 2 + 14000). I use this configuration when travelling to Florida in the summer and can easily maintain 65 degrees inside when the outdoor temperature is 110 degrees.

Your DC to DC Charger must be rated as "Explosion Proof" or "Ignition protected" to be present in your battery compartment that contains any SLA starting and/or SLA or LA house batteries. It it is a Renogy branded DC-DC charger, these chargers are not ignition protected.

Ekgflashnet, The Renogy DC-DC charger is a good product at this low pricepoint. Take care not to mount this DC to DC charger in the battery compartment because it is not ignition protected which means an explosion in the presence of gassing from your SLA or FLA starting batteries. There are ignition protected DC to DC chargers in available, but the pricepoint of the ignition protected DC to DC charger options are above $500.00 The battery specifications fit your application well, but you should avoid LiPO4 batteries that have not been extensively reviewed through full teardown and capacity testing by third party sources. These Chineese LiPO4 batteries, like the one you referenced in your post, appear on Amazon & eBay for a short time then disappear after a few months rendering your battery warranty useless. The exception in the 12V LiPO4 world is SOC, AO Lithium, Chins, and Battleborn which are tremendously rugged LiPO4 batteries from established long term companies that have excellent build quality, strong performance, very impressive warranties, with extensive testing and tear down by some great volunteer experts. As Vito.a mentioned in a post above, Will Prowse is the primary volunteer in the industry that has the performed the most thorough reviews. Before buying any LiPO4 battery, review Will's battery teardown and testing here: https://www.youtube.com/c/WillProwse/videos I recommend SOC & AO Lithium above all other battery manufactures for your application. SOC has a slightly better warranty and slightly lower cost per amp-hour than the AO Lithium, but has no built in shunt. AO Lithium has a built-in shunt negating the need for you to purchase an external shunt from Victron and others. Also, AO Lithium has the best thermal performance under heavy discharge which is rated at 1C discharge continuously, 2C discharge for 3 minutes, and 3C discharge for 30 seconds. So, in your application with a 2500W Magnum inverter and four (4) 100Ah-Hr AO Lithium Batteries in parallel , you could run your inverter at 2500W full output (which is 2750W drawn from the battery due to inverter efficiency loss) resulting in 229Amp continuous load with no concern for thermal overload as your AO Lithium bank will be running at 0.57C which means minimizing overall life degradation because of low thermal stress.

Dae Sung, do you have the flexibility to locate your DC to DC converter outside of the battery compartment (explosion proof DC to DC chargers are a 5X cost uplift)? If you do, based upon your current Cummins ISB 160A Maximum output alternator, I recommend the following Renogy 60A DC-DC charger, assuming that your inverter is not attached to your alternator output: https://smile.amazon.com/Renogy-60A-Battery-Multi-Stage-Charging/dp/B07Z4GSYC2/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1778Q0M70R3UY&keywords=renogy+60a+dc-dc+charger&qid=1650393252&sprefix=renogy+60A+DC%2Caps%2C2149&sr=8-3

To size a new battery solution properly along with potential additional solar, please provide the following information: - What is your average kwh consumption per day specific for your coach? (If you don't already have a shunt, you can buy a "cheap" shunt for ~$20 to get this information) - What are the type and capacity of your current house batteries? (AGM/Flooded/Gel/Lithium, specify capacity in amp-hours) - Is your refrigerator 120VAC running off your inverter, a 12V Compressor refrigerator, or a propane/12VDC Gas Absorption refrigerator? - What is your inverter make and model number (to determine LiPO4 compatibility)? - What is the rated output of your current solar panel in watts? - What is your "primary" RV usage location (this can vastly impact solar generation and is a factor if you select lithium)? - What is your primary season that you use your RV (this vastly impacts solar generation) - What is the manufacturer and model number of your solar controller? - What is your use case? (near full time on grid / near full time off grid / %on & %off grid if mixed Also be advised that placing batteries inside your coach can be very hazardous. Lithium LIPO4 can leak very toxic chemicals if the case or cell(s) are mechanically compromised (this is rare). LiPO4 is if the safest of all options due to the BMS. AGM and SLA variants can under certain circumstances vent explosive hydrogen gas inside of your coach (explosion hazard). Flooded is not an option inside your coach. For $20, you can precisely know your kwh daily power consumption before investing $100s/$1000s on new batteries, solar and other electrical equipment. Everyone has a unique use case for electrical loads.

IvyLog, I am not in the business of selling anything. I'm just an RVer degreed in EE (Electrical Engineering) who loves everything technology. Refrigerators do not run continuously (compressor or absorption) so a simple comparison of running compressor amperage (8A vs 11A) and running watts is not indicative of power consumption or efficiency. What is relevant is watt-hours (wh / kwh) which is total power consumed over a period of time. True efficiency of the inverter must be utilized and continuous inverter energy consumption is present when your refrigerator compressor is not running . Modern RV modified sine wave inverters on the market today run at ~93% efficiency (7% loss) (MSD will not work with some 120VAC compressor refrigerators) or ~90% efficiency (10% loss) in the case of a pure sine wave inverter. Many lower end inverters have much lower efficiency. All inverters consume substantial power continuously while powered on even when the refrigerator is not running due to FETs (Field Effect Transistors which invert 12VDC to 120VAC) and other electrical losses which are converted to heat. Put your hand on the top of your inverter and you will feel the heat associated with this power consumption and other associated electrical losses. Power inversion requires FETs that consume substantial power. The larger the inverter capacity, the higher the power consumption by the FETs without load. Thus when an inverter is on, even if the 120VAC refrigerator compressor is not running, the house batteries are being drawn down. A 12VDC compressor refrigerator is superior for off-grid use in efficiency due to watt-hours consumed (versus a 120VAC refrigerator) as there is no energy loss from inverter overhead power consumption, inverter efficiency loss, and other electrical losses mentioned above. For the on-grid use case having near continuous connection to shore power, a residential refrigerator is a good choice, especially if you are paying for the grid power (versus a gas absorption refrigerator in induction heating mode). The gap in the RV refrigerator market today is a lack of 12VDC refrigerators with large (residential sized) form factors. It is exciting to see that some refrigeration manufacturers are finally responding to the demand in the RV market such as JC Refrigeration which sells 12VDC danfloss compressor conversion cooling units for the Norcold 1200 series and Everchill that has a variety of 12VDC true RV refrigerators that do not require an inverter. Currently, 12VDC refrigerators cost more per cubic foot of capacity than residential 120VAC refrigerators due to the manufacturing volume of 12VDC refrigerators being lower. A direct comparison of 12VDC vs 120VAC refrigerator cost in the off-grid use case is not accurate as 120VAC refrigerators require more battery capacity / more solar capacity / more inverter capacity / more solar charge controller capacity / etc that adds up quickly due to the overall higher energy consumption of a 120VAC refrigerator in the off-grid boondocking use case.

Yes Ray, when you look for alternatives to the Everchill, there is no competiton at that size and pricepoint for a DC refrigerator made for RVs. Keep an eye on the Way Interglobal link I posted above as they are sell out within a few hours everytime they receive new stock.

Here is a refrigerator meeting your dimensional requirements, but your below refrigerator drawer will need to be modified to accomodate the extra ~5 inches of height for this refrigerator. The Everchill #BCD-455WTE is a true RV 12V refrigerator which is highly efficient compared to a residential unit because no inverter is required so you eliminate inverter efficiency loss and the price of this unit is very reasonable. - https://rvbusiness.com/way-interglobal-intros-17-cubic-foot-12-volt-refrigerator/ If you elect to purchase this unit, Way Interglobal out of Elkhart, IN is the master distributor and has the lowest price: - https://www.wayinterglobal.com/collections/new-products/products/17-cubic-foot-12-volt-refrigerator I am not affiliated with Way Interglobal. I do love their products and have recently purchased a propane range from them. If you prefer a power gobbling 120VAC residential refrigerator that will fit in your space with no cabinet modifications and your inverter can handle the extra load, consider this unit: https://www.frigidaire.com/Kitchen-Appliances/Refrigerators/Top-Freezer-Refrigerator/FFHT1425VV/

Bob, I am interested in your decommissioned 1200LRIM if your door seals are in good condition.