
Lead acid batteries can only be discharged to 50%. The battery was still as cool as the other side of the pillow. I checked the battery once more with my infrared camera. On day 3 the timer passed the 48-hour mark, and the battery was sitting at 49%. It was going through cooling cycles where it would use up to 50 watts, and then what I’ll call “insulating” cycles where the power usage dropped to effectively zero watts.Īt 36 hours in to the test the battery was still at 60%… how long is it gonna last? Day 3 Like I mentioned, the fridge wasn’t actively cooling all of the time. Soon after I started work for the day, the timer passed the 24-hour mark. My food was starting to freeze a bit, though, so I bumped up the temperature a few degrees to 37☏ (3☌). The next day, I checked the fridge’s temperature and it was sitting at the temperature I’d set it to. The fridge was hot where the compressor is - which is to be expected - and was cooling all the food down nicely on the inside.Īt 12 hours in, the battery was at 84%. I used an infrared camera to check the temperature of the battery and fridge. Because of this, as you’ll see, the estimate given in the above photo is very inaccurate. However, a fridge’s power usage is constantly fluctuating. This estimate is based on the power draw from the battery in that moment. Note: You may have noticed in the above photo that the battery monitor gives an estimate of time remaining. The fridge was using about 50 watts and had consumed 1 amp hour. Throughout the test I’d open the fridge to grab food from it about as often as I would when using the fridge on a car camping trip.Īfter around 15 minutes, the battery was sitting at 99%. Day 1īecause I wanted this test to reflect real-world usage, I added some food to the fridge. Note: RV battery monitors consumes a modest amount of power, but not enough to materially affect our results. Related: How Long Will a 12V 100Ah Battery Run a TV?

With my testing setup all ready to go, I turned the fridge on and started a timer. I also connected a Victron BMV-712 Battery Monitor to the battery to monitor its state of charge and other specs in real time.
#12 volt refrigerator portable#
To answer this question, I connected my BougeRV 12V 30 Quart Portable Fridge to a Chins 12V 100Ah LiFePO4 Battery.


How Long Will a 100Ah Battery Run a 12V Fridge?
