Refrigerator in the truck
 

I recently had an inverter installed and I just bought a refrigerator to put in the truck, but I was wondering, for those of you that actually have a mini-fridge in your truck, is it okay to leave the fridge/inverter on if you park the truck for a few days? Or do you have to take out all the perishables and turn it off so the batteries don't run down? Thanks

Norcold makes a frig that gets mounted into the truck, and does not take much "juice" to operate. If you bought an inverter, you'll find it best to turn the inverter off when the truck will be parked for a couple of days. That is the inverter alone. Now add the current draw of the frig, and in a few days you may the inverter and the frig operating, but the starter may be a bit reluctant. Lazy, even.

Some years back, the truck I drove with a Norcold unit, I forget to turn it off several times with no ill effects on the starter. But, the 1/000 watt inverter I have in this truck will give me a problem by itself. Even with nothing plugged into the inverter.

You can try experimenting, but I would suggest removing the perishables and turning the units off.

Unless you have 20 batteries hooked up to your truck, your fridge eventually will drain the batteries. If I am going to be gone for more than a day and a half, I will either eat up all the food before I leave the truck parked or take it with me.

That's kinda what I figured. I'm usually home on the weekends, so I won't be putting a whole lot of stuff in the fridge anyway. Guess I'll just turn the inverter off and take out whatever is left.

Do you have an APU ? If so all of them have a Low Battery / Start you can set up. Also if you have a four battery setup you can get an Isolater that will let the two batteries your inverter is hooked to go down but maintain your starter batteries as that is how the truck is wired anyway. two batteries are for start two are for running stuff just have to stop the inverter draining the start side.

I have been looking for one of those do you have a link or can you point me in the right direction?

I put one on the little truck when I first got it, before I had the Tri Pack put on. I got it from a battery store in Tampa, can't remember the name, but most any large battery store should have them. Or might try a large golf cart dealer, they are wired so that one battery goes dead first so you now to head for the 19th hole :)

Mike - you can get a battery isolator just about anywhere. A good place to find them would be auto parts stores or RV dealers.

Just be sure to get one that's strong enough to handle the amperage that your alternator puts out. Also, you only need a 2 battery isolator, no matter how many actual batteries you have. Think of it more as a 2-system isolator.

Here's a couple links:
http://www.jcwhitney.com/Battery-Swi...FQQRswod6DmW-A
http://www.powerstream.com/battery-isolator.htm

I didn't think about an isolator. The company shop guys installed the inverter, so I'm not sure if it's wired with an isolator or not, but that's a good idea. They have started outfitting some of the trucks with APU's, but unfortunately I'm still in line for one.

Isolators normally aren't installed. My shop said they'd install one for me and change my batteries to 3/1, with 3 being for the truck and one for the inverter.