we've had a dometic cf-35 for two years now. Fits nicely in the galley. It's a good unit as I expect many folks on this forum will attest. Definitely smaller capacity than the cooler but no ice and no water to deal with. It'll freeze if you want it to or not if you set the temp higher. You have to find the temp that suits you by trial/error (i.e freezing some veggies). We also keep the old coleman cooler (with cooler cozy) in the TV. Good place for extra drinks or larger items. I also freely admit that I like ice with my whiskey.
The power usage is the real question. We managed to pretty much kill the original AGM battery by using the dometic, but we did several extended (multiple weeks) trips with mostly dry camping. It also turns out that our TV doesn't charge at a high enough voltage to fully charge a deep cycle battery. So even driving from campground to campground we still weren't getting a completely full charge. From reading other forums I suspect this is common in modern vehicles. Even with the teardrop plugged into shore power when not in use, it apparently wasn't enough to keep from eventually diminishing the capacity of the battery.
We also use an 85 watt solar panel which I would guess did pretty well in the sunny west but not so much in the shadier east. I'd really like to put two 50 watt flexible PV panels on the top of the 'drop. That way I'd get good charging going down the road. They're pricy though.
Amazon.com : Go Power Solar Flex 50 Watt Panel : Patio, Lawn & Garden
I read Doug/Amber's post about their installation of the trimetric battery monitor about the time I was wondering what to do about my depleted battery. I studied up on it a bit and bought a trimetric to go along with the new Trojan 24 AGM battery. I've just returned from my first trip with the monitor and the new battery, and while I had a site with an electric hookup, I ran dry a fair amount of time to both begin conditioning the battery as well as gather some data, which is the whole point of the monitor.
The dometic is rated to draw 6 amps at 12 volts when it's running but it's efficient so it doesn't run nearly all the time. The old waeco manual, for example, says it should run 12% of the time with an inside temp of 41F and an outside temp of 68F. That rises to 17% with an outside temp of 89F. You can figure the amp-hours used easily from that data.
What I found with the trimetric was that the unit drew a max of 4.95 amps and sometimes only drew 3.9 amps. Not sure what's up with the variance in current draw.
I think the data from aa monitor such as the trimetric is essential if you're going to live off one relatively small battery. If you're always staying at sites with hookups then don't worry about it. If, however, you like to get *out there*, and visit national parks for example (or Newfoundland!), then you really need to know what's up with your battery. Or you'll be buying a new one frequently.
So Cosmo, I don't know if all this rambling helps with your question about fridges but I think you just have to consider how you're going to get power to it if you're going to get one.
Robert Dickson
Carrboro NC
112 nights
