The manual says the battery holder is optional. What the heck? 50c worth of plastic I'm guessing.

It's referred to in the manual as 'Self-contained gas operation and optional battery compartment'.

(yes I know there needs to be a gas supply to run the refrigerant unit)

But there is no part number and I googled and googled and can't find the part number or even a reference to it on the Dometic website or anywhere else for that matter.

Has anyone ordered or obtained one of these? If so, how long did the batteries last? Days? Weeks? More?

It might be handy when off-grid.

Congratulations on your new RPod. I hope you have many fine adventures and make many great memories doing so.

Okay, if you have a good battery, it is superfluous. Your 12V battery (or, if you did like I did and install dual 6V batteries wired in series) will provide all the power your refrigerator needs to run for quite a while if you don't need power to run anything else. However, in real life, the refrigerator is not the only draw on power. There are also constant power draws from the LP/CO detector and the thermostat. If you forget to turn the antenna booster off, that also draws power as does the entertainment unit and the USB charging outlets. You won't want to leave your 'Pod disconnected long unless you put in a battery disconnect switch (or just disconnect the negative terminal of the battery). Be careful if you disconnect both battery terminals to note which wire goes to the positive and which to the negative. Connecting them backwards means at a minimum that you blow the two 40A fuses in your power panel that protect your converter from reversed polarity.

Could you possibly find a battery box that fits that space? Maybe. Do you NEED to find it? questionable. I don't really think you would want to use the refrigerator in your R-Pod with no lights, furnace (in cool/cold weather) or vent fan ( in warm weather) anyway. You would be better off upgrading your battery to dual 6V (lots of power but relatively heavy but also relatively inexpensive compared to other options) or LiFePo4 (Lithium) batteries (light weight, great capacity, very expensive still and need an adjustment to the converter to properly charge). Ultimately, you could really build a high-capacity power bank with the LiFePo4 batteries that would weigh much less than dual 6V and have more usable capacity.

What I meant to convey is that if I want to flip off the main battery on the tongue to conserve ALL use of power in the camper when parked off-grid, say at night, or on super cloudy days, parked under trees, etc, but then maybe the fridge could keep running on gas and the AA batteries for a day or 3, when or if my solar is not hooked up or is under-producing.

The manual states that if the 12v supply is lost, the fridge will switch to the AA batteries for control operation. That seems like a feature I want to have when off-grid.

On top of that, the fridge manual states that the fridge goes into power saving mode when on the AA batteries: the display goes dark, only blinking the 'gas' indicator once every 15 seconds so you know it's operating. If you push any button, the temp setting LEDs light up so you can adjust the temp.

Just seems like a nice idea...I will call Dometic on Monday and see what they have to say about it. 

I do think its interesting that the manual states the fridge goes into a power saving mode when on the main 12V power is disconnected and its on the AA's. Not sure why Dometic wouldn't put the fridge in that mode whenever its running on propane. That would be helpful, and maybe there's a way to set that up. 

Good luck in your research, please let us know what you find out. 

Well my thinking is that the opportunity to save power will come from turning off the 12v power to the trailer at the main battery, so that several items would then not be drawing ANY power from the main battery: The fridge, the USB ports, the propane detector, the tv pre-amp, standby circuits in the electronic furnace/AC thermostat, etc etc.

The fridge will still be happily running on the AA's, (and propane) while ALL other 12v circuits are shut off. This should net a savings of a few amps, one would think. Over the course of a week with cloudy weather, and lower solar input, things like this can add up.

We all know that these trailers, like most RVs, draw power from the main battery when un-plugged from shore, even if everything is seemingly turned off, because of all the parasitic drains.

In other words, I want to be able to step outside the trailer, flip the battery switch, and kill ALL power to the trailer, and the fridge will still be keeping food cold. 

I suppose one could find those contacts that engage the battery holder, and run a wire to a seperate 12 SLA battery and power the control circuits that way, but that might void the warranty that the fridge has.

Anyway, just a thought at this point.

Thats a possibility of course, the cost for the part might be stupidly high or even made out of un-obtanium. But I think installation should be easy, the little battery drawer slides out from the 'eye-brow' of the fridge.

I bought (and briefly used) a Battle Born LiFePo4 100ah battery for one of my other trailers and that thing is just begging to be dropped into the r-pod. 

I know the factory WFCO converter charger is not rated for lithium 'per-se', but the Battle Borns are designed as a 'drop-in' replacement for lead-acid RV batteries.

Let the spending begin!

 

As for saving battery power, the AA batteries are going to cost more to use than your 12v Pod battery.  I think you might do better thinking of how to keep the 12v battery charged.  Solar, generator, etc.  In an emergency you can use your TV battery with jumper cables.  I think the likelihood of food spoiling in the fridge due to not having AA battery backup ought to be very close to nil.  And a discharged Pod battery is something to avoid for more reasons than just the fridge.

TT

Yeah that's a good point. 

I have not tested the drain yet. 150-200 ma is pretty low, easily offset with my solar panels, with plenty of surplus. I'm getting a few things done to the trailer as we speak, so I'll be testing that with my meter shortly.

I see now why Dometic doesn't advertise or promote this 'feature' over here in the USA.

 

American RVers are just not 'on board' with the idea.

With fridge turned on, in gas mode, about 400 ma. 

Not as bad as I had suspected. I'm sure some of that is standby for the USB port, which is lit up, and probably a relay or something in the converter, plus the LP detector. The included TV is AC only, so that can be discounted. 

I do hear a relay or something inside click when I remove power....but have not investigated further. I assume that's coming from the converter.

I cant find a tool I need, so, Monday I will resume work after buying a couple of things I need to install the Battle Born. (bigger battery box and a 3/8 hex power drive socket for my drill. I know I have one somewhere, but have misplaced it!)

Once I get all that installed, and get the solar controller and cables all hooked up, and do a bunch of testing while the r-pod is docked at my house, I will venture out with a semi-off grid capable pod.

Stay tuned!