Recently I completed a multi-day road trip with my new 13' Scamp, where I drove each day and camped each night. To enable the fridge to run while on the road, I open the fridge access panel (on outside of camper) and turn the DC switch to ON and the AC switch to OFF, and then I turn the battery shutoff switch (inside the camper near the door) to ON. When I reach my next campground, I turn the battery shutoff switch to OFF, then open the fridge access panel and turn the DC switch to OFF and the AC switch to ON. Then I plug the camper’s electrical cord into the campsite outlet.
It's a nuisance opening up the fridge access panel twice a day, so I’m wondering if I could safely just leave the fridge’s DC and AC switches both ON, and then be careful to turn the camper’s battery shutoff switch to OFF prior to plugging in the camper’s electrical cord at the campsite. Scamp Customer Support has advised against this, saying the fridge could be ruined if both DC and AC current are applied simultaneously. But if I'm careful with the battery shutoff switch, that shouldn't be a problem, right? Does anyone have experience (good or bad) with this?
I wouldn't turn both the A/C and DC on at the same time (per the manual). It's probably not harmful if the AC and DC aren't connected at the same time, but it's potentially a prelude to a broken fridge. Personally, I'd like to re-design it so the AC power would automatically lock out the DC with a relay.
The DC power doesn't use the thermostat, no temperature setting. It simply pulls about 10 amps at 12V and cools it below ambient. On a real hot day it may not be be cold enough for some foods if the drive is long, and on a cold day it may freeze everything. Generally it works well enough, I actually have temperature recorder inside. If the ambient temp is below about 50F, I don't use the fridge's DC power continuously on a long trip.
By turning the batt disconnect to off when you get to a campground and plug in the AC, the battery will not get charged by the convertor in the Scamp. It's possible for the battery to be somewhat discharged during the trip if the tow vehicle's electrical didn't keep up with the demand of the fridge. And, a battery left uncharged will deteriorate quickly.
If you turn the battery off while plugged in at the campground, it won't charge from the converter. The converter will also supply 12 volts to everything else, including the fridge, causing a potential problem there if both fridge power sources are left on.
Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll take your advice and avoid having both the DC and AC switches set to ON at the same time.
Sadly it is a pain in the bum to pop off the lower cover every time to switch but is the most secure and least likely to end up with both on. And both is a bad thing. I have done it once and it did not damage anything but it did not work at all and was obviously over temp. I considered making an access hole thru the cover and use a Dowel rod as a push stick but never did it. as the sticker clearly says one source of energy at a time. Including the Propane. . A single three position switch that does both items would be the most secure way to get only one.
2019 Scamp 13 standard