Replacing Dometic 120V 160 watt Element with 12V one??

[James E Vining]

I have found a few 12V 160 watt elements for the Dometic fridge and was curious could I replace the 120V element with a 12V one and just use the coach battery to run the fridge?
it is the same wattage 160 watts so that shouldn't be a issue or am I missing something here?

That would be great for when I am driving or when I do not want to use propane and don't have access to 120V heck even when I do I could use the convertor to run the element no problem.
That would only be a 13.3 amp draw if my math is correct.

[Ken]

My experience with 3 way fridges, LP 120v or 12v, has been that the 12v is a battery killer unless you put in a solenoid that disconnects 12v when engine is shut off. I think this is one of the main reason most fridges are now 2 way only. LP and 120v.

[James E Vining]

Thanks, I could see that being a problem but I was planning on running two 122 A/hr Batteries for the Coach separated from the chassis Battery Via the Single/Dual/Dual momentary Switch (actually I guess it be Single/Triple/Triple Momentary lol)
That way the chassis would always have a good charge unless I forget and leave it on Dual/Triple setting which I could see myself doing

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

13.3 amps will bring your batteries down to 50% level in about 9 hours (You should never pull your battery down lower than that).  May take you  10 to 12 hours to restore that energy in the battery.  A 13.3 amp continuous load plus normal start battery recharge, plus normal chassis loads, plus recharging the house battery may over extend the engine alternator and burn it up.

Dave