Battery Question w/ Fridge

I am a peasant when it comes to electrical and power needs. I have been trying to figure out if I need to upgrade my battery to run a fridge. (would be the dometic or arb 50L) It would simply just be used when we go on our camping trips. I see people run the Odyssey 31 battery (and a bunch of other battery types) but I don't have any other electrical accessories at the moment. Would like to add a light bar and a couple pods in the future. Do these battery types constantly need a source charging them or can my alternator support the charge demands. (Also futureproof it for possible upgrades to power demands)

Another option would to just run it off of a Goal Zero Yeti 400 with a solar panel to help keep charged. Any knowledge would be helpful. I would like to learn what I can and can't do and what I would need to make this work. Thanks. Also would rather not do a dual battery since I don't think I need that much power however im not opposed to it.

Also on our trips we usually are moving everyday so there is a lot of driving in between camp spots. I appreciate any feedback. Thanks

 

Find out what the power requirements are for the fridge. The current required from the battery would be that power in watts divided by 12 volts. That current times the length of time in hours the fridge is running would give you the amp hours required. That assumes a 12 volt fridge. If you run a 115 volt fridge with an inverter, add a multiplier based on the efficiency of the inverter, my swag is an extra 20% or so. I would ensure the battery is capable of much more than the calculations require--a dead battery when camping is a major PITA. BTDT.

 

It comes down to the camping 2 or 3 times a year or you pretty much live in the truck every weekend or all year ??

Depending on how often you might want to think going dual batteries

Then do you need to run other electric goodies like lights.

Nothing worse then camping by yourself for a few days and go to start and nothing

 

I used to run our edgestar 43 quart off a single odyssey pc1200, hot weather, so the fridge had to work a lot, and I found the battery would get too low to crank the engine in about 24 hours of sitting, engine not running.

If you had a bigger battery, better capacity, you could add some time to that.

The other issue then is recharging, so in the case of having a stock alternator, it would take quite a while to have the engine fully recharge the battery, several hours, so if you wanted to go driving around during the day you could help the situation.

I think the first thing I’d do is get a battery monitor, cheap easy insurance so you can turn off the fridge if the battery is getting too low.

Solar is a good idea, I’d like to add a 100 watt panel, counter hot temps and direct sunlight and get the most power from the panel while the fridge is working its hardest.

I’ve upgraded everything else there is; dual batts, ho alternator, big 3 wiring upgrade, but nothing is foolproof- after 48 hours I’m in the same position, gotta run the engine.

 

You cannot deep cycle your lead acid starting battery PERIOD. Get a deep cycle battery on its own circuit for camping.