Battery drain with fridge

So I've had a fridge (SnoMaster TR42) running in the back of my truck for almost a year. But just this week I've noticed that my truck barely has enough juice to start in the morning. It's fine the rest of the day. The battery is only 2 years old (Toyota TrueStart battery with 84 month warranty). I took the truck to Battery Warehouse here in Harrisburg after work Friday. The guy hooked up a tester to it and said the battery is in great shape (amps and such). He said it's something else.

I run a Renogy 100W solar panel to a solar controller, that then runs to the Toyota battery to keep the battery charged. The SnoMaster fridge runs off a DC outlet I installed in the bed that runs off the battery. The fridge is set at 36 degrees and to shut off at 10v (per SnoMaster recommendations). All fuses are good and the solar controller shows a charge going to the battery. I haven't had any issues until this week, and only in the morning.

Any ideas as to what can be causing this? And/or things I can check?

 

If the electrical system is up to speed

First thought is a dirty condenser on your fridge causing longer then normal running time

As things are fine after the alternator brings things up to normal .

 

Maybe I’ll try to blow any dust out of there. The truck started fine this morning and the fridge was at 34 degrees.

 

It’s been warmer, but it’s not Summer yet. And it worked fine last Summer. SnoMaster told me to set it at 10v when I told them it wasn’t keeping temperature. The fridge takes voltage to run, and I believe that is subtracted from the voltage it reads from the battery. So if it takes 2v to run, 10v cut off is actually 12v. At least that’s how I understood it.

 

its actually more 1v than 2 of a buffer when the fridge needs to run. lets say you set at 10v shut off, when the compressor kicks in there is a variance of 1v that is drawn or sensed between the type of plug you used (110 or cig lighter) because of the draw and heat causing the buffered difference, if less is supplied, the fridge will not maintain the run and start to beep at lets say <11. if your truck is having issues of starting its because its at less than the normal 12 that is required to do so. I swapped all my plugs to all Anderson powerpoles to get a more accurate reading with my meters and to dissipate the heat variance with the cig adapters when under use.

 

I am unclear as to if you know its related to the frudhe or if you think it maybe related to the friegd, if you arent sure it the fridge just unplug the fridge for a week and see if the problem goes away, if so its the fridge, if it doesnt go away then its vehicle related

 

Sounds like your battery has low reserve capacity. The store will usually test for cranking power but not reserve. This usually happens around 3-4 years under normal use. Starting is normal use for a “Starting” battery. Running a fridge, or anything for sustained amounts of time off of the battery would require a “deep cycle” or “dual purpose” battery. Two years isn’t too bad for the way you’re using it.

 

Hmmm... so it sounds like I need to add a separate battery specifically for solar and fridge. Or simply replace this setup with the RTIC 45 I just picked up. Decisions, decisions.