Power inverter help

I would strongly advise investing in a diesel APU, even if you have to finance part of it. Trucker friendly fridges run on 12 volt DC and these are recommended over a 120 VAC unit. Add an APU and you gain all sorts of options and benefits and security, and can cut your main engine hours drastically if you operate in the southern and/or northern climes year around.

I say this assuming you have space available in the sleeper cabinet area. If not, then I guess above advice might not be practical, however an APU that keeps battery voltage above 12.5 v is always beneficial if you're utilizing an inverter most of the time.

 

The problem with the mini fridge is not much space if your needing a freezer in the fridge. Something to consider

 

There are a whole lot of us that have 2000watt inverters and Walmart mini fridges with freezers strapped down in front of our built in cabinets. I'm a Cascadia you have 27" between the front of the fridge and the desk cabinet.

Unless you are a 400# slob you will be fine.

 

How big is your freezer? Ours are stock when the trucks are new..but mine will only hold probably a bag of popsicles

 

Another tip, remove everything from the cardboard packaging and put it in zip lock bags, this doubles your room in the fridge or freezer.

 

6 Jimmy Dean breakfast bowls, 2 lasagna, 2 Ice creams, and 2 cold packs.

 

I would suggest 3500 watt minimum. Don't power it with aluminum cables. cut up a pair of jumper cables if needed. Use copper cables.

 

Assuming you choose to use a basic mini fridge such as the one Walmart sells, it draws 1100 watts at startup and 900 watts while running, a basic 900 watt microwave will draw 1100 watts when running, plus whatever else you want to add such as your juicer, you will need a minimum of a 3,000 watt pure sine wave inverter (to cover surge and inherent loss from your batteries as they age). The pure sine wave is the important part as a modified sine wave will burn out your fridge compressor motor more quickly and can damage other electronics. Pure sine is expensive but it is electrically identical to and actually cleaner than, utility power at your house. You will need a minimum of 1 gauge pure copper, preferably 0 or 0/0 gauge copper. Do not get copper clad aluminum, it does not have the same ampacity rating and the aluminum expands and contracts at different rates than copper so your connections will always work loose, and loose connections lead to fire at worst and poor performance/premature failure of the inverter at best. Keep in mind, a 3,000 watt inverter will draw approximately 250 amps at full load so you do not want to skimp on the power cables. Also, install a 12 volt resettable circuit breaker as close to the battery source as possible, mine is in the battery box, it will save your truck for fire if something goes wrong.

 

Inrush current for microwaves like a 1000 watt one is close to 1600 watts. A fridge at 800 watts is close to 1400 watts.