Well, I am talking about 25 watts at 110v (from the inverter) - so that's what, about a quarter amp at 110, so that's 2.0 amps at 12volts? But then I suck at electrical math, I shouldn't even try it, I'll only sound stupid. But I agree, either way, I thought that couldn't possibly be right, couldn't possibly be that low, but a few things have reassured me it may be right, or at least close. First, I used one of these, twice, both times starting the fridge from room temp for one hour.
https://www.gardnerbender.com/en/p/PM3100/Gardner-Bender-Energy-Usage-Power-Meter#
When it was running that meter showed it was pulling 25 watts. It cycled off after about 22 minutes starting from room temp and then didn't come on again for the rest of the hour. Of course this isn't NASA precision, people open the door, the (2-watt led) light goes on inside, varies by ambient temperature, and it's not quite full size, 7.0 cu ft., etc. Regular residential size usually starts around 10 cu ft or more I think. Our big honkin' high-end fridge at home is about 25 cu ft, so the boat fridge is small, but it's certainly not dorm-room tiny or a half fridge. But next, just in case that GB meter was inaccurate, I borrowed a Klein AC/DC clamp meter and got about the same result. And then LG's specs say it uses 220 kWh per year, which works out to what -- about 91 watts? Again, my electrical math may be off and I don't know how LG tests the consumption, but for me at about 75* in the cabin, once it comes down from starting room temp the fridge would then cycle about 10 - 15 minutes per hour. By my calculations, 25 watts for say 15 minutes per hour year round 24/7 is actually less than 220 kWh. The thing is so darn quiet it was very hard to tell when it was cycling, but I could see that GB meter jump from almost zero to 25 when it did cycle on.
Either way, compared to the dinosaur Norcold, it's amazingly efficient.
