My little Norcold fridge is a little loud-ish when it's running. It's probably 'installer error' though, as it's vibration noise I'm getting. I need to go back through and insulate against the vibes, and it will likely calm down. As far as function, I couldn't ask for better. It sips power, and gets the beers so cold it hurts my teeth set of 3.5 out of 5. It will freeze bottles of water you put in the freezer section, no problem.
All the rest of my on-board appliances are 'stock'. The 3 burner stove works well enough, but does rattle in transit as others have mentioned. I'm not back there when we're rolling so no skin lost. The Furnace works fine, but can be a pain to get the pilot lit (it helps to do it in the absolute dark, so you can see the tiny pilot flame in the peep hole) Those SMEV combo units sure do look nice and space efficient. Hmmm - galley envy..
As for a charge controller, I never had one. Since I have installed my solar panel, I have not needed to charge with any AC power at all. I am hooked to the truck's alternator, so when we're rolling, it's charging the camper battery. When we're parked (in reasonable sunlight) the solar system handles the rest. The panel is big enough at 70 watts to cover the fridge, and add a little to the battery also.
Before I did that, though, I had a cheap 4 amp AC charger I would plug in to an extension cord. It had no problem holding up the fridge and charging the battery simultaneously. Like most things I do, it seemed like the simplest solution at the time. Far cheaper than a dedicated controller thing. I never understood what the use of those would be in a popup truck camper. I'd love to be educated though!
The fridge is okay but not great. The furnace is okay. The cooktop is okay. But the water heater....I didn't even think I needed it but it's great.
