Car/portable 12v fridge freezers.

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G'day all. Any recommendations for a good car 12v fridge please? Seems there's a pretty big price difference between the well known brands versus the little known brands. What to look for, what to stay clear of.

I've never owned 1 before so any advice much appreciated thanks! :Y:
 
Also what's the largest litre size before a car battery just won't cut it anymore?
 
In this instance size doesn't matter. A 20lt fridge will often use much the same as an 60lt fridge to run.

Where the difference does matter is at what temp you set it at and the ambient temp it operates. i.e. setting it as a 3 C fridge will use less power than running as a-18 C freezer. The example I use is my Engel, it cycles about 20 minutes per hour for an average of 25 AH per day on a 25 C day. However, it runs pretty well all the time in 40 C weather (less overnight on those days) and can use upwards of 50-60 AH.

My main concern with your question is - Are you intending to run it from your car start battery or a second battery? If from the start battery, my suggestion to you is get a good set of jumper leads or Lithium jump starter cos you're gonna need em. :)
 
To add to my previous, I have a 30 lt Engel as a fridge, it is 28 years old as good as the day I got it and permanently in the 4x4. I also have a 100 AH second battery in the back, charged from a DC-DC and solar on the roof. Last year I bought a 15 lt Brass Monkey to use as an occasional freezer on trips. I also use the BM as a beer fridge in the house to avoid SWMBO complaining at not enough food space in the big fridge. :)
 
Big big price difference between the usual name brands, and some of lesser known brands.
 
Bigger bigger diffence also in longivity which in the long run saves bundles of money.
Have two mates, one is on his seventh cheaper brand fridge, the other on his fifth while my one 37yo dearer brand is still our camping freezer.
Do remind them often;
Penny wise pound foolish!
 
condor22 said:
To add to my previous, I have a 30 lt Engel as a fridge, it is 28 years old as good as the day I got it and permanently in the 4x4. I also have a 100 AH second battery in the back, charged from a DC-DC and solar on the roof. Last year I bought a 15 lt Brass Monkey to use as an occasional freezer on trips. I also use the BM as a beer fridge in the house to avoid SWMBO complaining at not enough food space in the big fridge. :)
Click to expand...

How do you find the brass monkey. I have been looking at these for the freezer purpose
 
I have a full time prospecting mate who uses a brass monkey on his quad. He hoped to get one season out of it, so far its exceeded his expectations, has not missed a beat.
 
shakergt said:
What size you after? Personaly I have an arb 47ltr fridge/frezzer that is 10 years old never skipped a beat. Mind you i do want a smaller one just to use as a frezzer.
Click to expand...

Is that the Blue and Grey Mk II model,

Mine has a birthday in a couple of months. :present: :party: :beer: :perfect:
 
G'day

I ran a Waeco 40L fridge in the troopy a few years back and it gave me issues all the time, it used to constantly run as soon as the temperature went up a bit and was hard on the battery then the control panel started to play up, had it repaired and still had further issues with it, In the end I gave up on it and decided to replace it with another Engel as I had an older model before the Waeco but it was a bit too small for longer trips.

I went to Rays Outdoors back then and they had the Engels in stock I had in my mind that I would get the metal bodied 40 ltr one, cant remember the model now, but anyway long story short, as the Waeco was fitted into a frame and had very little space either end where it fitted in, I found the metal engel to be far too long to fit in but then found that the Engel MD450F 38Ltr Eclipse was the same size as the Waeco, so I bought that.

I had my doubts mainly because its a plastic bodied unit, but it was also on sale, came with the padded transit bag, and would fit where I wanted it to without any alterations, anyway I would have to say its the best fridge I have owned so far and is still in regular use, if it were to crap itself I would replace it with another one, a mate also has two of them and swears by them as well, he has bought other brands like kick ass and that crapped itself within a couple of months.

My advice as far as fridges go is the better known brands are the way to go, they might cost you more up front but better that than cost you later while you are on a trip, one time a mates fridge crapped itself on the second day we were out, because it was filled up for a two to three week trip he had to return home for his other fridge and then come back again as nothing was available to buy where we were.

Its the same story you get what you pay for.

cheers

stayyerAU
 
Ive got one of those to, been running on housepower since the day I got it, outside beer fridge, and I take it camping with me as well.
Its over 2 years old and only time Ive turned it off is to change from 240v to 12 v and defrosted it a few times. 100% reliable.
Bit hard to set the temperature, only has old style dial, I set mine between 1-2 and it still builds ice on the sides after a while. But Im not complaining!
The other fridge I use is pretty much the same in a metal body, but re branded as an ARB, I got it 2nd hand and its also 100% reliable, I dont know how old it is but guessing over 10 years.
I would not hesitate to buy a 2nd hand Engel at the right price, I got mine off a Facebook marketplace site for around $500 I think, that was also about two years ago.
They have replaced a Waeco and a Primus polar, both of which were good until they werent! :)
 
My first one was a Kings 60 litre. I was thinking a lot of size for a good price. From what I understand they run on a Waeco engine. I could be wrong there, so feel free to correct me. In the end it crapped itself, maybe two years. Also the cooling is not consistent within the compartment. Anaconda have very similar looking models with different branding. I reckon they are the same.

My second purchase was the plastic body Engel that Stayyer mentioned. It was smaller, but honestly so much better. It cools consistently through the unit. Same as davent said, I set my dial to somewhere between 1 and 2.

Last week it was running in an ambient temp of 33-36 degrees. My 12 volt battery supply charge would drop about .5 volts when it was cooling (e.g. from 12.8 down to 12.3 then go back up when the fridge was idle). I don't really know what that means, but I thought I'd share. I reckon the AH that condor mentions is probably more relevant.

Would definitely buy it again.
 

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