Electric Coolers / Refrigerators

Way behind the curve on this one but I think I'm ready to take the plunge.

Couple of questions for those in the know:

1) The price differences between these are pretty substantial. Is it ok to spend around $300 for a 45L or am I risking getting a total piece of shit?

2) We typically camp for 4-5 days at a time. Do I need another battery to power one of these?

3) Any brand recommendations or ones to stay away from?

 

Eco flow and dometic is a killer combination. Add yourself to their email list to be notified of discounts. Once or twice per year dometic runs some very deep discounts.

Ime, severely off camber trails or washboard roads tend to kill the cheaper fridges.

 

I have heard good things about ICECO and BougeRV. I have friends that own both and they say that they love them. I have been thinking of getting a fridge myself. As far as the extra battery question goes, I would probably recommend a solar panel to help maintain your battery. I had a 100 watt panel on the roof of my FJ Cruiser and it was the greatest battery maintainer I ever had. More than enough power to run a fridge indefinitely.

 

I realized how valuable my power is so I went with a RTIC cooler which will last ~4 days and I bring my portable ice maker to recycle the water in the cooler to make ice to put back in the cooler.

When i test my solar panel and external power i may go with a domestic fridge some day.

 

That’s friggin genius!!

 

I went with the Anker EverFrost or whatever it is called. Having the battery is great to go more than a day at freezing temps in one of the two bays and it can charge off of anything.

 

There are ways to get a decent price. I bought my Dometic (CFX-35) at REI (on sale now 20% discount), used my annual dividend as partial payment and still got a dividend on the purchase price at the end of the year. The Dometic is a significant investment but I’ve found mine to be extremely efficient, quiet and has been nearly operational since July 2023 (stored during the winter months). I run mine off a 500 Whr battery overnight (easily recharged with two 50W solar panels during the day.)

Here I was running the fridge off two 50W panels (awning) while I used the battery to do some ‘field work’ while recharging it off a second pair of panels (ground).

 

How long can these things maintain temp while unplugged?

Can I go 24 hours or is that a bad idea?

 

Not long.

Depends on what's in there and if it gets above 40. Some water no big deal, some chicken make sure there is an ER close by.

 

I have been running a BourgeRV plug in cooler (fridge/Freezer) and Ecoflow set up. I use Solar to keep it charged when at camp, and plug into my cig socket in the rear. My fridge also has its own battery, which I added last year.

 

With my eco battery and the internal cooler battery, I think I could stretch it to 24 hours, keeping things closed. I easily go 12 hours with my ECO battery. But outside temps and usage impact these results. I do keep a wool blanket on top of my cooler to help insulate it.

 

I had my BougeRV 30qt fridge fail on me after 18 months, however it has a 2 year warranty. They sent me a brand new replacement. Pretty good for a 200 dollar purchase.

 

When you plug it into your cig socket, how long can you comfortably leave your key on the 'accessory' setting?

 

When it’s plugged in, it either charges the added on battery, or it running. I do not leave it in accessory mode. My thinking is, the cig lighter is for energizing while driving. The battery is for when I stop for a short time and the eco battery is for when we are parked for camp.

 

These might not be for me.

I typically go tent camping in the forest for 4-5 days.....so limited solar exposure.

The battery powered cooler is a nice option, but if that can only give me power for 1 day, I'm SOL the rest of the trip.

Sounds like the standard ice box cooler is still the way to go for my situation.

 

How do you keep ice for 4 days?

 

A yeti and the nicer high end coolers will hold ice 3-4 days once they are acclimated. Fill it full of ice 2-3 days early before your trip to get the inside and walls good and cold and keep it topped off with ice. Only put cold stuff in it, nothing room temp when you are loading it down. Top off with ice.

I have a LIT cooler with the internal lights (yeti copy) and it will hold 2 bags of ice 3-4 days after you got it cold. I put one bag of ice in mine sunday for a groceries run and its half ice and half water right now, i just got a drink out of it a few minutes ago. Draining 1/2 the water out each day will normally allow you to get 3-4 days out of it depending on ambient temps. Only problem is the added weight of the ice. 20 pounds of ice is a bunch of weight to pack around to keep groceries cold.

 

I used to used cereal box size Tupperware type containers. I’d slowly freeze them into blocks by adding a little water each day, then take those. As they melted, I’d dump water and refill with ice cubes. Worked pretty good. Then I would use ice packs the day before packing for a trip. Now, I just plug in my cooler while I’m loading it up, then I load it into the runner, and run an extension cord to keep it running while waiting to leave. Sometimes it we pack the night before to leave early, and it’s awesome to unplug and drive away.

But anyways, yes prepping the cooler and food (we freeze things as well) is the key to keeping stuff cold longer.

 

Yeah my mom And dad freeze water in Gatorade bottles. Same thing the big block of ice lasts much longer than small ice. Smaller ice that wraps around something cools faster but big blocks last much longer. The Gatorade bottles of ice become cold drinking water as they melt.

 

I'll test my EverFrost out. I've got a long drive and can throw some beers and such in. I'm suspecting at 36 or 40 degrees it'll go at least 2 days no ice and no recharge. I def get the Yeti plus ice approach. It's easy and predictable. I've got one as well.

The no ice part really is nice tho.

 

My CFX-35 draws anywhere between 12W - 36W depending upon ambient conditions. Fully loaded and once cooled down I've seen it draw under 10W while driving across the Nevada desert in 85º-90º heat while keeping a constant 30º inside. So with my 500 Whr battery (derating by 15%) and a nominal 12W load I can run my fridge over a weekend without recharging during the day. That includes opening it up to grab stuff.

Adding a top layer of ice (Safeway 9lb) helps cool down and extends battery life tremendously.

 

I think I figured it out.

I'm going to get an ICECO JP40 Pro right now. I'll be able to use it on our upcoming weekend trips since I'll have access to power.

Before we go on next years 4-5 day camping trip, I'll pick up something like the Jackery Explorer 1000.

It sounds like with the efficiency of the ICECO running in Eco mode and the storage capabilities of the Jackery, I'll be able to get 4 days out of it.

 

I had a friend reccomend the Rough Country cooler. He said that he has had his for several years at that point and was very happy with it and it was pretty inexspensive. I looked it up a couple years ago and was going buy one, however, my most important wife said the other wife aka the bandit had already used up her budget! One is easier to please than the other, both provide mass amounts of joy!

 

Does anyone sleep in the back with a fridge? How much noise do they make? I'm wondering if having one in the front seat while I'm sleeping in the back would be unpleasant since I'm a light sleeper.