Advice on 12v fridges

[maxjj Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close maxjj]

Hi roo, what you said makes sense.
I installed my second battery on a Piranha tray and would suggest that using a well designed tray may help with the spreading of the load of the battery on the guard. Ideally would like to see the main battery on a tray also, but I guess it there is a crack there, I can at least claim it on warranty.

[Trevc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Trevc]

I've got a battery box similar to Roo's link - mine is from Springers at Strathpine. Has 2 x 12v cigs, 2 x Anderson Plug + CTek Charger connector - with a 120h running inside.
I prefer it to a 2nd under bonnet battery - when we camp the fridge comes out of the car and so does the battery - I also run my CPAP off it.

And as this is a fridge thread - we have a 47l ARB and can't fault it - for touring I house it in a Drifter fridge box - when camping I don't (it takes up a fair amount of space in the 150)

Trev

[pete8205 Member Find all posts View Profile Close pete8205]

Hey Mickmac
Hope your enjoying the read theres a bit to think about including the extra cost of the battery but you'll find most are like myself and love having one.

In regards to cryovacing steaks they last well over 2 weeks I have many a time cryovac steak chicken and lamb in indivdual serves never frozen and still like new after 7weeks in the fridge. I normally run my fridge between 2 and 3 degree.

Interesting about the guards cracking I have the dual battery under bonnet (opposite sides) I guess for me if they do crack I'll have to break the tig welder. placing battery in rear of car no good for me with my fridge and 2 kids space is already at a premium.

[yowie Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close yowie]

Still have my 39 litre Autofridge (only 2 of us on trips now, but still was good enough for 2 plus 2 kids years ago) from 1994.

Does not get used much now (have a van) but still worked last time I used it.

It is a eutectic system, which means that once it is cold, it only needs to be run 4 hours per day (or 2 x 2 hours in a day).

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Still have my 39 litre Autofridge (only 2 of us on trips now, but still was good enough for 2 plus 2 kids years ago) from 1994.

Does not get used much now (have a van) but still worked last time I used it.

It is a eutectic system, which means that once it is cold, it only needs to be run 4 hours per day (or 2 x 2 hours in a day).

Yep, we have an autofridge as well, well built, great if you dont have dual batteries and reliable thats for sure. Pretty low on features though, no basket, no dairy compartment, no set and forget temperature control, no drain hole for cleaning, no low voltage cut out, no light.

Autofridge as a freezer and the ARB 47 as a fridge is how we operate and its a great combo. I probably wouldn't buy the autofridge if I had my time over, just because of the temperature control needs more work and I have been known to forget to turn it on or off and have let stuff freeze or get warm due to not being on the ball enough.

Cheers Andrew

[yowie Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close yowie]

Pretty low on features though, no basket, no dairy compartment, no set and forget temperature control, no drain hole for cleaning, no low voltage cut out, no light.


Cheers Andrew

Does not worry me with the lack of features. Have worked out how to stack things without a basket. Keep the Jim Beam in there so don't need ice cubes with the soft drink mixers.

When I use it, I turn the temperature up to maximum, leave it on for 2 hours, then turn it off, morning and night. Set the timer on the phone for 2 hours to turn it off.

Dave.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Does not worry me with the lack of features. Have worked out how to stack things without a basket. Keep the Jim Beam in there so don't need ice cubes with the soft drink mixers.

When I use it, I turn the temperature up to maximum, leave it on for 2 hours, then turn it off, morning and night. Set the timer on the phone for 2 hours to turn it off.

Dave.

I'm not that organized

Cheers Andrew

[Esses Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Esses]

To chuck something different in the mix, I have a Chescold 3-way fridge I bought in 1987. It's about a 40-50 litre, has been used every day of it's life as a drinks fridge when not in use camping & is still going strong. On 12v it only stays cool but on gas or 240v it's fabulous. It'll freeze any liquid left under the element & a 4.5kg gas cylinder will last a couple of weeks running on full cold. We recently did a weekend away with all 4 kids & as the camper-trailer isn't yet wired to keep the battery charged we froze the milk, juice & meat & just put it all in the fridge in the camper. 5 hours later I finally plugged it into 240v & another 4 hours later I went to get the meat out for dinner only to find a 1kg frozen lump of chicken. Chinese for dinner that night!