ARB or Engel Fridge?

[winniliss Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close winniliss]

X2.
I am looking at getting two arb fridges soon.

Winston

[Smithy - 120 D4D Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Smithy - 120 D4D]

It is in a pdf document, and 1.8MB. The price list is the retail price list only (not the trade one), so I don't think there would be any confidentiality around it.

Happy to forward by e-mail if anyone wants it - just pm me, and I'll send it through.

[St3veC Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close St3veC]

Thanks for prices. I got the fridge etc yesterday for $1200 total, so pretty happy with that. It was $1050 for fridge, $150 bag, $0 tie downs.

Sending a PM to you Smithy..

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

$150 bucks for a fridge bag! I have a brand new one for a 47l ARB fridge still in the unopened packet sitting in the shed. I might have to put it up in the for sale section as it's no good to me.

Cheers Andrew

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

It can be downloaded off their website.

It is in a pdf document, and 1.8MB. The price list is the retail price list only (not the trade one), so I don't think there would be any confidentiality around it.

Happy to forward by e-mail if anyone wants it - just pm me, and I'll send it through.

[fishpole Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close fishpole]

Never had problem with Engel

Mate,
have a 40l Engel and never hd any dramas. Took it around Australia on all sorts of traks and no issues. Beer was cold even ambient temp was 40+ degC. Never met anyone who wasnt happy with it.
No expirience with ARB, so cant comment.

A good fridge will last a long time and still holds its resell value if the time comes.

Silvan

[pete8205 Member Find all posts View Profile Close pete8205]

I have a 60lt Engel my mate who I camp with has the similar size ARB fridge (not sure exact size) they both work well and draw similar amount of power (we have same batteries) the difference and the reason I wont by the ARB one over the Engel is the ARB fridge is voltage sensitive. Some say good for the battery saving it from going completely flat, but I'd rather have that bit of leeway knowing my fridge is still cold

you'll be happy either way just pay extra attention to your wiring size to minimise the voltage drop if you go with the ARB fridge

Pete

[wsp Member Find all posts View Profile Close wsp]

We have a Waeco 65 CFX in my Prado And when going away on trips we take the Waeco 35 CFX from the mrs Prado. Use mine for Beer, Wine, Food and hers as a freezer. They work well and the wire less temp gauge also tells you what volts the fridge is getting so i can pick up if anything goes wrong with the battery before i end up with warm Beer.

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

I have a 60lt Engel my mate who I camp with has the similar size ARB fridge (not sure exact size) they both work well and draw similar amount of power (we have same batteries) the difference and the reason I wont by the ARB one over the Engel is the ARB fridge is voltage sensitive. Some say good for the battery saving it from going completely flat, but I'd rather have that bit of leeway knowing my fridge is still cold

you'll be happy either way just pay extra attention to your wiring size to minimise the voltage drop if you go with the ARB fridge.

Pete

The ARB fridge voltage sensitive setting can be adjusted [via the control panel] so the operator can set at what level the fridge will shut off.
I can't see why why you will need any different wire sizes if you are using an ARB fridge, for me when my Engel died I didn't need to change the wire from battery to rear when i purchased the ARB fridge and it has performed ok.

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

I have the 40litre Engel and purchased early last year. It is a great fridge. I put dual batteries (redarc system) on my Prado 120 once I got the fridge and carry a voltmeter to check how much this fridge uses running overnight (Usually leave it between 1 an 2 on the dial so temp stay about 2 to 3 degrees). It really good on power at this setting and hardly uses much voltage overnight.

I have a large group of friends who are all avid 4WDers. We go camping and fishing often and we make difficult senarios where 4WDing is tough and winching and snatching is often done. (BTW Prado often holds its own against other good 4WDs) . We often have spirited discussions on the never ending debate of which fridge is better. Between us we have a large range of fridges (Old and new types) including Engels, Waecos, ARB right to National Luna and we give them a hiding in our 4WDs -Strapped down heavily. Only fridge out of all my mates that has given trouble is the Waeco on an early model but generally they are all pretty good. But that has been fixed now and seems to run well. The national Luna is pretty expensive and is a new comer edition to the mobs range so to early to tell but it looks pretty good.

My advice is your going to get a lot of debate about power usage, when the power cuts out when a certain voltage is reached etc etc. Bottom line all these are proven fridges and pretty tough and are good on power. I personally chose the engel based my experiences with my mates, also because I liked the look of the fridges and importantly engels are everywhere and have been for a long time. (Including small country towns) and thus fittings, accessories service etc are not a problem. I recently had an experience whilst away on holidays in a small coastal town where my son accidentalyl snap my engel connector into my car. Wasn't a problem the local store had same part in the store.

When I got my Engel I waited until they ran a special where they gave away a lot of engel free accessories a package which included the Engel Thermo Fridge (This is good and we use it all the time), Bag, umbrella, Engel plug for car, baseball cap, Lock & lock storage containers and engel cooler bar 9also very good and we use it all the time.

Whatever you choose my main advice is get a good dual battery system in your car (Will cost about $1000). Don't muck around with solar panel, 3 day power packs etc until you get the dual battery. The car dual battery system should be the first thing you do after getting your fridge.

Best of luck
Murf

[pete8205 Member Find all posts View Profile Close pete8205]

Hi Rags

with my mates ARB fridge we think its an issue is with the voltage cut out as we adjusted the sensitivity levels, sent it back under warranty, told every thing is ok then told it must be your wiring. So we removed all the wiring and upsized it ( initial wiring put in by an auto elec ) we both have the same setups his now has larger wiring and we have given up trying to find the problem once we found a solar panel connected to the battery has it sorted. We have found once the battery drops to 12V the fridge cuts out.

other then that they work the same as each other cannot tell any difference in current draw (when his fridge cuts out my battery reads same voltage)

If your not in hurry to buy wait for the specials or at shows when they will normally through in extras like the insulating bag.

Pete

[Kowolski Member Find all posts View Profile Close Kowolski]

I bought a waeco. Looked closely at Engel and ARB. They are all worthy fridges. In the end I went with Waeco because 1) you can swap the lid over to open either left or right handed, 2) digital temp control, 3) poly construction so is tough, won't rust, and lighter than the others, 4) warranty is strongly supported locally if needed.

I'm not sure if this is true but I believe Waeco make the fridges for ARB.

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

I'm not sure if this is true but I believe Waeco make the fridges for ARB.

That is not true, ARB make their own fridges.

Cheers Andrew

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

Many years ago I was faced with the same decisions, the player I chose was 'neither'.

I was living in QLD at the time and chose to look into the local Evacool fridge. Although they made great Eskys their initial fridge was CRAP, not worth the time less ther money. I had two replaced in 6 months. The company Evacool took notice and then switched to using Damfos compressors. The same German quality Damfos compressors that Engle use. After seizing my first compressor possibly because I used thin power wire (and hence low voltage) I went to the company HQ one more time.

After much haggling I got to talk with the head guy and explained my situation and how I was trying to support my local company but this was my fourth try! We sat down and designed my perfect fridge/freezer, they went away and put together for me the Frankenstein fridge, a 60L compressor in a 40L fibreglass chest fridge.

BINGO!!!

That was 10 years ago, and to this day it will still freeze at settings above 2 out of 10. I have even frozen 40L of fish fillets in under 12 hours. I find it very reliable and was worth the initial troubles to stay with Evacool.

I'd try Evacool, their later fridges will likely be even better

[Kowolski Member Find all posts View Profile Close Kowolski]

That is not true, ARB make their own fridges.

Cheers Andrew

Actually I think you may find ARB don't make fridges at all.