CAR FRIDGE, WHICH IS BEST

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

Re: CAR FRIDGE, WHICH IS BEST

Not all fridges are the same, they are like tyres, if you buy bad ones, you are stuck with them until they wear out.
The advantage of a forum is that you get plenty of opinions on the product, however in the end it is your decision which is hopefully made easier by others' experiences.

[Schaffer Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Schaffer]

Re: CAR FRIDGE, WHICH IS BEST

The problem with this thread is that no one is really disucssion (opther than a few) the actal usage of the fridge. Some say WACO is best, others Engel and others a different brand but best at what? Keeping you beer cold at home, for a short weekend, for a three week trip, 6 months? How are people running these, dual battery or plugging into gas or 240? Are they running as fridge or freezer If they have problems with their fridge is it they have a shite dual battery or poor wiring that is restricting voltage to the fridge.

I think, from my perspective, the problem is the title of the thread. There is and never will be a best as everyone has different options and different requirements and unless you ask very specifically you will never get an answer.

I have a 40l Engel and I'm happy with it. I've used it for two week trips and short trips. The only issue I've had was when it was only cooling to about 12c but that was the battery at fault, not the fridge. I have it mounted in the rear of the car when I do trips and is on a slide but out of the car it is stored in the original box as I already have a beer fridge. I only use mine as a fridge and it is typically packed with meats near the bottom and vegies near the top as the bottom is colder. Beer near the top when run around 2c is never really cold enough for me but sitting at the bootm is is great. Never had anything go dodgy in it. If I was to buy again I would probably look at the ARB 47 or 60 l as they have good low voltage protection, have a nice easy drain plug on the bottom, and don't pull too many amps so the battery will last a while longer than some other brands.

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

Re: CAR FRIDGE, WHICH IS BEST

Your right Nick, lots of factors involved in making a fridge a good one for you. Anyway for what its worth here is my 2 cents worth.

I have 2 fridges, first fridge i bought was a 39 litre Autofridge. Unlike most other brands this fridge uses a eutectic cooling system, basically the case of the fridge is full of liquid brine. Instead of the fridge having a cooling panel that cools the air in the fridge; these fridges cool the brine. They can be run like a normal fridge at a low setting and cycle on and off or....... you can run it as a eutectic. This involves running the fridge on a high setting for a period of upto 4 hours, then depending on the ambient temperature they can be turned off for anything upto 20 hours. Normal practice for me when touring would be to run the fridge for an hour or so before leaving in the morning, run it while travelling and the car is running so no drain on battery; then turn off when arriving at camp. The real bonus is that i was able to use this fridge for 6 years in three different vehicles without the need for dual batteries. It is very well made and easy to clean and hasn't missed a beat. On the down side though it requires a fair amount of monitoring of the temp and freezing vegies was easy to do accidentally, also the initial cool down time is very long, like 4 - 8 hours. No temp indicator and no low voltage cutout. last year we bought our new fridge and used the Autofridge as a freezer for 8 weeks travelling to cape york and back, it performed excellantly as freezer. Oh the other problem is they pretty pricey $1750 in 2004.

Our new fridge is an ARB 47ltr, we now have a dual battery system to run this. As a fridge it is far better than the autofridge, set and forget temperature control, adjustable low voltage cut out, removable basket, dairy compartment, drain hole in bottom for effortless cleaning, well made rugged construction.
It cools quickly so great for going to a BBQ, throw the drinks in and by the time you get where you are going its at operating temp. We also used this for 8 weeks and it didn't skip a beat other than cutting out on low voltage a couple of times, which was because the autofridge was sucking the power as a freezer, This was a very useful makeshift battery monitor.


We eliminated the Engel as it doesn't have set and forget temperature control, and the waecos can have problems with lids warping and poly fuses blowing, at least that is what my research showed.

ARB might not be the best fridge for everyone, but it is damn good. Autofridge is great if you really don't want a dual battery system.

That was probably about 5 cents worth i think :wink:


Cheers Andrew

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

Re: CAR FRIDGE, WHICH IS BEST

I think, from my perspective, the problem is the title of the thread.

Well put Andy and Shaffer. Very informative. But not everyone knows the right questions to ask without the experience of using one. So it's up to those of us to fill them in on the pros and cons of what we have according to how we use them. The mag reviews don't give us real world experiences and probably don't want to upset their advertisers too much anyway so it's forums like this we get the good oil (or bad)

Cheers

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

Re: CAR FRIDGE, WHICH IS BEST

When I hired the 60L engel, I was told Im better off to buy the 40ltr for a fridge and to hire a 60ltr and use as a freezer when on trips over 3 or 4 days in length.

So I think that will be the go. The Engel I hired was awesome. Draws no more than 2.5 amps per hour apparently, where as the Waeco's draw what they need to get the job done. If this is true, I do not know, it was what he told me. Still new to the fridge game myself.

[MDS69 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close MDS69]

Re: CAR FRIDGE, WHICH IS BEST

My 2 bobs worth.
July last year I was loaned an ARB 47L from a mate. We did a 17 day trip driving most days. I had a aux battery in the back of the wagon to run this fridge. There were 2 adults and 2 kids under 8. This fridge with careful management fitted all of our food, dairy and drinks (about 6 each of beer and soft drink, put a warm one in as you take a cold one out) for this time with some food re-supply along the way. I was very happy with the ARB and would seriously consider buying one but at the Eastern Creek show late last year we bought a 60L Matson (a Waeco knock-off) for a ridicuosly low price. The Matson may draw more power (I don't know yet we have only used in the garage on 240V so far) but for the price I can live with that.

http://www.matson.com.au/sales/Fridges/ ... e_Freezer/

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

Re: CAR FRIDGE, WHICH IS BEST

Way to go, Golly if you have the room for two of them. I suspect we're asking too much of most of them to perform both as fridge and freezer on an extended trip unless you get a dual compartment one.
But others with more experience may disagree.

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

Re: CAR FRIDGE, WHICH IS BEST

mds69. You may find it a different story in Dec - Feb when the mercury is different to July as I did. But I'll just have to manage the food better like you did.
I used 160 watt solar panels only, feeding the aux battery (out of the car) but it also recharged laptop and 2 ipods for 5 days. Panels are well worth the money and take up almost no room on the roof.

Cheers

[Rusty62 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rusty62]

Re: CAR FRIDGE, WHICH IS BEST

We have 2 fridges. Trailblazer 60 lt which is now 10 years old. Travels all over Australia, Brisbane (home) to Cape York (twice), Simpson Desert (3 times), Cairns (3 times), Tassie, Perth. (Anyone would think we like to travel). We recently bought a second hand Autofridge 39lt for the little car (Rav4). No second battery in the Rav so the eutectic was the choice. We wired a relay into the power cable so it supplies power only when the engine is running.
Have had several problems as well, mostly battery failures due to age. Had some baskets made to help store drinks, milk etc and installed a gas strut to keep the lid from falling on my head. Also fabricated a fridge slide to make it easy to get into.

The Trailblazer has been great and the alloy construction is super tough. The kids have almost completely covered the fridge with stickers. A lot of our friends had Trailblazers mounted on the back of utes, out in the sun and rain and they just keep going.

I think the best fridge is, as for most things we buy, the best one you can afford at the time. As long as it keeps the essentials cold, and the food as well, all is good.

makes a great table for the laptop. Also the codan was used to hold the phone up high to get internet reception so daughter could get facebook.
and me to get to PP. Pic taken at Chille Beach.

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

Re: CAR FRIDGE, WHICH IS BEST

The best one is the brand new 40 litre Engel that my boss just bought me because he has only realized that I have been using my own fridge (Engel 40l) for the past 6 years.

No guesses where the new one is going to be mounted.

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

Re: CAR FRIDGE, WHICH IS BEST

hey golly ,im interested to find out where you hired the engel from and what it cost

[new driver Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close new driver]

Re: CAR FRIDGE, WHICH IS BEST

I'm looking at buying a car fridge and not sure of what brand to buy can anyone give me the heads up on the best brand and value for money

Id go the Engle had it for awhile and going strong

[new driver Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close new driver]

Re: CAR FRIDGE, WHICH IS BEST

engel has done us had no problems

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

Re: CAR FRIDGE, WHICH IS BEST

i have a little 18lt waeco fridge freezer. i used it as a beer fridge for 12 months running 24/7 it hasn't missed a beat . ive just bought the waeco 40lt which won 4x4 australia's best fridge . if anyone is looking to buy a waeco fridge the cheapest place i found is a mob called fridge and power in brisbane . i got the 40lt for $ 819 its $999 anywhere else and at the moment they will throw in a waeco cool ice esky to a similar size free. so i get a 42lt ice box value $179 gratis and $26 dollars delivery. happy days oh yeah it seems the engel v waeco argument is like the ford v holden argument , your one or the other .

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

Re: CAR FRIDGE, WHICH IS BEST

Hey Kav, I've noticed this same special give or take a couple of dollars at the local Camping World shop in Warners Bay NSW!
I haven't had the ready cash to purchase as I'm in the process of finding a camper trailer!
Cheers
John