12v Refrigerator?

[dumbcomputers]

When I was looking for mobile refrigeration options several years ago, I considered a rotomolded cooler or a compressor-type portable fridge. I went with the portable fridge since I figured:

• I could make my own electricity (run the engine, solar, gas generator, etc) but not my own ice.
• A fridge has more usable volume in its footprint since the interior of the fridge doesn't need to account for ice taking up a lot of space. The proportions improve as fridges get larger since the compressors are all basically the same size, whereas a bigger cooler needs more ice.

I've had my fridge for several years (pre-vanlife boom). Main options at the time were Dometic, ARB, or IceCo. Even used it for regular grocery runs since I could just stuff the fridge in the parking lot and not have to head home right afterward.

About two years ago, I was figuring how I could optimize my setup for time. I used to go...shopping cart > truck fridge > box or crate of some sort > house fridge. So basically packing everything three times. This also coincided with me not going on multi-day road trips anymore, so I didn't really need the fridge as much.

I then rediscovered gel freezer packs and soft sided cooler backpacks. It's the ideal solution for now. Keeps frozen things frozen for a solid 12 hours (more than I need) and cold things cold for at least double that. Unlike using ice, I don't have to deal with meltwater, and unlike a hard sided cooler or fridge, I can really stuff the backpacks and zip them shut.

The Achilles heel for the fridge was being in Las Vegas in the summer time, in the bed of the truck. My truck has a topper, but it can easily hit 130F in the bed. The fridge basically ran continuously in order to keep the interior cold, which ran down the power station, which couldn't recharge while driving due to being over temperature. The fridge and power station did fine when they rode in the cab.

My biggest use case is just keeping drinks and snacks cold on hikes and beach day trips. I just went to the beach yesterday and used ice and ice packs. But it's a pain to load, unload, clean the cooler. Plus if you don't have everything pre-chilled first it melts a lot of the ice right away so you have to use even more and loose even more space. For short market runs I always leave a larger cooler in the bed. My biggest motivation for a larger refrigerator in the bed is to keep things frozen for camping, but honestly I only go camping 1-2 times a year right now. Probably when my daughter leaves for college that will increase, she is just too busy with her own stuff to go camping...lol.

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[Shock96]

So we have an old Rubbermaid fridge cooler thing. I bet it is over 20 years old. Plugs into the lighter outlet.

We just used it this Sept on that trip to SoCal and back. Worked great! It isn't big but holds plenty of drinks and food requiring refrigeration.

It has a fan that pushes heat out but I don't think it is a compressor unit. Thermoelectric I am sure.

The Mav had no issues with running it for the 30 minutes before the accessory shuts off.

 

[dumbcomputers]

Nice I was always afraid of putting it under the seat because of ventilation. Here's how the little Anker 521 sits in the rear center cup holder area. I have a big Anker Solix C1000 as well. That spends 98% of it's time in the house as a UPS for my desktop computer, internet, and security cameras. It does come out on the week long camping trips. I have it set up to run on a big residential solar panel when needed.

Sadly my EcoFlow River 3 Plus isn't charging off of the 400w inverter, I'm guessing because it's not pure sine wave....I'm limited to DC car charging at 100w. Can the Anker charge off the factory inverter?

 

[JasonDroninAround]

Sadly my EcoFlow River 3 Plus isn't charging off of the 400w inverter, I'm guessing because it's not pure sine wave....I'm limited to DC car charging at 100w. Can the Anker charge off the factory inverter?

The little 521 only charges with 12v or USBC. The big Solix C1000 will not charge at 110w in the truck, even with the recharge rate all the way down to 200w. It just isn't happy with the FoMoCo inverter. I was thinking about upgrading the truck's inverter but the little 521 recharges so well with the truck's USBC and it is plenty big enough to run the fridge on 3 day weekend camping trips.

 

[dumbcomputers]

The little 521 only charges with 12v or USBC. The big Solix C1000 will not charge at 110w in the truck, even with the recharge rate all the way down to 200w. It just isn't happy with the FoMoCo inverter. I was thinking about upgrading the truck's inverter but the little 521 recharges so well with the truck's USBC and it is plenty big enough to run the fridge on 3 day weekend camping trips.

Thanks at least I'm in the same boat as you.

I was playing with mine and I figured out the River 3 Plus expansion pack has a 140w bi-directional USB-C on it. The unit can charge via that and 12v DC simultaneously. With both going at full rate that would be about 240W which isn't bad at all. The Mavericks rear USB-C ports are only 30watts though so I'll have to try some aftermarket ones to try to get closer to the 140watt max the port supports. I also have though about adding a second pure sine wave inverter but I want it to be on/off with the truck's ignition so I would have to build a simple latching relay or find a inverter with a ignition trigger.

Thanks for the help.

 

[dumbcomputers]

OK...with a Macbook 96watt USB-C charger and 12v DC I can get ~195watt of charging which is probably fast enough. If upgrade to a 140w USB-C charger and get close to 230-240 watt.

 

[dumbcomputers]

Just an update on this...so I went through 3 different refrigerators to nail down one that would work for me.

The first one I tried as the Vevor 10QT https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DFKY39HS

This one didn't work for me because I decided I need something at least big enough to hold a 1 gallon milk jug and this was to small. Secondarily, I'm not sure if this unit was defective but the temperature control of the unit wasn't very good. If I set the temp to 33F even with the door never opened in a temperature controlled room would swing as high as 38F. But more unexpectedly it would randomly drop to 27F..lol. Again, not sure if this unit was defective or not but it was returned.

The second unit I tried was the Alpicool MG15 16QT https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F5HBGX39

This unit had the interior volume I needed. It didn't have Bluetooth app control which I knew before buying it but the issue was that if this unit loses power the temp control would always return to it's lowest setting (-4F). I didn't like this fact so this one was also returned.

The third unit I'm on which I'm currently happy with is the Euhomy 17QT https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FFB7WY52

This also has the minimum interior volume I was after with the exterior dimensions necessary. It has Bluetooth app control and remembers all the settings if it loses power. Temperature control seems rock solid on this unit. Finding the right combo of interior and exterior dimensions was very difficult. Most units were too long and would touch the front seat (limiting recline) or too tall and be exposed being taller than the side window.

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

Just an update on this...so I went through 3 different refrigerators to nail down one that would work for me.

The first one I tried as the Vevor 10QT https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DFKY39HS

This one didn't work for me because I decided I need something at least big enough to hold a 1 gallon milk jug and this was to small. Secondarily, I'm not sure if this unit was defective but the temperature control of the unit wasn't very good. If I set the temp to 33F even with the door never opened in a temperature controlled room would swing as high as 38F. But more unexpectedly it would randomly drop to 27F..lol. Again, not sure if this unit was defective or not but it was returned.

The second unit I tried was the Alpicool MG15 16QT https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F5HBGX39

This unit had the interior volume I needed. It didn't have Bluetooth app control which I knew before buying it but the issue was that if this unit loses power the temp control would always return to it's lowest setting (-4F). I didn't like this fact so this one was also returned.

The third unit I'm on which I'm currently happy with is the Euhomy 17QT https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FFB7WY52

This also has the minimum interior volume I was after with the exterior dimensions necessary. It has Bluetooth app control and remembers all the settings if it loses power. Temperature control seems rock solid on this unit.

Great information. It's not a bad price either.
Thank you for your research and posting.

 

[dumbcomputers]

Great information. It's not a bad price either.
Thank you for your research and posting.

Thanks, as you can probably tell I'm a bit obsessive, wife keeps saying it at least..haha.

Also, this is the seat protector I used. I'm going to also get a color matched towel the next time I'm at Walmart..haha

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H84JLZC

 

[dochawk]

While you guys are all trying to keep things cold, since my move I'm looking for something similar to keep food hot!

I seem to be at least 2.5 miles from anything to bring home, so I'm looking for something to keep a couple of to go trays at, perhaps, 175 for 15 minutes. Not really important whether it uses 12v or the 400v on the Lariat.

I used to trip over bidirectional chests all the time, but I haven't seen one in a while.

 

[JasonDroninAround]

While you guys are all trying to keep things cold, since my move I'm looking for something similar to keep food hot!

I seem to be at least 2.5 miles from anything to bring home, so I'm looking for something to keep a couple of to go trays at, perhaps, 175 for 15 minutes. Not really important whether it uses 12v or the 400v on the Lariat.

I used to trip over bidirectional chests all the time, but I haven't seen one in a while.

From a sales standpoint, I do not think enough people use them for heating and they were horribly inefficient at cooling. Compressor coolers finally came down enough in price to mostly kill those off. I don't think you will find them at a camping/RV type store but you still might be able to find them at someplace like Walmart. They are still cheaper up front.

 

[dumbcomputers]

Update: Now running purely off solar 24x7.

https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/forum/threads/100w-solar-panels-w-ecoflow-river-3-plus.81925/

 

[Timothyd]

I have a question for anyone running a 12v refrigerator connected directly to 12v without a power station.120/

Does your fridge turn on/off automatically with the 12v coming from the car without having to press the power button every time on the fridge?

I have a 120/12v cooler that will sometimes ride in the bed. I plug it into the 120v outlet, turn it on and it works fine.

 

[dumbcomputers]

I have a 120/12v cooler that will sometimes ride in the bed. I plug it into the 120v outlet, turn it on and it works fine.

Yes, I've already tested 3 units and all of them turned on without needing to press the power button. One of them did not remember the temperature setting though and reset to -4C every time it lost power.

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