12 volt compressor cooler/freezer

[BilletHead]

      We recently like in a couple weeks ago made a fishing trip west.(Need to report on that) Of course we camped and take all the food we can fresh and frozen. I have been told and heard these things work very well. We bit the bullet and bought a 30 quart version. Can do down to -8 on up to well above freezing. Use for a fresh food fridge or freezer. This we bought for 100 bucks less than a yes Yeti 45 quart cooler. We got that cooler several years ago for a good price. Still like it and will keep using it at times. This 12 volt cooler will hold more stuff because you don't have to use ice in the available space. Very little draw. Has a cable for 120 volt use and a cigarette lighter adapter.  We have a 120 plug in our truck plus we are on the lithium battery bandwagon. Two in the truck camper parallel and an extra for trolling motor we also use in the back seat of the truck next to the cooler when truck not running. It didn't matter what temperature we set it at it doesn't deviate a couple of degrees. Starts cooling fast in mere minutes. This unit ran constantly for over two weeks. I know a person wants ice for drinks. No problem had some covered ice cube trays for covering that. 

   To another deal. Some of you with campers know about three way fridge/ freezers. We have one in the pickup camper. We drove through some hot temperatures. The camper fridge struggled and even when stopped overnight it struggled to catch back up for what it lost traveling. We are seriously considering eventually taking it out and getting another one of these. Dedicating one for fresh and one for frozen stuff. 

  Note for more money you can get one unit dual zone for both fresh and frozen. Bigger unit. I would rather have two smaller ones for moving around. Since we live rural we used reusable ice packs when going to the store. No more this goes with us. 

[jdmidwest]

I had a little DC Igloo back in early 90's when I camped in popup.  Ran great off invertor and shore power, keep cool on road on 12v car power.  But if you stopped for an hour, you had to unplug or it would suck truck battery dry.  Worked great for food, always kept drinks on ice cooler.

My buddies have new versions like yours.  Power management has improved greatly, same as the cost.  My only gripe is the weight, they are heavy.

[BilletHead]

11 minutes ago, jdmidwest said:

I had a little DC Igloo back in early 90's when I camped in popup.  Ran great off invertor and shore power, keep cool on road on 12v car power.  But if you stopped for an hour, you had to unplug or it would suck truck battery dry.  Worked great for food, always kept drinks on ice cooler.

My buddies have new versions like yours.  Power management has improved greatly, same as the cost.  My only gripe is the weight, they are heavy.

They have come along way now. Most vehicles now shut down the accessory plug when engine is shut off. I do keep the lithium battery with us if we will be away from the vehicle for very long. As far as weight this is light compared to the empty premium ice chest empty. Now imagine that same ice chest full of ice. This 12 volt cooler is light in comparison. That is not figuring ice in the equation. No ice needed in the 12 volt. I can get 40 pounds of ice in our premium ice chest easy with room for other contents. So 40 pounds of ice to wrestle in an already heavy ice chest makes this 12 volt cooler a no brainer. 

[gotmuddy]

20 hours ago, BilletHead said:

      We recently like in a couple weeks ago made a fishing trip west.(Need to report on that) Of course we camped and take all the food we can fresh and frozen. I have been told and heard these things work very well. We bit the bullet and bought a 30 quart version. Can do down to -8 on up to well above freezing. Use for a fresh food fridge or freezer. This we bought for 100 bucks less than a yes Yeti 45 quart cooler. We got that cooler several years ago for a good price. Still like it and will keep using it at times. This 12 volt cooler will hold more stuff because you don't have to use ice in the available space. Very little draw. Has a cable for 120 volt use and a cigarette lighter adapter.  We have a 120 plug in our truck plus we are on the lithium battery bandwagon. Two in the truck camper parallel and an extra for trolling motor we also use in the back seat of the truck next to the cooler when truck not running. It didn't matter what temperature we set it at it doesn't deviate a couple of degrees. Starts cooling fast in mere minutes. This unit ran constantly for over two weeks. I know a person wants ice for drinks. No problem had some covered ice cube trays for covering that. 

   To another deal. Some of you with campers know about three way fridge/ freezers. We have one in the pickup camper. We drove through some hot temperatures. The camper fridge struggled and even when stopped overnight it struggled to catch back up for what it lost traveling. We are seriously considering eventually taking it out and getting another one of these. Dedicating one for fresh and one for frozen stuff. 

  Note for more money you can get one unit dual zone for both fresh and frozen. Bigger unit. I would rather have two smaller ones for moving around. Since we live rural we used reusable ice packs when going to the store. No more this goes with us. 

I have a friend with one of these bougeRV fridges, its comparable in size to yours I think, and it works great.  I got a stellar deal on a ARB 60qt fridge/freezer and absolutely love it.

 

Your camper fridge, why was it off while traveling?

[Linhardt]

6 hours ago, BilletHead said:

They have come along way now. Most vehicles now shut down the accessory plug when engine is shut off. I do keep the lithium battery with us if we will be away from the vehicle for very long. As far as weight this is light compared to the empty premium ice chest empty. Now imagine that same ice chest full of ice. This 12 volt cooler is light in comparison. That is not figuring ice in the equation. No ice needed in the 12 volt. I can get 40 pounds of ice in our premium ice chest easy with room for other contents. So 40 pounds of ice to wrestle in an already heavy ice chest makes this 12 volt cooler a no brainer. 

 

I saw something similar yesterday at Buc-ee’s in Springfield, though it was probably a different brand. It looked like it would be perfect for trips like the one we just took. At the condo we had power, but I wonder if ice might be better for the times it just sits in the vehicle.

What size lithium battery are you using with it?
How long does the battery actually power it?

There’s a YouTube channel I follow that you might like. The guy is very knowledgeable about solar power and lithium batteries. He tests different batteries, sometimes even cuts them open to check the build quality, and then gives his honest opinion. He also shares how to build off-grid power stations with quality, affordable parts, plus setups for different solar arrays. He really knows his stuff and puts everything through real tests.

I think his content is right up your alley. You should check him out.  DIY Solar Power with Will Prowse

[BilletHead]

3 hours ago, gotmuddy said:

I have a friend with one of these bougeRV fridges, its comparable in size to yours I think, and it works great.  I got a stellar deal on a ARB 60qt fridge/freezer and absolutely love it.

 

Your camper fridge, why was it off while traveling?

   Thanks for asking Cody,

     Propane and 120V work great if unit is shaded. 12 volt is just to maintain and both units we have had in truck campers would not maintain worth a darn. Older camper would not work with propane on road. This camper and unit would burn propane down the road. The trip west was brutal headed south west for first deal in New Mexico. A couple places were well into the 100s. Both freezer and fridge steadily gained temperature. Made it to Albuquerque. It was hot all night. AC took care of us but fridge slowly recovered. I had indoor outdoor thermometers. Outside sending units were placed into fridge and freezer compartment. Next stop first fishing place in New Mexico mallard breasts beginning to thaw in camper freezer. Darned The bad luck had to eat them. We were moving almost daily so unit could not catch up properly. I actually had three indoor outdoor thermometers in the front of the truck going down the road. Camper fridge and freezer, plus the 12v cooler. From my report you know which one was perfect. 

[snagged in outlet 3]

I have a Jackery 1000 W power station.  I even use it to charge my 24 v trolling motor batteries.  It's great!

[BilletHead]

11 minutes ago, Linhardt said:

 

I saw something similar yesterday at Buc-ee’s in Springfield, though it was probably a different brand. It looked like it would be perfect for trips like the one we just took. At the condo we had power, but I wonder if ice might be better for the times it just sits in the vehicle.

What size lithium battery are you using with it?
How long does the battery actually power it?

There’s a YouTube channel I follow that you might like. The guy is very knowledgeable about solar power and lithium batteries. He tests different batteries, sometimes even cuts them open to check the build quality, and then gives his honest opinion. He also shares how to build off-grid power stations with quality, affordable parts, plus setups for different solar arrays. He really knows his stuff and puts everything through real tests.

I think his content is right up your alley. You should check him out.  DIY Solar Power with Will Prowse

 Anthony we tinkered with different places on the trip. First part of the trip had it inside the front of the truck in back seat. While driving used the 120V while truck was running. There we also had one 100amp hour lifepo 4 lithium. At night while not running truck we would plug into battery. Might change a half volt that whole night 10 hours.

  We also used it on the floor inside the truck camper. Here we had two of the same batteries in parallel for 200 amps going down the road. Here is the good thing there. Have a DC to DC charger hooked up in the truck plus a solar panel. The solar panel is hooked up to a controller that recognizes the best charging option. The solar panel would put out 14.5 volts to the batteries. We never worried about anything power wise. Never. In the old truck camper all we had was a lead acid deep cycle battery to rely on. It was also connected to the standard alternator in the truck to charge down the road. This sucked and we once had to carry a suitcase generator to run for three hours when we sucked down the truck and camper battery and get them charged to get truck started the next morning. That old truck camper had a furnace motor that would kick off and on plus the water pump motor that put strains on that battery system. We finally decided to unplug the truck to camper link so we could always start. No more of that crap now. Did not even carry that suitcase generator this time. Two weeks plus and never had even a hickup with the system. 

 BTW thanks for the link friend.

[gotmuddy]

Interesting that 120v it will keep up but not 12v.  Honestly these new compressor fridges make the evaporative fridges obsolete. both our small fridges were sitting outside(in the shade) all weekend this past weekend in Oklahoma, and had no issues keeping at the desired temps

[BilletHead]

1 hour ago, gotmuddy said:

Interesting that 120v it will keep up but not 12v.  Honestly these new compressor fridges make the evaporative fridges obsolete. both our small fridges were sitting outside(in the shade) all weekend this past weekend in Oklahoma, and had no issues keeping at the desired temps

              I may have confused you, Cody. The origional fridge in the camper is the old Evaporative type. You might ask others about how well they work on 12V but our dealings and what we have read is that it only maintains some.  Our Friend @grizwilson has the new type in his camper. I could go that route and replace mine with that type, but I would rather go with these smaller models and use for dual purpose not only camping but for day trips, Motel trips or grocery shopping.  We are totally sold on this new type of 12V fridge.