Portable Refrigerators | Power requirements

Planning to get a Portable Refrigerator like the Dometic, but have some questions.
@Dometic

I'm assuming our 110vac outlet built in the bed is not Pure Sine Wave as it is in regular AC outlets in homes.

Without going dual battery setup yet and utilizing 12v only, do Portable Refrigerators require a Pure Sine Wave power from an AC outlet to work properly and prevent electronic component damage?

Any pros and cons using the in-bed outlet?

TIA

 

Skip the in bed outlet. Run a 12v plug off the battery. You’ll be a lot more efficient and consume less power. Plus it’ll run still while the vehicle is off

Or get the plb40 and run that from ac/dc/solar. Lot cheaper and easier than dual batteries.

I’ve run 12v off a single main battery for years without issue. Upgraded to an 27g AGM and have plenty of run time

 

I can't speak from personal experience, but I haven't heard of any issues with portable fridges needing pure sine wave or getting damaged from lack of it. I use my Alpicool with a Rockpals 500W battery pack that is not pure sine and it works like a champ.

As for the in-bed outlet, I've heard excessive draw causes headaches and it likes to pop out of 400W often. Again, can't speak from experience there but it would all come down to the fridge you have.

 

This. </thread>

Bed outlet is a useless gimmick in all but a very limited set of circumstances

 

I have run a ARB fridge off my stock 24f battery for 4 days straight without running the truck (by accident) and didn't hit the emergency cutoff built into the fridge and the truck still started just fine. That said, when my stock battery dies I will replace it with a 27f AGM.

 

Has anyone "upgraded" the oem outlet to be able to handle a fridge in the back?

 

You can run a dometic fridge off the bed outlet without doing anything. The big issue is it is tied to ignition, so your truck goes off, so does your fridge.

 

That's why I use a portable battery, charge it when I drive or at home and power the fridge from it when the truck is off. You could accomplish the same by wiring it directly to your battery, but you'll need to be cautious of draining your battery. I know people use AGMs or dual setups for that purpose, but you could even use a solar panel and controller to literally never kill your battery. Been thinking about the solar route for some time now, not too big of a project if you have electrical knowledge.

 

The stock inverter will require more power than just running it directly from the 12v battery, plus the truck would have to be running to use the inverter. I made a mount for some Anderson plugs in the side of the bed to power my fridge and air compressor. Easy and clean.

 

This is a timely discussion. I was just searching for this topic...

I just bought an Iceco and a Bluetti battery for our trip to the Grand Canyon next month. I want to make sure that the battery arrives at the Grand Canyon with a full charge so I just tried charging it from the bed outlet and it was a no-go (it charges at 450w on AC plus losses due to the power brick I’m way over the 400w bed outlet).

My first though was to run a cable off the battery to the bed. I’m probably going to do a temporary install for this trip and consider a more permanent solution later. It seems pretty straight forward to hook into the battery with an inline fuse and run the wire down the frame.

That said, any advice on cable gauge and fusing/switching? I’m sure someone has done a thorough write up by my search lead me here. Fell free to link to someone’s build thread and I’ll dive in.

 

Stop by your local RV dealer or supply house.

There are all sorts of frigs that can run on 3 way power (propane, 120 Vac, 12 Vdc).

Pay attention to the nameplate power rating.

 

I like this. Do you have a PN for those andersons with the nice dust caps?

 

If you don’t want to make your own wiring harness I suggest this for less than $100 that is essentially plug and play and will get you reliable 12v power to your bed:

https://www.powertrays.com/collections/power-accessories/products/copy-of-blue-sea-4368-water-resistant-accessory-panel-circuit-breaker-12v-socket-2-dual-usb-charger-mini-oled-volt-meter

https://www.powertrays.com/collecti...s/wiring-harness-for-blue-sea-belowdeck-panel

 

You can also get a wiring kit from dometic or arb

https://www.dometic.com/en-us/food-and-beverage/coolers/accessories/dometic-hwk-dc-222471

highly recommend using the 2 pin if you are running a fridge. Then you don’t have to worry about the plug ever coming lose (it plugs then screws in)

 

This is what I was planning as well (an ICECO JP40). I'm glad you mentioned this. Is your Bluetti the AC50S and was it a 90W AC adapter that came with it?

 

I run a Dometic 55 cfx3 55im off a Goal Zero Yeti 400 and a 100W solar panel. I've gone up to two weeks without any other charging source in 60-70F with partly cloudy skies, and expect I could run it indefinitely without a secondary source in most conditions. Yes, the battery is more expensive than other DIY options, but the ease of setup and use was a big part of the value to me.

 

You can order the individual components from Powerwerx.com or a kit from https://absolute-wits-end.com/electrical/dc-fridge-cables/

 

I bought something like this and wired direct to a Fuse block connected to the battery. https://www.bluesea.com/products/43..._4_pos._+_12_Volt_Socket_and_Dual_USB_Charger

The fridge draws up to 10 amps when running the compressor but only draws about 1 amp when sitting idle. The problem is the 110v doesnt have enough amps to power the fridge compressor, especially while driving when it drops to 100w. I recommend running a direct line back to the bed for your fridge. That said, my OEM battery has powered by fridge for 3-4 days without starting the truck and my truck started fine at the end of the trip.

 

I went big on the Bluetti. I got the AC200P and it has a bigger 500 was power supply. It’s waaay overkill for camping but it will run my home fridge and freezer for extended power outages.

I don’t recommend the AC200P if camping is your primary purpose due to size/weight. The home backup was my primary purpose and camping secondary.

 

I made this. Works... Use one 100 watt and 1 60w panel in parallel. Also, use dc lower whenever u can for dc fridge. More efficient and makes u look cool