The Dometic CFX3 Mega Thread

Is it locked when in the outward position?

 

Does not lock when I pull all the way outward. No lock click or anything. I pull it out but does not seem to go all the way out the way it should, it feels it should come out more.

 

Just give it a yank until it locks in the outward position. I didn’t know mine was supposed to lock out for like a year until one day I gave it a good tug.

 

Yeah, I will try that.

just feels like is getting stuck before pulling further put, even though i checked everywhere and nothing seems to be blocking the rail to come out more.

 

Ahahahhah, man, you are a legend.

Just tried and it work. Ahahahah.

Thank you!

 

Glad it worked out for you!

 

I figured this is the place to ask:

I'm looking at getting the CFX3 45L. It would be going in my daily driver. As for powering it, with it being a smaller fridge, could I get away with just running it off of a northstar 27f, or should I look at a supplementary battery system, like a jackery 240 and solar? At most, my truck would not be ran for 2 or 3 days, but that's not normal. The fridge would probably be kept between 37-40 F, so the power draw wouldn't be too high either.

 

Ambient temperature?

Fridge location?

I'm in Texas, and a closed-up cab can get hot during the summertime. So crack windows, all for ventilation so it doesn't have to work as hard.

Parked for three days, you might want to consider a Jackery 500 w/solar.

From Dometic FAQ:

How long will my refrigerator keep running for on my battery?
You need to ascertain how much power your refrigerator will consume on average per hour under certain ambient conditions; We provide this information in our catalogues and on our website. You also need to know the size of your battery in amp-hours. Once you know these figures, you can divide the size of the battery by that average consumption figure (multiplied by 24 hours) to give you approximate run time. e.g. If the stated consumption is 1 amp per hour average, multiply that by 24 hours. (equals 24 Amp hours per day). You should understand that you never get the full amount of amp-hours from a battery however. You should use 80% as a good rule of thumb. So if you have a 100 Amp hour deep cycle battery, you can assume 80 amp-hours of usable power. So if a refrigerator consumes on average 1 amp per hour, and is the only appliance running from a 100 amp-hour battery, you should be able to have the refrigerator run for around 80 hours before recharging becomes necessary.

Applicable to models: CFX 28, CFX 35W, CFX 40W, CFX 50W, CFX 65W, CFX 75DZW, CFX 95DZW.

What are the battery protection levels and what should I set mine for?
There are three set-able battery protection levels; "Hi" equates to 11.8 volts (High cut-out), "Ned" equates to 11.2 volts (Medium cut-out), "Lo" equates to 10.1 volts (Low cut-out). These are the voltages sensed at the refrigerator under load at which the compressor will shut down to protect your vehicle battery. If you have a small battery in a smaller vehicle, you should select high so that you are able to restart your vehicle easily. If you have a larger vehicle and larger battery capacity you should select the medium setting. If you have a dual battery set up and the secondary battery is able to be isolated from the starter battery you should select the low setting.

Applicable to models: CFX 28, CFX 35W, CFX 40W, CFX 50W, CFX 65W, CFX 75DZW, CFX 95DZW.

 

In general, the battery protection system should protect you from a no-start situation. That said, I would recommend doing some trial runs in the comfort of your driveway. Pack it in a similar fashion to what you expect to travel with and try out the three battery protection settings to see what will work best for your needs and conditions. My guess is that, if you have it packed, get it cooled down on AC power before you switch to DC power, the medium setting should work well.

Also, the performance of the cooler relative power usage is impacted by how many times you open it, how long it is left open, how well it's packed, if the cooler is shaded and well ventilated, etc. Definitely spend some time getting used to it and its impact on your battery before heading to the woods.

DOMETIC
mobile living made easy
dometic.com

 

The fridge will be in the cab of the truck, behind either the driver or passenger seat. I'm in northern ohio, so ambient temps wont be too high for the majority of the year.
As for the parked for 3 days, I'll look into the jackery. I've seen those mentioned quite a bit, and will look into it. For my overlanding/offroading trips, my truck would sit, at most, for 36 hours. It'll sit longer in my driveway on weekends when I'm away, so having the fridge shut off then isn't a huge deal by any means.

Oh yeah, it will definitely get a shakedown and some trials before it's put to real use.

 

Last call. Our sale ends late tonight!



DOMETIC
mobile living made easy
dometic.com

 

The sale was the push I needed to get one of these, ordered a

$780 CFX3 45 -Liter Portable Refrigerator and Freezer, Powered by AC/DC or Solar

CFX3 45 yesterday

 

Great to hear you took the plunge. Enjoy the first trip out with it!

Thanks for selecting one of our coolers. We truly appreciate the support!

DOMETIC
mobile living made easy
dometic.com

 

Woohoo, that was quick. Plugged it into AC and it went from 90 degrees to 39 in like 20 minutes. Didn’t expect it to cool down that quick!

 

Dometic HWK-DC arrived (super fast shipping). 20 ft of 10g fuse wiring with a dual outlet. Near impossible to find on the website without the part number.

I was looking at the "twist to lock" dc plug (two-prong with a funky tab). Took a second to realize the stock plug unscrews into two pieces. Doh! Nice addition and the cord remains attached on washboard roads.

 

It was a suggested item when I was looking at the fridge, and I kinda wish I would have just grabbed it because I’ll probably end up getting it lol. I’d like to use that locking connection too

 

Datapoint update.

DX75: Tossed warm drinks into the cooler set at 45F freezer side at 20F

Plugged in a Jackery 250. Just running off the Jackery, I got 8 hours but it was 99F day! It got hot and we were bouncing offroad for six hours.

On the road at 7 AM, it was out of battery by 3 PM. This is the worst-case scenario, which means the cooler was running about 2.5 Amps the whole time (30Wh for 8 hours, 240Watt).

Frozen stayed frozen, fridge stayed cool. Home by 6 PM and still plenty cold back there. Normally with dual-zone, I run about the same temperature, but I like the room for blueberries, fruit salad, and crispy lettuce. Then again root beet floats at camp is a fun treat!

I need to rig a battery switch over. Simple relay that closes to run cooler off vehicle 12V supply while the engine is running (really from an "ignition source") then switch to back up when parked.

I love this cooler!

 

Thinking of either a CFX3-75DZ or CFX3-95DZ running on the Jackery Explorer 1000 c/w 2x 100W solar panels, but kind of torn on how exactly we will use it camping.

We currently just use a standard icebox cooler; packed away beneath a retrax cover as shown in the first photo, and just on the bed accessible from in front of the tailgate as shown in the second photo. Since the 75DZ & 95DZ are the same height, I don't think they will fit beneath the Retrax cover on a sliding tray and I would have to notch out the bed stiffeners most likely as well... Or just do the same thing we currently do with the cooler and just rotate it 90º at camp - not fixing the Dometic cooler down to anything. Inside the cab isn't really an option; we need the space back there.

Does anyone else to this? Pull it out manually at camp, and pack it away when travelling - similar to what we currently do with the cooler? If so, how is it? Manageable or a real pain in the ass?

 

DZ75 Empty weighs in at 61.3 pounds. I can manage to pull it out and put it away empty, but camping I have full of stuff. Add 85 pounds of stuff (113 -- 12 oz cans) and 140 pounds is too heavy for one person. Two heavy unless two people to scoot it out and lift.

I guess the furry foot warmers take up the back seat, so it needs to be in the bed. 18.58" height. You could have some 0.090 aluminum bent on four sides. Slides then bolt to the side and this sit on some 0.125" aluminum bent on three sides for stiffness giving just under 19".

The official Domenic slide is listed as 3.36" tall, but the cooler sits down into that. I just don't know how much that adds to overall height. Yes, you need to mount it between support rails for the lowest possible height. @Dometic any thoughts?

 

Thanks for that reply @roundrocktom,
Earlier on in the thread I saw some posts about fitting a 75DZ/95DZ beneath a diamondback cover, and dometic attatched cross section dimensions, but nothing after that from the people that were asking.
I just measured out about 475 to 480mm clearance, so I think any sort of slide option is out of the question now. Kind of answered my own problem I suppose. The only good solution to run one of these with any sort of bed cover is to get a shorter cooler, or if dometic is preparing a new model series/version of the CFX that is slightly shorter than current models.