Powering a Fridge

I can’t reply to you all because holy cow so many came to my rescue. But thank you all for the incredibly helpful information. I’m going to catch up as soon as I can and I’ll update here. Thanks again crew.

 

I prefer to use "Skip The Dishes"...

 

Yep similar setup here. People over complicate this.

main battery - x2 power 27f agm
12v power direct from battery to fridge (arb kit)
Cascadia4x4 hood mounted solar with mppt charger to main battery

it’ll run my fridge indefinitely

very few people actually need dual batteries. If you are worried, carry a jump pack.

 

this sounds great! I just installed a Lensun 85wt hood panel to trickle charge my battery and it’s been awesome. The new fridges really don’t draw anything these days. Dual battery does seem overkill which is why I just run a Jackery for all my peripherals.

 

I agree. Keep it simple! A good battery and solar is all you need. I carry a small jump pack for me and my work stuff just incase. Never an issue

 

I don't disagree with either statement, I think a good Northstar X2 AGM battery and a solar panel will do the trick. But I think if you're going to spend $550+ on a cascadia solar panel with MPPT charger and $375+ for a good X2 AGM battery, then why not leave your stock battery alone, and put that $900 into build your own dual battery setup with a less expensive solar kit (as long as you're comfortable do the wiring correctly)? I did a really nice dual battery setup for about $900 and I went a little overboard in some areas, but I did not add a solar panel yet( but I don't really need one at this point).

-My setup is about half way down this age:
Dual Battery Setups! Let's see them! Multiple Batteries Thread! | Page 159 | Tacoma World

 

There are far cheaper options though. My 100 watt panel and controller and everything were sub $200 and perform great. I went this route due to lower cost and overall less "moving" parts. Plus less weight on the inner fenders which aren't exactly strong.

 

That makes sense , but the comment before, using Cascadia 4x4 and X2 seemed just as expensive as a custom dual batt setup.

 

After looking at your setup another reason for single battery+solar would be winch. Running a winch off of a stock battery is less than ideal and running winch leads into the back of the cabin means some 4/0 cables which are just mega expensive. It's a bummer because I want to relocate my battery but just haven't made it a priority due to the expense of the cable.

 

Yeah that's true, luckily for me, my battery crapped the bed long before i did a dual battery setup, and I already upgraded to an X2 AGM for my main battery. I also ran a single 4AWG positive wire to a bus bar under my hood to run accessories off my aux battery.

 

Stock battery needed replaced anyway.

could have went dual battery but it’s unnecessary weight and complexity I really don’t need. Plus solar is passive and doesn’t require the truck to be running. If it was doing dual batteries, I’d do a DCDC charger and lithium which jacks the price up quite a bit.

lots of ways to do it and every situation is different. You could also get a portable solar panel and alligator clips for the batter if you didn’t want a perm install and would be cheaper.

You can also get a gz/jackery/whatever and run the fridge off that and plug in solar at camp. A yeti 1500x will run a fridge for 3+ days with zero power input.

 

Yep. There’s also widely different draws from fridges. Something like a dometic / arb / snow master have much lower power draw than the no name cheap fridges. Yeah you can save some money on the fridge but you pay for it in power consumption.

 

Yeah I for sure just went with a cheap no-name fridge, I figured if it breaks I can replace it 2-3 times before I've reached the price of a nice quality one. It does feel cheap though.

 

Yeah I'm planning on having a winch at some point. My budget has depleted immensely haha gotta find a job not haha.

 

could have gone Iceco! Half the price of ARB/Dometic uses same internals.

 

Yeah i looked, Unfortunately, they didn't have any that fit my build unless i got the small 20L one. (i ended up getting a 40L)

 

Just got this together yesterday, planning on putting 2 12v outlets (on ignition only) somewhere in the back seat area, one to plug in the bluetti, another to charge batteries for drones and cameras. Fridge plugs into the bluetti

Still need to put sound deadening on that back wall but that is a job for warmer weather. Total setup I think will be under $900. I got the bluetti for christmas so I went this route. For the money a single agm would be better so that will likly be my next setup.

 

Why would you want your fridge on an ignition power supply?

 

Because I'm bad at writing stuff, thanks for pointing that out, fixed now.

 

I just finished getting my fridge wiring where I wanted. Used the Dometic 12v wiring kit with 10awg conductors and 2 socket receptacle. I wound up taking the 2 pin socket out and replaced with a standard cig lighter.

I ran the 10awg fused at the battery, across the firewall and into the passenger foot well, where the relay is mounted. The 10awg continues under the trim where it comes up at the passenger side wedge/cubby and the receptacle is mounted inside the cubby.

My 45 qt iceco plugs into my 500w jackery, which plugs into the socket. It does charge faster then it discharges in this situation. I will just open the relay anytime the truck is off and let the jackery power the fridge. I was on the fence about a dual battery, but this made a lot more sense to me when you factor in the versatility of the jackery.