ARB Fridge/Freezer setup in rental car: need ideas

For my field work as a graduate student in fisheries biology I need to store samples as close to minus 20C as possible. During the day I will be driving a lot and at night I will be camping in State Parks along the coast of California. I will be in a rental car, probably a SUV like RAV4 or similar.
I was thinking about getting an ARB fridge/freezer so that I don't have to hunt for dry ice to keep my samples cold.
I contacted ARB and told them about my plans. The only concern they had was that since it's a rental car, they wouldn't know if the auxiliary outlets like cigarette lighters are always hot. If they are not, I couldn't use the freezer over night. Also they said that the wiring in some cars is not adequate for handling their freezers. They told me about a cable that can be run directly from the battery, but since it's a rental car, I don't see that as an option unless it's really easy to set up and remove.
I was wondering if any one has any other ideas about how I could make this possible.
Thanks in advance!

 

Maybe I posted in the wrong section.

 

What about just getting an extra deep cycle battery and charger? Or just jump the extra battery from the car when you have time to charge it?

 

if you can get a guarantee from the rental car place that you must have a vehicle with a tow package/hitch then I think it is possible to make something work. I do have an idea. do you plan on swapping out vehicles or running the same one the whole summer?

 

I think dry ice in a modified cooler would be your best bet.

Many years ago, on a professionally-organized offroad trip I was on (including one night camping at Rubicon Springs), the organizers brought along food, including ice-cream, for everyone (about 50 people altogether). They used dry-ice in coolers. That night, the ice-cream was hard as a rock. The next day, the leftover dry-ice was thrown into the river, and made for quite a show.

 

Buy an ArkPak.

http://www.arkportablepower.com/pages/about-the-arkpak

 

I was actually talking to a guy today that had the same idea and he thinks that would work too.

I will only rent the SUV for about two weeks at a time and I don't know what I will get. They just say RAV4 or similar.

I do have a Yeti cooler or I could put dry ice into Styrofoam coolers. What worries me is that I won't find a place to restock the dry ice. My understanding is that it lasts for about 3 days and that it's not readily available. I would prefer not having to waste my time hunting for dry ice.

That looks good, but it will get really expensive. I would have to buy that plus a battery plus the freezer.
Thanks for the idea, though!

 

You should be fine running the fridge off a stock 12v outlet with the car running. I believe most outlets are rated for at least 10 amps. A good 12v fridge shouldn't draw anything close to that. You may run into an issue on some fridges that have a "low voltage cutoff" setting where the fridge won't run unless the vehicle is running because there is too much of a voltage drop at the stock outlet, especially if you use an aftermarket extension.

To run the fridge overnight I would just make a 12v socket and cord with a inline fuse and alligator clips to clamp onto the battery posts. Simply pop the hood on the car, clamp on the wires and then run it along the outside of the car and into a door or open window. The battery should be fine for just overnight use with a efficient fridge, but I would pick yourself up a cheap jump starter pack to make sure you can jump start the car yourself without having to rely on another vehicle.

 

Is that easy to do? I'm not very familiar with electrical work and need to google those terms first!
Would you just attach the wire with some tape to the outside of the car?
Sounds like a good plan! Thank you!
Edit: I bet they sell something like that premade already so I wouldn't have to do any soldering.

 

They do sell premade cords like that, although it might be hard to find the length that would work for your application.

Something like this, but longer.



There's no need to tape anything to the car as you'll be packing this up and plugging the fridge into a stock outlet inside the car when you are on the road.

 

Just make sure you carry a jump starter pack in case you kill the battery overnight. A stock car battery should be fine for just overnight use though.

Something cheap like this.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Stanley-500-Amp-Jump-Starter/14560016

 

That's true. I see what you mean.

Good idea! Good to have anyway I guess!

 

Get a deep cycle battery to wire the refrigerator to and charge via portable solar panel.

dry ice will be your best bang for the buck though.

 

That is true. Maybe I could put a styrofoam box with dry ice inside my YETI cooler to make the dry ice last longer.
I was thinking about selling the ARB freezer once I'm done with field season to hopefully make a lot of the money back. Not sure if that's a good plan yet.