Portable Fridge Question

This is what you want to do.

Mine is connected to the aux battery (under the hood) with ~22 feet of 8 gauge zipwire, fused at both ends. One of these days I'm going to remove that idiotic usb plug and replace it with another cigarette lighter style socket.

My 65 qt. SnoMaster (LP61) fridge has been running in the back of my truck, non-stop since March 2020, with zero issues.

Btw, this is not MY mod... I copied it from another thread here on TW.

 

I didn't add the voltmeter since it would be off a bit due to the length of the run but the cigarette adapter is perfect for my fridge. And I permanently mounted the anderson connector for my battery/inverter box. Super easy to do and very useful.

 

Bear in mind that a lot of fridges won't run off the regular 12v lighter output.

 

Oh really? Why is that?

 

WHA? every 12v fridge i've seen will?

 

what product is everyone using for the 12v lighter output... having issues with this POS i got on Amazon. i think its only 10amp and it pops those fuses like no tomorrow. to top it off its loose as a goose and wont fit snuggly.

 

is this why my dometic cfx75dzw will only run on emergency mode while on 12v power but will run perfectly fine when i run it off my inverter? i use a 12v 100amph renogy lifepo4 battery, then a this noico 12v hardwire plg

$10 NOCO GC018 15A 14AWG 12V Adapter, Heavy-Duty Cigarette Lighter Plug, and Female Socket with Eyelet Terminals

https://www.amazon.com/NOCO-GC018-Adapter-Socket-Terminal/dp/B00G8WLW2Y and then the factory 12v dometic plug into that. the fridge also wont run 12v power unless on emergency mode when hooked up to a bluetti battery either.

id rather not have to take it to a dometic service shop since theres only 1 in my area and their shop rate is $80/hr

 

What mode do you have it set on? It’s probably the default low voltage shutdown on high. Change that and you should be fine.

 

I’ve used the arb kit and made my own with stuff from blue sea. Both are good quality and never had an issue.

 

when i have it on the inverter i set it to low, so it should work all the way down to 10.1v and my charge controller is set to hold the battery at 14.2v. when i switch it back to 12v power it wont work and when its on emergency mode the buttons, display screen and wifi remote app wont work, so im not sure if it still set to low. when on emergency mode the freezer side works at full blast.

 

Running off the lighter inside the cab is probably the best for your application. However, keep in mind that it is not always powered on the 3rd gens. Once you turn off the truck, the fridge will turn off too if plugged in there.

If you want the fridge to remain on you'll have to run a dedicated line to it, which isn't difficult at all. Someone mentioned buying the NOCO kit. It's definitely an option, though it's a bit bulky and you'll also need to get the extension for it. A bigger concern personally is how to feed that into the cab without messing up the boot where the wire should go through.

This is the setup I run with:

$50 Dometic HWK-DC Hardwiring Kit

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07WSXYCR6?_encoding=UTF8

 

One cheap way to setup a permanent power is to buy a 12v extension cord, chop off the male and and wire it up direct.

$22 NOCO GC019 15A 14AWG 12V Adapter, Heavy-Duty Cigarette Lighter Plug, and Male to Female Socket With 12-Foot Extension Cord

https://www.amazon.com/NOCO-GC019-12-Foot-Adapter-Extension/dp/B00G8WLX14

 

This is an interesting setup. Could provided in more detail how you assemble this setup?

 

i like it. only thing is i would have to run it off my fuse block i added instead of straight from the battery

 

Amazon is selling the Blue Sea panel for 35% off right now (down to 40 bucks).

$40 Blue Sea Systems 4363 Water-Resistant Accessory Panels, 15A Circuit Breaker, 12V Socket, 2.1A Dual USB Charger

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PP1TML3?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details. I'm a fan of it.

 

It's an Ampere Time LiFePo4 battery (200aH 12v) connected to a duracell 3000watt inverter (modifed sine wave but it's been good enough). It's charged by a redarc bcdc1240 (from truck and/or solar). I used some wood and steel to hold it steady in the plano box, then sprayed expanding foam to keep it rigid and protect it while wheeling. The inverter alone was too big to be mounted practically anywhere in the truck. Now it lives in the garage unless I need it and I put it in the bed. I installed a 2AWG (overkill but limited on what size wire I could find) from the main battery to the little cubby in the bed. This way I can connect the truck power to the redarc charger and charge the lifepo battery according redarc's charging schedule. Another solid plus to redarc is the additional solar with green priority. I have a 200w panel I connect when we're camping. It's worked out really well and gives me the ability to power just about anything. I could even run my table saw for a LONG time with this if needed. The pics attached are the "dry fit test" and the wiring has been cleaned up / organized since.

 

This is the same Blue Sea panel I run my ARB off of. Flawless performance and has been subject to Utah snow, ice, rain, desert dust (SO MUCH dust) and vibration for several years now. Never an issue.

 

Another place to look that I’ve been happy with is powerwerx

https://powerwerx.com/panel-mounts

 

It’s a good thing forum’s exists.

 

For Ops goal if he’s running 16 feet he’d get a 1/2 volt drop with 12 awg at 84 watts starting current. He might hit his low voltage cutoff sooner than desired. 8 awg would be ideal. For the 50 amp load 2 awg is still a 3% drop so that’s a reasonable setup.