Powering a Fridge

I have a dual battery setup. Now, I do like the idea of a Jackery. I have a Jackery 240 for charging electronics. I did a test that over night, that little thing will power my 42L fridge for about 8 hours! My one worry about an expensive Jackery is if it got stolen. I'd make sure it's well tied down.

The advantage to the dual battery is the auxiliary battery is always charged, ready to go. I did this for camping, but I use the fridge a lot. Turn it on, it's at 32 degrees within five minutes.

 

I'm going to give it a whirl this summer with an ecoflow delta 2. My initial test I should get 3.5 days of run time based on it empty not pre cooled and regularly opening it throughout the day. Granted it wasn't hot where it was tested but should be a decent baseline. I do have an ecoflow 200w panel as a power supplement as I regularly camp in one spot for extended times.
Beyond excited to be ice free this summer.

 

Yeah this was just an "oh crap" need for a short use. But I ended up getting 8AWG and ran it to the back seat. I can tap into that when I run it to the bed now too! Thanks, Toyota, for waiting until the 4th gen to run 12V to the bed

Absolutely. I've seen the blankets work wonders, I don't have one yet. That's a double edged sword for me, I have a 100W solar panel up top. So, the more sun/heat there is, the more juice I get from that! I just got back from a trip where I was parked starting Saturday around 2PM until Monday around 2PM and it started lickity split. Granted, it did get down to about 25 at nights, so it wasn't working that hard.

And depends on the temperature set too. If I'm just cooling down beers, 45 is plenty cool. If I have ice cream in there, that's a different story

The Dometic I have has a Hi med lo option for cutoff.
Right now, I am on the stock battery and have a jump pack if needed.
Once this battery kicks it (it's already almost 5 years old), I'm going up to an AGM which should be more than enough.
Bonus points, the MPPT controller can get the voltage high enough for the AGM so I don't have to touch the ECU tune to pump out a higher voltage for the battery.

 

Not sure if I posted on this thread or not -
I too love my Dometic and Jackery setup.
Ice is a pain in the azz to deal with and this Dometic rocks.

Very basic 'platform' for the Access Cab and the Jackery sets on the other side.

The fridge is powered via 12v to the battery ( ignition only ) via a port under the cubby with a notch so the wires
slip in there sweet.

Then when the truck is off the Dometic switches over to the Jackery.







Should I need to, the 200 Watt Solar Panels hook up via the sliding window in the back for re-charging the Jackery if electricity isn't available.





Got Nukes?.... come at me - I can hook up the little camper and load up some water and dry-goods and go far into the woods and live as well
or better than a lot of people do at there homes.

 

I am getting ready to upgrade the OEM battery to an AGM and swap out my 12V plug in the bed to an Anderson connector. I have had issues with the 12V "cigarette" adapter coming loose and dropping power on the cooler using my power station (EcoFlow River Pro 2).

I was planning to use one of my EF 160W solar panels to keep the battery topped off when camping. What would be a good MPPT to use? I am thinking initially to just use alligator clips to the battery to make sure everything works as expected and then mounting permanent in the engine bay once I am sure it will works. I started down the power station road, and while it works, I don't trust the cigarette adapter any longer so I need to come up with another option. Thanks for the help and info!

 

That's good to know for the bed.
I have mine kind of janky in the rear under seat cubby. But, it turns out, there's a hole exactly the size of the 12V plug there....
I have a video of me closing the door. No this is not good. But it's not BAD. It holds it in.


But I will likely be wanting to go to an Anderson connector for the bed anyway, so I might be changing this up. I was thinking about those, so it's good to have input that the regular 12V is no bueno.

I use a 100W panel and it keeps up with a Dometic 45L, and a few others have done the same. Single battery - mine is currently stock and doing fine, but will be going to AGM when it dies.

I might see if I can spin it to be along the truck, so the passenger side can hold my J bars again. But this was fit perfectly, and I wanted to get it up there ASAP for a trip this past weekend. I don't need it until mid May now, so I have some time to rework it.

So, DO NOT GET THIS ONE. Not because it's bad, but because the max PV input is 120W.

Allto Solar Intelligent 10A MPPT Solar Charge Controller,10 Amp 12 Volt Solar Panel Regulator with Digital LCD Display + Temp Sensor + Charging Level for 12 Volt Wet Gel AGM Lithium LiFePO4 Battery

https://www.amazon.com/Intelligent-MPPT-Solar-Controller-Connectors/dp/B09F697FBV?th=1

This is the one I have. I got it with a 20W panel last year to keep my battery topped up since it was failing with my short commutes (only 1.5 miles) and the alternator couldn't keep up. Once I got the fridge I just swapped it to a 100W panel using the same MPPT.

I like it, it works, it does great things. But it won't work for your panel. They have another 20A one on their Amazon store, I'd look at that one.

Putting a ring terminal connector takes about 45 seconds, I'd say that's worth the hassle.

This is really good to know. I was considering getting a Jackery as a backup for a 1.5 week trip I have this summer. I'll keep this in mind and see if I can make the connection better.

 

^^ Some great setups here! If you removed a couple of your cross bars you could drop that panel down lower and have the remaining cross bars still available to put stuff on. Whatever else you put up there would obscure sun from the panel so it couldn’t be permanent, but it’s nice having a spot to temporarily put a kayak, a piece of furniture, or whatever.

Mine is secured into the side slots instead of the crossbar, instead of the top, with t-slot L brackets and the Renogy solar panel brackets.

 

Interested in more info about this?
Looking to do exactly this today except I have an eco flow for my dometic

 

I use the current 12v cig lighter plug to power my hand-held brake controller.


I had a shop rig another 12v connection under the rear cubby ( access cab ) and notch a slot so I can run
the cord into it. That connection runs under the carpet through the firewall to the battery. It's 'turned-on'
when the truck is running and powers the Dometic while driving.

When I stop for extended periods ( ie: to camp etc ) it's no longer powering the Dometic so I turn on the Jackery
to do the job.

The setup works well we were out for 5 days and it held up well. Worse case is I can re-juice the jackery with electricity
if available or flop out the solar panels and give it a boost up to re-charge it.

 

Jackery setup:

 

Cool!

I'll look at it. I think I have to unbolt it anyway since I didn't plan ahead and want to turn it 90 deg so I can chuck a kayak up on the rack, it's only the reason I bought the roof rack and all....

 

Got the fridge and delta 2 in the other week.
Did a bit of testing with the solar while I was out there, I was able to get 160 watts of charge on a low sun afternoon. Dropped to 80 with any cloud cover as long as it's not horribly overcast I should have ample supplemental power for my longer trips when I'm parked in 1 spot for a few days

 

I chose to run the fridge directly off a 500W power station via it's DC port and feed the powerstation from the truck's 120V outlet. It's able to easily keep the fridge below freezing and the power station fully charged up while moving. I chose that route because I sometimes forget to turn on the truck's AC when I drive off which screws up my whole power/cooling scheme. I know could use the low voltage cutoff and run directly off the truck's battery (I also carry a jump starter) but I don't care to cycle the truck battery like that when there's other options nearby plus I don't like relying on the fridge's cutoff circuitry to protect my battery. I usually run the fridge on the cold side when there's AC available and dial it back when I'm stopped overnight. One thing to consider when running off DC that's wired into the bed is the voltage drop that can occur depending on the wire gauge being used. It can be significant with sub optimal gauge wiring which amounts to allot of waste when there's not much to waste. The fridge blanket noticeably reduced the compressor's cycling. I also keep the fridge is inside the cab when moving where it's much cooler plus I can easily grab an icy cold drink without stopping. I plan to wire in a 100W solar panel also. Mostly for extended stays but I suspect I'll be able to detach completely from the truck's electrical system all the time with a 500W power station and a 100W panel.

With the intense sun around here solar is a really good way to supplement the system. Many years in the electrical industry taught me a great lesson, eliminating small inefficiencies in the system can lead to significant improvements in the overall system efficiency.

 

Don't believe I saw this first product earlier in the thread but I love it. Here is my setup, I hope it helps.

1. 400w Anytime Mod - let's you run 400w through the AC plug in the bed even when driving. Before this, my battery would ask for 300w and shut down the inverter that could only offer 100w. About $45, I also got a 120v AC plug that I installed in the cab, passenger foot well. Plugs right in.
https://caliraisedled.com/products/400w-anytime-wiring-harness

2. I have two power stations, the more recent one I purchased is a modest 612wh unit from Pecron. I wanted something that small (but no smaller) because I have a 2,048wh unit that is not very portable).

I chose the Pecron based on price and input speed. It can charge up at 400w, but unfortunately they only send you a 300w charger, and it is an external brick.

Paid about $275 after price watching for a few months. $329 normal price isn't bad.

Disclaimer: my charging brick died after a single charge. I contacted them and had a new charger in a week. It's worked well over many weeks of use.

3. I have a dual zone BougeRV fridge that runs around 40-60w. The battery gives me 18-48 hours of fridge time depending on ambient temperature. With some relatively minimal idling or driving around, the battery charges up 6 times faster than it discharges, full in about 2.5 hours from 0. Paid about $225 for the fridge. Great for the price.

4. I don't always plan to idle or drive, so I got a 160w portable folding solar panel from Ecoflow's eBay store. I found they sell 'refurbished' units on eBay for an amazing price when they appear to just be returns or something. Mine is flawless, looks and works as if brand new. Paid $145.

All in my setup cost me about $700 for battery, fridge, solar panel, and inverter upgrade.

Admittedly this is a newer setup for me, everything was acquired over the holidays. On my previous trip I had taken my large 2,048wh battery and a smaller single zone fridge I like but don't love. I think the new setup is going to be a lot easier to deal with, i.e. new battery is 20lb vs the 70lb of the other one. Portable solar is also going to be great.

 

Took a different approach. I'm still considering the dual battery set up in the future, but not convinced the design is ideal. After reading other stories that the added weight of 2 batteries in the factory location has caused the metal to tear, I opted for a more solid solution, for now.

Using a deep cycle battery and a smart battery box. Both the cooler and battery at strapped to the floor in the bed of my truck. The box has anderson connectors and so does my power cord to the cooler. I have a batter selector switch that allows me to power the cooler from the main truck battery when I'm driving or, from the deep cycle when parked. The deep cycle does not charge when the truck is running. It has a NOCO charger mounted on the box that I plug in at home. For me this set up works as I'm not off the grid for several days at a time.

 

I did a small experiment. Friday afternoon before the long weekend, I loaded up a room-temp Dometic CFF45 with room-temp water. I parked in the sun, and set it to 34°F. I have a 100W solar panel and an X2Power 27F AGM. I dropped a temperature logger in there to keep an eye on it. I did not move the truck (no ignition) until this morning, May 29 around 8AM (where the data cuts off anyway). I let the fridge bring everything in there down to temp. Picture of what was loaded in there (all water/iced tea cans) down under too. Parked in my driveway which gets a decent amount of sun through the day.

3 things plotted

• Black is ambient outside temp (didn't have a way to record truck cab temperature)
• Red is fridge temp
• Blue is set temp 34°F

All this to say I am quite happy with the solar and 27F for a "park up and sit for a week" camp approach. Cycling in water instead of air to keep thermal mass will be crucial.

Thanks everyone for the help I've asked along the way to get this set up. This will be a game changer

 

Would be interesting to see voltage on that plot too

 

Yeah, I don't have that capability right now. If you or anyone wants to lend me a data logger for battery voltage, I'm happy to run this again over the 4th of July weekend.

This is what I used for temperatures

$15 SwitchBot IP65 Indoor Outdoor Hygrometer Thermometer Wireless, 394ft Bluetooth Range, Refrigerator Thermometer, Dewpoint/VPD/Absolute Humidity Sensor, Free Data Storage Export, 2 Years Battery Life

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BVLYPYT1?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

I'm happy as a clam with mine too. I set mine on a platform in the rear of my Access Cab and had some dudes
wire up a 12-v connection ( ignition only to the battery ) under one of the jump seats. Jackery 1000 Pro runs the
Dometic when not driving otherwise the 12-v takes over. We did a 5-day trip last summer ( Arizona heat!! ) and it
was great. Planning a Grand Canyon trip in a few weeks.

Not having to deal with ice is great. We load up small tupperware 'meals' for 2 and stack them up along with room
for drinks and it works like a champ. We don't have to 'cook' we just heat up the good stuff.





Enough room exists to drop the Jump Seat and stack some of these HDX storage boxes with dry goods, coffee beans,
grinders, etc. I think I can stack 3 of those on the seat.

 

I do have one of these, but I should also just set up all my stuff and I can do the same test. I have everything but wiring stuff up is boring and easy to procrastinate on