Car Camping / Trip Reports / Photos / Buildouts / “Overland” / Expedition Rigs Area (homeless?)

Haha, I would still need a little ice for the margs. Maybe some ice trays in the bottom!

 

My fridge is connected to a deep cycle battery that is rated for 96 Amp hours, it cost about $100. The fridge will use power from the aux battery as needed. It cycles the compressor on and off just like your house fridge does at home because it has a thermostat and monitors internal temperature.

I recently monitored power usage during one of our last trips. From June 19, 2015 to June 27, 2015 (let's call it 8-full days), the fridge consumed 2.59 Kilowatt hours, or 214.3 Amp Hours. Average temps were in the 90's during the day, and low 70's at night. Although crossing the San Joaquin valley was 100's for hours.

Yeah, if you need ice, you need ice. Nice to have too if someone gets bumped on the head too.

 

How well do the fridges hold in the cold? If you don't run them overnight while parked (for those with only a single battery), does the food stay cold enough?

 

Depends on where you are. If you're in a place where it's cool, they stay super cold being off all night. If you're in a hot place like the desert, what I do is throw the smallest bag of ice that I can find in there and it does great. This is until I go dual battery set up

 

Most quality fridges like the ARB have a low voltage monitor that shuts the fridge down if the battery drains too low.

 

What's really nice about the ARB that I have is that is has an integrated low voltage switch (LVS). On the ARB it's programmable (hi / med / low). So you can leave the fridge hooked up to a starting battery, and the fridge will run and run for days and then just turn off if the battery gets low, so you'll still be able to start your rig.

 

Exactly!!!

 

I have an older style ARB fridge and I unplug it at night. It still keeps things cold through the night. There is a bit of temperature loss but they are typically insulated better than just about any cooler other than maybe a Yeti so they'll stay cool well. The newer ARB is even better than my old one.


If you aren't scared of spending a little money the National Luna fridge is the best one out there IMO. Excellent insulation and the stainless exterior is durable. The thing that is cool about the NL fridge is that there are cooling panels around all 4 sides of the compartment instead of just one side like most other brands. This means they cool down much faster and stay cooler longer.

 

I leave mine plugged in overnight. Have never come close to draining the battery enough to cause a noticeable difference in starting.

 

The national Luna fridges are excellent from everything I've seen. They have a really neat story about how they came about too from Johannesburg, South Africa: http://www.nationalluna.com/about_us.htm

 

Cool, thanks for the info. Think I'm going to have to add a fridge to the list of things I "need."

Any recommendations for mid-range models I should look at? I wouldn't use it enough to justify the cost of one like the ARB, but something in the $200ish range would be reasonable.

 

IMO you'll be hard pressed to find a quality fridge in the $200 range. The cheaper ones will have more power drain and won't cool as well and are more prone to failure. You'll be much better off in the long run to save your money a bit longer and get something like an ARB or a Waeco. Otherwise I think you're throwing good money after bad. I would watch the classifieds for a used ARB, Engel, Waeco etc as you can save some money on a used one but a fridge isn't something I'd go cheap on.

 

Bought my 50qt Waeco for $600. They make the fridges for ARB.

 

http://www.adventureparents.com/blo...ying-a-fridgefreezer-for-your-truck-or-camper

 

I use walmart coolers. I camped for 19 days last month (not consecutive) and always had cold food. Pro tip: You can fit an entire deer inside of a Coleman 62qt cooler if you bone it out. I freeze water bottles and put a layer of them in the bottom, they last about a week and along the way you get drinking water.

Edit: I suppose my method wouldn't work as well on the great adventures you guys go on to South America and whatnot, but it works for me and I spend a lot of time in the woods.

 

I actually had to talk mine into it for our trailer, and I also used the argument that it can provide excess freezer space in the garage at any time, especially holidays and stuff (leaving out the part where it was mainly to keep a 12 pack of Racer 5 cold and ready at all times.

After our 12-day Utah trip, she was sold on it, as she was when we got boxes of Omaha Steaks from her folks for Christmas...

 

Sorry to butt in everyone. Just wanted to let you know the new Nvision Overland tshirts are now in stock and ready to ship!!

 

My lady's response to the fridge idea was "If you think it'd be a good investment, go for it. "

Rad!

 

That's awesome. My lady told me I should move into my truck.

 

I'm not afraid.