Fridge and power

[Sargeoverland]

So I have never ran a fridge before, I’ve always just packed ice packs and ice as well as space was always a concern as well as power. I have a deep cell battery in the Jeep now. If I go out for one night and leave the fridge running. How much power should I expect
I plan on getting a solar set up to hopefully keep the battery topped off before I opt for a dual battery set up. But for the time being I’ll be solo battery. Thanks

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[BadA$$Rubi]

I recommend Dometic. Check out the reviews & specs. Great products. I designate the PLB40 battery just for the cooler and use the Jeep battery to charge PLB40 while driving. No issues with either. Not too big and fits well in the JLUR.

https://www.dometic.com/en-us/outdoor/coolers/electric-coolers/dometic-cfx3-45-220582

https://www.dometic.com/en-us/outdoor/mobile-power/portable-batteries/dometic-plb40-197468

https://www.dometic.com/en-us/outdoor/coolers/accessories/dometic--strap-kit-210125

 

[rohdawg]

A lot of the fridges out now have a safety function which will kill power to the fridge before it kills your battery.
How much power the fridge will use depends on too many variables to take a guess here.
What temp will you keep it at?
How big a fridge?
How often are you going in and out of it?

 

[Northridge4x4]

What fridge do you have?

With our Dometic and ARB fridges, we can let them run over one night without draining the battery dead. That is if the battery is in good condition, the fridge and its contents are at temp and it isn't super hot out.

A couple options to look at are add-on power packs to help extend the range of your fridge.

ARB Fridge Power Pack:
https://www.northridge4x4.com/part/accessories/10900050-arb-zero-fridge-freezer-portable-power-pack

Dometic Portable Power Pack:
https://www.northridge4x4.com/part/power-solutions/9600014024-dometic-portable-lithium-battery

 

[Reinen]

For how long the battery will last, you really need to test it and see. You can calculate how much run time the fridge has with the battery but the fridge only runs when it needs to cool down. So that doesn't really tell you much about how long it will last in real world use.

The temp you set the fridge to, the outside temp, and how often you open it all play a huge factor in how long your fridge will last on the battery. So it's really hard to predict.

One thing that did get me is recharge time. Try to minimize that. This summer I had one excursion in 100+ degree temps where I could not recharge the fridge battery fast enough. It was a constant battle between the fridge draining the battery vs how fast I could recharge it. A battle that was never really won. My fridge was at sub-optimal temps the entire trip and the battery never recharged to 100%.

My fridge peaks to 65w when starting up and levels off at 48w while running. I have an 85w charger that runs while the Jeep is running and a solar panel that provides 75w that I hook up when the Jeep is parked. It was never enough to bring my battery to 100% charge and keep the fridge cold day & night.

 

[JEEP4U]

I utilize the National Luna Dual zone 50qt fridge/freezer. Fridge and other camping accessories are plugged into my Aux battery, which is a 100Ah 12V LiFePO4 Battle Born; housed in a National Luna Aux Battery Box. The battery can be charge by JLU main battery, 180 watt solar panel (mounted to top of RTT) and shore power. The Power is managed with a RedArc Manager30.

 

[nismo1013]

I utilize the National Luna Dual zone 50qt fridge/freezer. Fridge and other camping accessories are plugged into my Aux battery, which is a 100Ah 12V LiFePO4 Battle Born; housed in a National Luna Aux Battery Box. The battery can be charge by JLU main battery, 180 watt solar panel (mounted to top of RTT) and shore power. The Power is managed with a RedArc Manager30.

I’m looking at this fridge as well. Were you able to mount and retain your rear seats? Pics would be much appreciated if you have any!

 

[wibornz]

So I Jeep traveled about 8 months this year with an ARB 47 qt fridge plugged into the Jeep with a direct line to the battery. The fridge will run approx three days with out an issue before it will turn itself off. This has been pretty consistent over the three years that we have been using the fridge. I have the insulated cover on my fridge also. Of course it was full of food and beverages 90% of the time as we lived out of the Jeep. I don't think you need a dual battery set up or solar on the Jeep to run the fridge. If you are out wheeling or driving the Jeep just about every day, you should have zero issues.

With that said, you have to buy a quality fridge. Think ARB or Dometic fridge. The ones that have traveled for extend times with us using $300 amazon type fridges end up with the fridges going into error mode and turning off or draining the battery in or about a day.

They teased me about spending the money on my fridge (more than my house fridge), but after the third, fourth or fifth time they were not teasing me anymore. One of them ended up switching to a Dometic fridge and selling the cheap amazon fridge. The other one just lets his Jeep idle for 45 minutes a day if he is not driving the Jeep that day.

 

[Adv_aw8s]

We have an iceco jp50 fridge in our jeep and I ran an arb fridge wiring harness directly from the battery. We have had zero issues with the fridge draining the jeep battery. The longest the jeep has sat with the fridge running has been 48hrs. Typically we are exploring with the jeep daily. I would definitely recommend wiring the fridge directly from the battery and not using the cigarette lighter plug, to alleviate any excess power draw.

 

[Vinman]

So I Jeep traveled about 8 months this year with an ARB 47 qt fridge plugged into the Jeep with a direct line to the battery. The fridge will run approx three days with out an issue before it will turn itself off. This has been pretty consistent over the three years that we have been using the fridge. I have the insulated cover on my fridge also. Of course it was full of food and beverages 90% of the time as we lived out of the Jeep. I don't think you need a dual battery set up or solar on the Jeep to run the fridge. If you are out wheeling or driving the Jeep just about every day, you should have zero issues.

With that said, you have to buy a quality fridge. Think ARB or Dometic fridge. The ones that have traveled for extend times with us using $300 amazon type fridges end up with the fridges going into error mode and turning off or draining the battery in or about a day.

They teased me about spending the money on my fridge (more than my house fridge), but after the third, fourth or fifth time they were not teasing me anymore. One of them ended up switching to a Dometic fridge and selling the cheap amazon fridge. The other one just lets his Jeep idle for 45 minutes a day if he is not driving the Jeep that day.

I agree 100%.
Using a quality, efficient fridge is no problem with the stock single battery.
I have an Engel that I purchased in 2003 and have only drained the battery once after forgetting it was still plugged in the Jeep while it sat in the garage for about 6 days.

 

[Willing&Able]

For peace of mind, I just plug my Dometic into a Jackery 1000. It will run it for days and I keep the Jackery topped off with solar panel. Worst case I can run the Jeep to charge the jackery faster than the fridge can drain it - but I've never had to do this.

Plus I can plug tons of other gadgets into the Jackery - awning lights, phones/tablets, speakers, etc.

 

[Left Field]

Just finished some power testing of my 50Qt Snomaster fridge which uses the Secop compressor (same as the Dometic & ARB?). In an 8 hour room temperature test set to 37F in ECO mode it used about 0.6 Amp-hours per hour.

To simulate hotter ambient (86F) I lowered its set temperature to 21F; it then consumed ~1.0 Amp-hour per hour.

For a 12 hour over-night in camp running off a healthy condition Jeep battery that shouldn't be a problem.
That said, the idea of being in the boondocks with a dead battery doesn't sit well with me, hence a small 23AH LiFePo battery and DC-DC charger. Depending on ambient temperatures it should run my fridge for up to 36 hours.
The charger is set up to run off the Aux 4 switch only when the engine is on. On the fast charge setting it takes about 3hrs to charge a fully depleted battery.

 

[GED]

I have an ICECO VL35 fridge (also with the robust SECOP compressor) with a power station and solar panel.
I have always kept the power station, fridge & other accessories completely independent of the main starting jeep battery.
Solar Panel permanently mounted on the roof: that way, I am driving? power station is charging. Am I parked? power station is still charging without having me to do anything.

I noticed that the fridge pulls ~45W intermitently of the DC output.

I started with a small 100W solar panel and a smaller battery.
I went to a 200W rigid framed solar panel, and this setup worked well.
The highest I recorded in summer was 111 Watts coming in into the power station.

I now have 2 x 175W flexible solar panels (they are a bit worse than the rigid ones for efficiency, but so much flatter, and I have height constraints).
The highest I have seen so far in February has been ~167 watts (vs the 350W capacity).

Plan for your solar panels to deliver 1/2 of their ratings.

 

[JINO]

I don't like the idea of my fridge being powered by my car battery, so I bring portable battery (jackery or ecoflow).
Peace of mind knowing my jeep will start up in the morning.

Plus I can leave the fridge behind at my camp to offroad. Or bring the fridge with me to the beach, along with the battery.

I have a smaller dometic, but considering a larger bougeRV fridge. Good reviews and the price is good.

Currently, my dometic fridge will run 2 days off my jackery 500, and 4 days on my ecoflow delta 2. I have solar panels for both, so if it's sunny, I can go weeks. The ecoflow 220 watt panel is very efficient, getting 190 watts usually if I aim it good.

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