Fridge dilemma(s)

[frogger2020]

That's my fear. I won't ever be more than two days from ice in an emergency...do I care? To be totally honest, one day from ice.

If you are that close to ice, then go with a roto molded cooler. I went with a Cascade Mountain from Costco and couldn’t be happier. Much cheaper than a Yeti and just as good.

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[srt20]

We have that exact IceCo 45. Its great. It does exactly what its supposed to do. I hate messing with ice or "cold packs". They take up room or melt. Ive had Yeti's, RTIC's, cheaper coolers, and IMO they all suck. The fridge's are 100 times better.
When we first got ours I left it plugged in for 7 days at 0*F to make sure it worked. And it did.
We use it on every trip. I have an outlet in all 3 of our vehicles. We just got back from a 7 day trip yesterday. Had it in my truck bed, never unplugged or turned off.
It uses 42 watts while running. I haven't checked the size of the vehicles batteries, but I've used it 2 days without starting the vehicle so far. No problem.
They do have battery voltage protection. So if battery volts drop below a certain threshold the fridge will turn off to save vehicle battery for starting. I have ours set at medium and haven't hit it yet.
I like the metal case look, but its also my only complaint. It dents kinda easy. Not a big deal to me, but just a FYI.

I doubt I'll ever go back to a traditional cooler. We are a family of 4.

 

[srt20]

BTW they go on sale often, or they did. Might be getting to popular for that now.
I got ours for $413 shipped during Black Friday last year.

 

[mnjeeper]

If you are that close to ice, then go with a roto molded cooler. I went with a Cascade Mountain from Costco and couldn’t be happier. Much cheaper than a Yeti and just as good.

At this point, my time off is precious. If I end up wasting half a day to get ice so my steaks live, or replacing food when they got too warm...I would wish I had a fridge.

BTW they go on sale often, or they did. Might be getting to popular for that now.
I got ours for $413 shipped during Black Friday last year.

Gracias, I have a reason to look forward to BF! Not something most hunt for, I may get a deal. Good idea.

 

[Joe98]

I have a camper and my wife and I can go 2-4 days easy.

How do you power your fridge?

 

[One_off]

How do you power your fridge?

I have a small goal zero battery bank that can run it 3 days, or I can take a larger one I built and can run it 11days. You could easily run it over night on the jeep battery with no issue.

 

[alksion]

I just purchased a Dometic CFX55 IM.

I bought an offbrand 55 L fridge from Amazon a few months back. The very first trip I was lifting it into the car, the handle bracket sheared and snapped right off. Everything fell out of the fridge. I told my wife, “this is why I don’t buy cheap shit.“

I had to haggle with the seller, but got a full refund. I think there are many cases a standard cooler makes sense. I have a small 22 L yeti that works for day trips and situations I just want to pack light.

One advantage of the fridge is being able to store everything for our trip inside of the fridge. Even if it’s a short trip, you can still store all of your drinks and don’t have to keep filling it back up. As usual there’s not a one size fits all, but I think even for weekend trips the fridge is my go to choice.

 

[nsfw_andy]

BTW they go on sale often, or they did. Might be getting to popular for that now.
I got ours for $413 shipped during Black Friday last year.

How well does the VL45 fit in the back of the jeep? Is there enough room to fit it vertically from the backseat to the tailgate, or do you have to have it stored sideways?

 

[mnjeeper]

I just purchased a Dometic CFX55 IM.

I bought an offbrand 55 L fridge from Amazon a few months back. The very first trip I was lifting it into the car, the handle bracket sheared and snapped right off. Everything fell out of the fridge. I told my wife, “this is why I don’t buy cheap shit.“

I had to haggle with the seller, but got a full refund. I think there are many cases a standard cooler makes sense. I have a small 22 L yeti that works for day trips and situations I just want to pack light.

One advantage of the fridge is being able to store everything for our trip inside of the fridge. Even if it’s a short trip, you can still store all of your drinks and don’t have to keep filling it back up. As usual there’s not a one size fits all, but I think even for weekend trips the fridge is my go to choice.

This is exactly why I think biting the bullet and buying end game. I don't mind cans and bottles in melted ice, HATE food there. You know one bag will leak. I'll likely get a smaller, but quality fridge and bring a drink cooler on long trips.

 

[alksion]

This is exactly why I think biting the bullet and buying end game. I don't mind cans and bottles in melted ice, HATE food there. You know one bag will leak. I'll likely get a smaller, but quality fridge and bring a drink cooler on long trips.

Only downside is my fridge doesn’t fit in the trailer but I’ll just store it in the back of the Jeep instead.

 

[srt20]

How well does the VL45 fit in the back of the jeep? Is there enough room to fit it vertically from the backseat to the tailgate, or do you have to have it stored sideways?

It fits front to back. We've never had it side to side, takes up to much room that way, IMO. We also have a thicker tailgate table. I forget the name but its the 2 level table. Anyway, with it tight to backseat it needs to be pulled out an inch to open lid. We usually keep it closer to backseat than the tailgate so the fridge and table dont start rattling together.
Its a good fit, tight but plenty fine for air movement.

 

[LooselyHeldPlans]

What risk?

Pure electrical porn right there. I'm about to jump off the deep end and this is beautiful. Do you have a build thread?

Hi there Vince, you are one of the lucky ones. It is very rare to see these last more than a few years in extreme conditions. Having it plugged in most of the time is one of the contributing factors of it lasting.

What?? I've never heard of one failing. I've got a 15 and 43 liter and used them for years very sporadically. Never had an issue.

As the other poster said, this is not a common opinion of Engle

 

[OllieChristopher]

Pure electrical porn right there. I'm about to jump off the deep end and this is beautiful. Do you have a build thread?



What?? I've never heard of one failing. I've got a 15 and 43 liter and used them for years very sporadically. Never had an issue.

As the other poster said, this is not a common opinion of Engle

I'm going off my purley anecdotal experience of seeing more of them them fail in the field than not. And this is every brand portable cooler across the board. YMMV.....

I purchase cheap and replace as needed. And my warranty is a 3 year replacement with no hidden "exceptions of use".

The Engle has a 3 year limited warranty and costs 6 time more. No doubt there are a bunch of happy customers. I'm just not willing to gamble with such a short warranty vs cost.

Now the Dual Battery setup. I did this myself and unfortunately my build thread is not the best:

https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/dual-battery-install-05-gmc-sierra-with-pics.221460/

 

[GSLSE21B]

My 600$ dometic CFX3 45 has been running since may non-stop with zero issues . Usage monitor states .5ah/h for its life to date . It is running off a DIY lifepo4 280ah battery

 

[dpike]

Pure electrical porn right there. I'm about to jump off the deep end and this is beautiful. Do you have a build thread?

simplicity works best. look into the west mountain radio epic powergate. it works as a charge and solar charge controller. beautiful simple device.

there's a 700mah battery in the orange box that the powergate connects to with an anderson plug. on the powergate there's connectors for accessory lines and there's whatever you need on the battery box as well.

i actually revised that panel a bit and added a relay to a dash switch to shut down charging from there if i wanted to and i changed the fuse to a double mini ANL block and 40amp fuses. the panel disconnects from the battery lines and switch line with 45amp anderson connectors for i can pull the whole thing from the jeep without turning a screw.
Mini Block - this is shockingly small
40Amp Mini ANL

i have a ICECO fridge and slider that i couldn't be happier with that's lived in the back of my wife's jeep for almost a year with no issues.

i can clip pictures of the revised panel if you're interested.

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