Portable Camping Refrigerator

[Chadrad]

Is anyone here using one of the portable camping refrigerator in there Wrangler for camping? Something like the Bougerv, ARB, Dometic or any of the other brands out there. I have been researching for awhile now and I would like to get some real world feedback on how well they work, how efficient they really are and will it kill my battery if I leave it plugged in when the Jeep isn't running? I have read a lot of reviews on the different brands that say they won't kill the battery, but then I ran into a gentlemen with an ARB and he told me that his will kill the battery if he doesn't watch it.
Thanks for your feedback.

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[acheron800]

I have the new bouge rv dual cooler/freezer.

It's great, it supposedly has built in battery draw protection and automatically turns off. Ihaven't tested the function yet and don't really plan to.

It was a smoking deal compared to the ARBs and the like.

BougeRV 12 Volt Car Refrigerator Dual-System & Dual-Zone Aspen 30, Portable Freezer Fridge, Quick Freeze to -9 °F with IceDrive,32L (34QT) Compressor Freezer(Battery not included) https://a.co/d/5lZ29il

 

[Adv_aw8s]

I have an iceco jp50 that we run in the back of the jeep. It's amazing not having soggy food or worrying about ice. I ran a dedicated run from the battery to the fridge. I've had the jeep sit for two days with the fridge running with no issues. Typically we are driving the jeep everyday while camping to go explore etc. I have yet to have a problem with the fridge plugged into the jeep while it sits for 12-14 hrs overnight etc til we get up and going the next day to explore.

 

[Ratbert]

We've got a Dometic CD30 in the back of ours. It's not huge, but is big enough for us and draws very little power.

Note that if you power a fridge from the Aux switches they'll turn off before the battery gets too low.

 

[Vinman]

I have an old Engel fridge/freezer that I bought almost 21 years ago. It’s been running off 12v or 115v for about 90% of the time since new. It’s been all over Canada and the western states, a half dozen trips to Moab and on hundreds of trail runs in Alberta in an open top Jeep keeps on chugging away.

 

[CableDaddy]

Is anyone here using one of the portable camping refrigerator in there Wrangler for camping? Something like the Bougerv, ARB, Dometic or any of the other brands out there. I have been researching for awhile now and I would like to get some real world feedback on how well they work, how efficient they really are and will it kill my battery if I leave it plugged in when the Jeep isn't running? I have read a lot of reviews on the different brands that say they won't kill the battery, but then I ran into a gentlemen with an ARB and he told me that his will kill the battery if he doesn't watch it.
Thanks for your feedback.

I used to have a 63QT ARB series 1 and it ran flawlessly for a few years and I never had an issue with it killing my battery. I had it set to turn off before draining the battery too much but despite that it never remotely got close. Now I have a 101QT dual zone ARB for 3+ day trips, or if I’m feeding several people, and an Alpicool CF45 for 1-2 day trips. Both have low voltage protection and haven’t caused me any problems yet. Both seem to just sip power.

 

[Av8Chuck]

I don’t know how big my Dometic fridge/freezer is but as others have said, I’ve never had an issue with it draining the battery in the three years i’ve used it.

 

[Atomic5]

I have the BougeRV CRPRO 30. Really impressed with the performance. I use a portable power station that kicks in when the Jeep is not running.

 

[Captain Tuttle]

I have the BougeRV CRPRO 30. Really impressed with the performance. I use a portable power station that kicks in when the Jeep is not running.

what brand/model cargo mat is that? Looks great!

 

[wibornz]

I have a 47qt ARB fridge in my Jeep. It is in the Jeep 95% of the time. There are times that it is on in the Jeep for up to 9 months or so. I have been doing this with the ARB fridge for four years. We travel a lot. Like we leave in 5 days for 8+ months of Jeep travel. The fridge will be on the entire time. The fridge is wired directly to the battery. It has been in the Jeep in all types of weather. Extreme cold, like below zero to extreme hot like 115 degrees in the Summer in places like Arizona, Nevada, Utah and so on. My fridge has as three power setting. Low, medium and high. These settings determine at what battery voltage the fridge will turn its self off so the Jeep will still have enough battery power to start.

I have found over the years, that the Jeep can sit for about three days in the summer before the ARB fridge turns itself off. In colder temps, it can easily go four or five days. The fridge is pretty efficient.

I do not run a duel battery set up. When I see that the fridge has turned off, I can let the Jeep idle for a while. We use the Jeep almost every day, so the Jeep while driving always tops the battery back off.

I have friends that have bought cheap 12v fridges and they have to start their jeeps everyday to keep their fridge out of error mode. Error mode is when the vehicle battery gets low enough the fridge turns off.

I cry once buy once. Buy a nice fridge if you are going to do it. ARB and Domestic are the types I would consider buying if you plan to use it a lot like I do. They will stand up to the pounding out on the trail and all the vibration from being in a vehicle. They will also still operate at odd angles that will cause other fridges to turn off or not function correctly.

Also if you are worried about it, you can alway buy something like a Jackery to plug the fridge into and then plug the Jackery into the Jeep while the Jeep is running. My jackery will run run the fridge for several day too. The Jeep can charge the Jackery up as you drive too while still being hooked to the fridge. If you buy the solar panels, you can use the panels to keep the Jackery charge and the fridge powered as a bonus.

 

[Atomic5]

what brand/model cargo mat is that? Looks great!

Quadratec Tru-Fit cargo liner part# 14259-1104. Looks like they are on sale right now. Some descriptions say it's for the unlimited, but it also fits the 2-door perfect with seat removed. I trimmed the lip facing the tailgate to make sliding camping gear in easier.

 

[dstevens]

I believe almost all the fridges use the same dometic reciprocating compressor, so the power requirements will be about the same.

At 85F day time temperatures mine uses 16 Ah per 24 hours. If you are driving around then it probably is less than 8 Ah overnight. If you have a day in camp then over 36 hours it is around 20 Ah.

So with a 70 Ah battery 20 Ah consumption is not a problem. If, however, your battery has been deeply discharged at least once then its capacity will be a lot less than what it was born with.

The real problem is that the cheaper end of the spectrum has endless problems with low voltage and shutting down. I have the Dometic fridge designed for off road and it has served well for 7 years now.

 

[Blue Bear]

I run a Dometic CFX35 on an American Adventure Lab "Slightly Wider Slider." I ran an ARB fridge wiring kit from the battery to a dedicated receptacle in the back of the Jeep. I keep the fridge in the Jeep all the time, but only plug it in when we are gonna use it. The Dometic (as most fridges do) has a setting to turn itself off if the battery falls below a certain level. I did notice that it was draining the battery more then I would have liked, so I reached out to Dometic to see what it draws when it's just plugged in but not running. They said this:

"Thank you for reaching out to Dometic. Your cooler will draw approximately 1 amp per hour when connected to power and the compressor is not operating. When the compressor is running the cooler with draw approximately 5 amps per hour. If your cooler is not being used we suggest disconnecting from the power source."

So, if you have a battery with about 70AH, you SHOULD be able to run the fridge for just over 13 hours. A lot of people will install a separate battery just to run the fridge off of. I'm not out long enough to warrant that kind of install.

 

[JEEP4U]

I run a National Luna dual control Legacy. The unit can run on both shore power and / or 12 VDC . It also has a selectable low battery protection settings. You can choose DCV cut-out's at the touch of a button. - 9.6 low, 10.4 med, and 11.3 high, to protect your source battery. This unit has auto smart compressor speed control to save power; w/turbo override. The min temp setting is -24 degrees Celsius. This unit is used by the WHO World Health Organization to transport medications. They now have units that can be controlled with an app.

 

[Maverick909]

i run an Iceco fridge on big trips. I actually enjoy it starting to figure out how to make my own drawer sliding system that's easily removed

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