Off grid refrigerator

[tarmactatt]

Thanks for the write-up Andy, wanted one of these for a while but prices only recently come down to "reasonable" amounts, however, seems like most are too short to take a full bottle of wine, or other tall beverage, upright, which is a shame.

I only have a regular hatchback so no space for leisure battery, I'm trying to work out what toll these cool boxes would have on the starter battery...

You mention the power consumption is c.30W when compressor is on, which is c. 2.5A at 12V, not too bad.

Your overnight test data - I'm assuming fridge used c.125wh (50% of your solar generator battery), in 12 hours? So it be correct to say an average of very approximately 11W/hr for those 12h? Or roughly 1Ah/hr.

I figure with my 75ah starter battery, I could run this thing for 3 hours on full whack (2.5A x 3hr = 7.5Ah which is 10% of the starter "capacity", I know that Pb acid capacity is pretty much half nameplate, and I've also got to leave a good reserve for starting the engine!)

Edit to add: What ecoflow model do you have? The River 2 looks quite tempting, do you know if these can do "pass through" charging? Ie. Plug the river 2 into the mains then the fridge into the 12V socket? Seems like this would be optimal to charge the Ecoflow and also cool down the fridge before heading out on a trip with them both.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Thanks for the write-up Andy, wanted one of these for a while but prices only recently come down to "reasonable" amounts, however, seems like most are too short to take a full bottle of wine, or other tall beverage, upright, which is a shame.

beer cans fit ok wont take a 4pt carton of milk either

I only have a regular hatchback so no space for leisure battery, I'm trying to work out what toll these cool boxes would have on the starter battery...

You mention the power consumption is c.30W when compressor is on, which is c. 2.5A at 12V, not too bad.

Your overnight test data - I'm assuming fridge used c.125wh (50% of your solar generator battery), in 12 hours? So it be correct to say an average of very approximately 11W/hr for those 12h? Or roughly 1Ah/hr.

around that warmer days take a bit more

I figure with my 75ah starter battery, I could run this thing for 3 hours on full whack (2.5A x 3hr = 7.5Ah which is 10% of the starter "capacity", I know that Pb acid capacity is pretty much half nameplate, and I've also got to leave a good reserve for starting the engine!) especially with modern cars stiffed full of electronics

Edit to add: What ecoflow model do you have? The River 2 looks quite tempting, do you know if these can do "pass through" charging? Ie. Plug the river 2 into the mains then the fridge into the 12V socket? Seems like this would be optimal to charge the Ecoflow and also cool down the fridge before heading out on a trip with them both.

yep river 2 I got another recently from Argos in the sale for £166 which is the same price as a decent leisure battery it will do pass through charging you can even set it so if the battery drops low mains cuts in if above your % preset it then prioritizes solar

[tarmactatt]

Thanks for confirming my approximate calculations, the River 2 would likely run the fridge for c.12 hours which is pretty good.

£166 is a cracking price, nice!

Seems to be around £200 now, if it was £166 I'd likely have just bought it already

[Yorkshire Andy]

Thanks for confirming my approximate calculations, the River 2 would likely run the fridge for c.12 hours which is pretty good.

£166 is a cracking price, nice!

Seems to be around £200 now, if it was £166 I'd likely have just bought it already

Currently on prime sale assuming you've got prime

[DustyDog]

I bought a vitrifrigo 12v compressor fridge when I built my camper, not cheap at all, £600 a few years back but wow, it was good, cold, quiet and took very little power. I’d recommend but yes, not cheap.