Car Fridge/Freezers

This post may give you some answers

Waeco Vs Everkool vs Engel

Use the search entry at the top right of the screen. Type in the names of each fridge of what ever vs what ever and you'll produce yourself a multitude of reading material from the forum etc.

Buy new, my preference is Engel (and I currently own both).

For power when travelling/camping read Electricity for camping and for building a power system, read Building a 12V DC system.


Cheers

Mick

Hi Ash
Need a second battery, with isolator, so the fridge has constant power supply.. With out draining your start battery.. Although my sister n brother in law did Cape York with a fridge, think Waco 50lt, with out second battery, said they never had a problem...
We always get the fridge running, and down to temp on 240 volt, before we put it in the car..
I know Waco have a warehouse in Sydney, where they sell seconds, maybe a scratch, or something like that, at discount prices, might be worth a call, as in a bit cheaper.. Good luck with your planning, and safe travels... Cheers Odog

The brand debate is endless and subjective just like choosing a vehicle

Best advice I can offer is select one with a good backup service network where you can get it repaired locally not necessarily the one with the longest warranty

It is no use to you having to make a warranty claim when you are in WA and the service agent is in Vic and you are weeks without a fridge awaiting its repair
I prefer to run two smaller fridges than one big one incase of a failure I can still get by

Ash,

"Also I understand that they plug in to the lighter thing (which is great as we have one in the back section of the Pajero... but when the car is off does the fridge still need to be getting power? will we need to have a generator or solar power for it?"

Two comments about those "lighter things", ie standard accessory sockets:

One, they are useless for a fridge. They tend to jiggle loose and the fridge loses power, or they develop a bad contact, run hot an start to melt plastic. You should convert the one that powers the fridge to either a fridge-specific socket or a Merrit style or Anderson and then convert the fridge lead to suit.

Two, they are not always powered all the time - depends on the make and model of the vehicle. On my current model BT50 they are powered all the time, even with the key out and the car locked. On my just-departed Prado the key had to be on "accessories".

I concur other comments - you will need a second battery and an isolator and wire up your fridge to be supplied from the second battery. This gives constant power to the fridge for as long as the second battery lasts and prevents the fridge running your start battery flat. When the engine is running the second battery is connected to the charging system. When the engine is stopped the second battery and any loads it supplies are isolated from the rest of the vehicle's electrical system.

"Will you need a generator or solar power for it?"

Depends how long you want to stay at one place without mains power or starting the car. It also depends on how often it's opened (kids?), the temperature you set it to, the ambient temperature, the capacity of the second battery and how efficient/how big/how much power your fridge draws. I would think that for a 12 month trip with family you're going to need some form of external power.

Generators are bulky, heavy and noisy - even quiet ones annoy other campers. Solar is good, but only when the sun shines. Ideally, set yourself up with solar first and see if you can manage with that - many can and do.

Setting up a second battery and solar for camping has a few things that need to be considered. First, your 12 Volt electrical loads - fridge, lighting, running a laptop, TV, etc. You need to do a power budget. Then size your second battery and solar to suit.

Mick O pointed you to a couple of good links that will get you started.

Keep asking questions - there are plenty of people here who can help.

Cheers

Plenty of good advice above, Ash, and preferences.....:-)

Daughter and SIL have an Ironman 65L dual fridge/freezer, and they are very pleased with it. They go camping regularly, so it gets plenty of use. Quite versatile as it can be all fridge, all freezer or fridge/freezer. Usually 3 of them eating out of it.

Only 2 of us, but we have a 10 yr old plus 45L Engel, and a much newer Ironman 30L fridge. Engel is noisy, flat out hearing the I'man. Have dual batteries in the ute, with a Piranha isolator, plus 2 x 120amphr AGM's in the slide on camper which are charged through a Redarc BMS 15 amp thingy.

Have the fridge leads hard wired into the 12v system, to get away from ciggy plugs/sockets. Have spare power leads in case need to run either fridge away from the vehicle. By the way, any 12v fridge used as a freezer is going to use heaps more power, than if just run as a fridge. Like maybe 30-40% more power!

Do plenty of homework, Ash, and if need be ask more questions. There others on this site that are very knowledgeable about 12v power/fridges/batteries.

Bob

Hi Ash,
Apart from any other consideration, the Engel is noisy. It uses an oscillating armature/piston linear compressor which Engel call a "Swing Compressor" even though it does not swing. I had one in a camper and it vibrated the whole floor/body even though mounted on a rubber pad. My present Waeco with its rotary compressor sits directly under the bed in the back of the Troopy and is very quiet.

You mention "Budget Conscious" & would consider new with warranty.

That straight away makes me think of the Engel Eclipse MR40F.

Bought my 3rd Engel recently & originals are still going strong.

The newer style 40l is excellent value.

Cheers.

I you were in WA ( Mandurah ) Battery Force on Pinjarra Rd have specials on the Engel Fridges, last I can recall on the road side sign was a 32 ( plastic case) for 690 ? something.

While this post may not be of any use to you I'm sure there are others that can benefit from it


Ron

Have just been through a similar thought process. I was agnostic as to brand just so long as it was one of the leading brands however I knew how I wanted to set up for touring. I looked for Engel but ended up getting a good deal with Waeco.

I have a CF35 fridge in the back of the wagon connected to a RAPS36 battery pack, which is then connected to its 12v outlet. In my case the outlet is only active when accessories is on. The battery keeps the fridge running for up to one to two days depending on conditions. I use an insulating jacket and put some frozen water bottles in the fridge to help out. I intend to get a solar panel for charging the battery pack when camping but for the moment the current setup is fine for touring. Obviously a bigger battery will run longer.

Important considerations for me were the weight of the fridge, built-in handles and noise and the waeco CF35 easily satisfies these criteria. A friend who bough a large 75 litre fridge sold it because it was too awkward to handle.

Hi Ash

I currently run three Engels, 60L in the camper and two in the cruiser (one is a freezer) bounced them all over OZ and had no trouble at all. Lots of good info on the forum and the web have a read of this site comments from users of both.
http://thegreynomads.activeboard.com/t52840533/portable-fridges-a-lesson-learnt/

Good luck with your choice

Cheers