Which fridge.

Definitely evacool. They do make own and sell on line. I like the Danfoss compressors. I will look at the one in super cheap. Yeah the waeco s we’re famous for electronic problems and I have had all the cards replaced in my ARB several times. Thanks.

Bit confused here RMD. Do you mean Supercheap or Super cheep. :)
Dave.

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No Kirk, there is no "evercool" but there is an EVAKOOL, manufactured in Caloundra Queensland.
The Evakool Portable Fridge Freezers are manufactured by adding a compressor unit to the outside of their well made iceboxes. They are respected but a bit 'clumsy'.
In more recent times, Evakool imported a fridge-freezer badged as Travelmate which employ Danfoss/Secop compressors and appear well constructed.

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LOL David. In fact both spellings will take you to the same 'famous' website.

Thanks Allan. Yes it’s the travelmate I was looking at. Not Evakool then at all. So the Danfoss and Secop compressors are the same? There are a few cheaper fridges with Secop compressor. I’ll look around a bit more.

Crikey this is like pulling teeth - having all the correct information in the in original post would be a big help.

EvaKool also make a RV range and I have one of the smaller ones - works fine but is power hungry compared to my cheap 55l ebay fridge.

EvaKool also make or import and sell Evakool, Travelmate, Glacier, Koolmate, RV and Ridge Ryder lines of fridges - so a few versions to pick from.

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Yes Kirk, the Travelmate is imported and marketed by the Evakool company.
And both the Evakool and Travelmate are retailed by the Supercheap Auto.
The legendary Danfoss refrigeration systems are now owned by Secop. The product has not materially changed.

Jaycar, and others, are retailing the Brass Monkey fridges at competitive pricing. They look OK but I have no experience with them. If I were in the market I would consider them.
In general, I think portable fridges are over-priced...... you could buy a kitchen fridge at the same price as for some!

Thanks to Allan and ozziecruiser. You have zeroed in on the fact that EVAKOOL used to make their own but now import many, while they may be ok, the same risk is what circuit board quality is present if you are buying a Danfoss anyway. Circuit board problems and not the fridge seem to be Kirk's problem in the past with a well known Wacko brand. Sorry, Waeco. I have an early Waeco but it doesn't have Blueteeth or send signal to the moon for monitoring. A simple fridge thermo seems to do the job.

Cheers Allan. Always so knowledgeable and helpful. Think I talked to year a while back about my navara doing an engine and going thru hell with Nissan. Well for your interest that engine detonated even better recently. According to experts flywheel was fitted on top over the locating dowel on the crank causing Harmonic type vibration which over time loosened Conrod bolts and the rest was history. Picked up bits of engine from highway and camshaft was in 12 bits! Ongoing court case with Nissan as we speak. Cheers mate.

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Must have been another "Allan" Kirk. I know little about engines and Nissan's in general.
Toyota? That's another matter....... I have a very 'intimate' relationship with my Troopy.
Make of that what you will! lol

Kirk
Sorry not fridges, but:
The information you said was a report from Nissan is very dubious. I cannot fathom how they could have placed a flywheel over a dowel. Just won't go. However, leaving the dowel out would cause vibes and misalignment. If you EVER get correct and factual info from a Nissan dealer, please let me know. Loosening the conrod bolts? AND being able to determine the cause from bits on the road is indeed very investigative mechanical assessment. In a NSW Fair Trading hearing, I represented a D40 owner who had untold faults and an OE bent chassis from new, "Very common". You would be stunned by the claims and untruths told by the Dealer and parent company representatives to evade the issues. For your problem to happen the repairer has to have been incompetent. However, many D40 engines and some other Nissans have issues most peculiar. The gentleman I helped got over $39,000 back as a refund on his pride and joy. The whole system was looked at by the NSW Police Motor branch because of "associated problems".

I have photos where the end of the locating dowell marked the flywheel. Yes it was absolutely fitted on the end of the dowell and obviously in the wrong position. I’m not sure how it didn’t come up with crank position faults. It was not sitting on the end of the crank. I don’t know how it didn’t vibrate or cause clutch problems. This is the third engine in a car that has done 150 k. It was investigated by the motor trades association who cane up with these findings. They wouldn’t proceed to court and handed over to a lawyer. I am having trouble getting information from then on. I am out of pocket by over ten grand as I went to fair trading first time and Nissan coughed up half the 8 grand bill. Not to mention I was stranded without a car for ten weeks. Maybe we need to have a chat mate. Thanks for that. I know Nissan gave claims coming out their ears.

RMD thanks so much for your help but I would like to chat to you about the other problem we talked about. You don’t have contact details there so I can PM you. My number is 0438955736. Please drop me a line. Much appreciated.

Evakool distribute a number of fridge/freezers.
The RV type being the fibreglass [white] with compressor bolted on are the best I have used. I also have had a couple of Glacier types. I think the latter are a generic labeled with Waeco, Evakool etc.
The older white fireglass are better with a 4 sided freezer compartment that can still be expanded with the divider, effectively giving a super cold freezer section with the 4 sided element, and then the space determined by wherever you place the divider, and then the remainder being the fridge section.
Also, there is no hitech digital, unrepairable motherboard just basic electronics.
Throw one of the sensors from this in each side and you know where you are temperature wise
https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1311.R1.TR9.TRC2.A0.H0.Xwireless+fridge.TRS0&_nkw=wireless+fridge+thermometer&_sacat=0

Mine gets down to -18C no probs.

They are accused of being cumbersome with the compressor just bolted on. But when it is on a fridge slide or your are not otherwise dragging it in and out of your camper, who cares.

Glad I’m helping someone despite my bad spelling at the beginning. I thought I would get slammed for bringing up a subject that’s probably been done to death but thanks heaps for all the helpful answers.

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Chris, at $1300 it would want to be good.

Yes, I would endorse the older versions too. Ok, it might draw a little more power but these days with solar and AGM, lithium batteries aven that is not such a big issue.
As I mentioned above, if you are prepared to buy 2nd hand look for one with the completely enclosed freezer section, not 3 sided open to the fridge section would be my advice.

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Hi Macca,

Nah, you can't beat an Engel.... provided it is not sharing your sleeping compartment!!!

But my Waeco has never "let me down" either.
Mind you, I needed to install an alternative to the temperature setting potentiometer, tweak the 12v input socket, and rebuild the lid latch twice, but it hasn't let me down. LOL

My 40L Engel died at just under 10 years, not happy Jan.

And my $450 55litre no name ebay fridge has never let me down either - and it doesn't use any more power than the expensive models.

I would agree. They probably are the best. Had the old green metal one years ago and couldn’t kill it. Thing is I could probably by 3 of the cheaper ones for the price but what price is having a trip ruined by s fridge? Had that with my ARB several times.

We too have an Engel that I brought in 1982 for an up north trip with my best mate( married her) crank it up every Xmas rattles and carries on , Engel that is, still on R12 and cold as a mother in laws kiss. But.... just purchased a Snomaster classic 60 l, had to fit in a certain spot so far very happy, big trip later in the year to really test it !

Cheers Allan. I do actually quite like the waeco s despite the troubles I had. They are very ergonomic and easy to fix when they do go bung. As said above the fridge itself was ok. Just the electronics but maybe that’s been sorted now anyway.

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Electronics I can handle but that lid latch has been a real challenge. Was a flimsy plastic construction but now a sturdy aluminium interior.

Geez i'd love a dollar for every waeco replacement lid latch sold, reckon I could retire young....lol.

The only problem with my 15 year old Waeco was when I broke one of the 12v pins getting the plug off. Fixed under warranty and no problems since.

You blokes are obviously in too much of a hurry for a beer and rip the lid off :)

Regards

Gee, they would want to be good for the price.....

Have to agree, no one mentioned price. trailblazers are the best fridges and freezers bar none. Custom built to fit a space . I can turn either of mine on in 40 degrees ambiant and in less than 15 mins they are at the set temp. With the freezer that is minus 16 degrees. Had it built with a danfoss bd50 compressor. Only draws 5 amps when running and because of the 75mm insulation is very efficient.

Have read that one of the purposes of the baskets that are supplied with fridges is to create a small gap for the cool are to circulate.
I have a RF 60 might be a 65 as is very old. don't use the basket and have never had a prob. As mentioned above, a wireless temp gauge is good value to keep an eye on temps.
I actually think is a good thing that the temp will progressively less cold the further away from freezer compartment. Frozen lettuce, tomatoes are almost as bad as warm beer. SLAP! what am I saying?

Yes, you're advised to leave space between food and the wall as the cooling plate only covers about a third of the latter and the coolth has to move around. (As an aside, that space rather diminishes the usable capacity).

I run a thermometer probe at the far end to be sure the food there's around 4C.

I did for a time run a small computer fan between the baskets to even up the temperature. That produced condensation and a noise that I preferred to live without.

National Luna, never again, neither fridge nor battery management system. Both failed. Lousy follow up.

Cheers,
Mark

Wow !

Find the follow up service comment a bit hard to swallow.

I know of at least 25 (all imported independently from South Africa) that were put in the same brand camper trailer that failed and were replaced by the Australian National Luna Dealer! This has included most that were out of warranty!

The problem was identified as faulty copper pipe that caused refrigerant to leak out. And was deemed non repairable.

The National Luna factory also recently caught fire and was totally destroyed. I understand (from SA friends) that people who had theirs in for service have started to have them replaced with new ones!

Sounds like pretty good after sales service to me.

I personally own two 90 litre stainless models which have performed without fault - even the one that fell out onto the road and was dragged along. So I can't fault their performance either.

I also own a 40 litre Engel which performs faultlessly as well.

Cheers

Anthony

We have had an Engle 58 litre combi for 15 years - never missed a beat across Simpson desert, Vic High Country (twice) and last year 14,300 kms Sydney to Kimberley via Tanami track and all the associated corrugations along the Gibb river road and the worst road I have ever been on - into Mitchell Falls.

Yes they are very expensive around $1,600 I believe which is a difficult pill to swallow but I wouldn't hesitate to do so again given the reliability.

I've also had 2 National Luna Fridges. I got the second one because I wanted a bigger one. Excellent service, reliability and very low power use.

I’m still trying to make up my mind but I will check them out. Yes could buy two for the price of one and with a 3 year warranty better than some of the much more expensive ones.

Don’t know about power usage, but certainly 2 fridges are a whole lot easier to manage. After all the one running as a freezer, you just set flat out cold, and I would think once everything is frozen down (have it all frozen before the trip if possible) it’s not working that had anyway. Also won’t be opening the freezer very often.
Cheers
Shane

That is not true unless you are talking about cheap brands of dual fridge. I have had a national Luna 73 L for 10 years and more recently their 90l and I can assure you that its power use is not much more than a standard fridge, if any.

2 fridges will definitely use around double the power.

This is interesting. I have spoken at length to sales people on several shops and it seems unanimous that two fridges( one used as freezer) use less power. I can understand the point that once a freezer has frozen it will use minimal power to keep there. I think I will go that way tho as I already have a fridge.

Kirk,

Using a fridge as a freezer is even worse. It takes 2 - 3 times as much power to freeze and keep frozen goods as it does to just keep them cool at above zero.

If you use one fridge at say 3 degrees, then it will use about an average of 1 amp. That same fridge will use around 3 amps on average as a freezer. So 2 fridges, one at 3 degrees and one freezing will use an average of about 4 amps.

G’day Boobook ,
2 fridges is a broad statement. Is that 2 larger fridges? The size/litreage would make a difference. Say running 2 40 litres versus 1 80 litre?? Also I find it hard to believe a fridge being used as a freezer wil use 2 to 3 time as much power.
My previous comments weren’t trying to say it would be the least power usage , just ease of use and not all that bad on power usage.
As I said I don’t exactly know the power usage, but I have travelled with 2 Engels , a 60 as fridge and 40 as freezer and had no problems.
Cheers
Shane

I don't think the size of a fridge has much to do with consumption. It's the compressor, temp setting, ambient, how full they are, how often they are opened or replenished, and insulation, but as a rule bigger fridges use more power. E.g. larger fridges based on Danfoss often use the BD50 instead of the BD 35 which uses about 50% more power. That's one reason why I like National Luna. They use BD35 with good power management.

For sure freezing is power hungry. And for sure 2 fridges will use more power than 1 dual zone.

I'm not sure why 2 fridges are easier to manage than 1 good dual zone but they do offer more flexibility and some redundancy.

I have an ARB now and have had lots of trouble with it. I have had all the cards replaced twice but it seems it going ok now. Maybe not entirely the fridge as I found that cigarette plugs and merit plugs are crap. I have an Engel plug on it now and no trouble.

What sort of Merits were you using, Kirk L?

The cheapies with a single negative tag are definitely suss. I've had those lose their connection or run hot because of a bad negative connection. (The centre positive is ok)

The better ones (Hella and copies) with a ring of negatives that ensure good contact with the body of the socket are fine. Never had a problem with them.

Cheers

Learnt that the hard way frank. If I was going again I would use Anderson plugs. Have had problems with pins popping out in them too but generally very good. The Engel one plugs in and then a screw ring holds it there so that is probably the best so far. Cheers.

Probably the cheap ones frank knowing me. Not using them now tho.