inverters and fridges

It's possible, but you're right it may not stand the vibrations.

Don't know how much current it would draw but it will take up to three times it's running current to start it so depending on the current draw the inverter might have to be fairly big.

That brings up the current draw on the battery.

There a losses in the conversion from 12 to 240 so overall you would need more amp hours to run the 240 volt fridge than a 12 volt.

There is a few reasons why you should not do this.
More than likely the fridge will take up a lot more room and you may be tempted to pack it in tight or eben lay it down, eitherw ay you will have a major fire hazard on your hands as they run very hot.
Secondly it will kill your battery in a matter of hours, as the compressors are much larger and require high current draw to fire up, and these spike will cause quick drainaige of your battery.
thirdly, it will rattle to bits, you food and beer will be hot and itll ruin your trip, and a good fridge is only around $1000, so save ya pennies and have a good time, not an annoying one!
Happy 4wding!

Hi sandgroper greg
I think that you would be wasting your money. Bar fridges are not made to withstand the tortures of outback travel, then there is the fact of starting the fridge from the inverter.
You will find that when the compressor cuts in, there is a far greater current draw than your car fridge, which are purpose built for that exact reason, to work correctly in a vehicle.

You will find most inverters are made and designed to run small current draw appliances like TV's, laptop computers, charging rechargable batteries for camera's etc..

Stephen

Hi Sandgroper greg,

If your friend has any more idea's better run them past Explore Oz.com.

LOL

Cheers Jeff M. (SA)

We went the other way. Bought a proper 12v car fridge then when home we use it constantly as a "bar" fridge, running off the 240v household supply. Actually in our case it is used as an upstairs fridge. We bought a 40 litre 12v car fridge which we find adequate for any 4WD trip for milk, margarine, a couple of cans of drink, some meat, some cryovac meat, some vegies (except when traversing fruit fly fre zones, das ist verboten), etc. The 40 litre size is not too big to handle or take up too much space in the car. This type of car fridge can also be used as a freezer, so you could use it at home for that instead. Now the XYL would love that idea!. Some models of car fridges (ususaaly the larger ones) do freezer and fridge.