Best way to manage fridge/icebox

p.s. it would be nice to fit a beer or 2 in there every now and then!

Gday jack pardon the ignorance but what is techni-ice never heard of this one
Cheers

Gday D-Jack

You seem to be on the right track - How long do you think you will go without startinig the car for charging?

The spare battery can be quite easily be charged wherever you store it. It depends on your setup, but with my 3re battery, it is in a battery box with and external plug. I made up a lead with eyelets on one end for on the terminals on the 3rd battery, and a plug on the other end which can be plugged into the aux socket in the back of the car. You can then plug the fridge directly into the 3rd battery, and with this plugged into the aux socket it will be in parallell with the aux battery in the car. It also gives you the option of removeing the 3rd battery and fridge if you want/need to.

I use a set up similar to this with an 80 litre waeco, and it works a treat. I would freeze as much as possible before you leave, and defrost meat etc a few days in advance in the esky you are using as a fridge, as well as transfering the techni ice backwards and forwards to maintain a cool temp in the esky.

I don't think there is much to gain from turning the fridge off overnight, it may use less charge overnight, but will then make up for it in the morning when you turn it on in the morning. Also, whenever you are running the car for a day trip etc, crank the fridge right up (or is it down!) to make the most of the alternators power and get the freezer as cold as possible, then put it back to the normal setting when you turn the car off. This method has worked a treat for me.

Hope this helps

Cheers Andrew

D-Jack

Dont freeze the croyvac meat as there is no need to for a 2 week trip. Why it's like a tyre the bag will pierce easier the harder it is if the bag is soft and pliable then it will not pierce the bag and let air in.

I run the fridge as a fridge and if you are in any town you can get ice for the esky. Then the esky is keeping everything cold. I start with juice bottles frozen at home, smashed with the hammer and then layered in the esky. Important part is to pack the esky in the order you want to use the food ect.

This will see you through fo about 4 days b4 you need to replenish the ice.

My reasoning is the engle run as a fridge will cycle less frequent than at freezer settings and not kill the battery (you do have 3 battery's though I only use a 45amph thumper) and while travelling you normally get to a town every couple of days. (i also assume you have one of the top line eskys with pressurised insulation) and near the end of the trip everything fits into the fridge anyway.

TH2Cw

Happy camping

Regard Trevor

D Jack, I use a system similar to the option you proposed. I have a 70 litre fridge / freezer (20 litre freezer, 50 litre fridge) and a 55 litre esky similar to yours. I use a combination of Techni Ice and frozen 2 litre milk containers of water in the esky and rotate a 2 litre container and a couple of sheets of Techni Ice through the freezer each day. Works well.

Your problem is that to run the Engel on freeze to do this, you would lose a lot of potential fridge space. Less than 25% of the capacity would be needed to feed the esky. What would you do with 30 litres plus of freezer space for a relatively short trip?

Here are my thoughts.
Get the esky nice and cold before you leave. Put it in a big fridge if you can, or a cold room if you have access. Otherwise put a fair bit of ice in it and keep it in a cool spot for a day before packing it. Make sure everything that goes in it is nice and cold. Pack it with the Techni Ice and possibly some block ice as well. This should last 4 or 5 days at least if you keep the esky out of the sun.
You then have to buy ice to replenish the esky. Get block Ice if you can as it lasts 3 or 4 times as long as crushed / party ice.

If you need to cool hot stuff (drinks etc) do it in the fridge, not the esky.

Whenever you have the opportunity, get your Techni Ice sheets into a freezer. Some Caravan parks are happy to do this if they have the space. Otherwise make some friends in camp grounds and caravan parks who have some freezer space.

By about day 11 or 12 of your 2 weeks, you will probably have reduces your food and drinks enough to just about get them all in the fridge.

Between the 4 or 5 days at the start when you are OK and possibly 2 or 3 days at the end when the esky is not essential, you only need to worry about 7 days or so of ice supply.

D-Jack,

I have a similar setup to you.

First of all, my advice is not to bother with the techni-ice sheets.
They thaw out too quickly to be a practical solution in my experience.

IMO you should run the fridge, purely as a fridge, to keep whatever food you have reasonably cold, without belting the hell out of your batteries.

If your Icebox is of good quality (I have an Evakool) any ice you put in should last somewhere from 3-5 days. You can get ice at the Innamincka Store so depending on where you are staying, a trip every few days to the store (and Hotel) is justifiable.

If you start out with block ice, it will last longer than crushed, but because you would only be likely to get crushed ice whilst travelling that is what you should learn to live with. I generally only use the icebox for drinks, etc. plus any cryovaced meat that doesnt fit into the fridge

I have both the smaller techni-ice sheets and also a larger silver one I place over the top of everything, but as I said above, they thaw out too quickly to be practical in my experience.
I do not have the luxury of using the fridge as a freezer as not much really needs to be maintained in a frozen state, but most stuff needs to be kept refridgerated.

Well, thats my experience mate, but by all means experiment and let us know how you get on.

Good luck....A great area of our State.