fridge freezer for camping

Thanks Roachie for your response, I really appreciate it.

What size Engel do you have? When using it in freeze, can you unplug it for a little while to give your battery a rest.

My camper trailer has a battery in it, and it charges up when I drive. How long can you last with the fridge going from your campervan and is the fridge on for 24 hours.

What size esky do you have?

I really like your ideas on have the two one for freezing and the other - your drinks fridge. Is the Engel frozen down the bottom only?

lyn

Lyn,
We actually have 2 Engels.....a 40 litre in the back of the Patrol and an 80 litre upright in the camper trailer. The one in the Patrol runs off a 120a/h Fullriver AGM battery and it stays on 24/7, 365 days of the year. These AGM's do not need a ret as such, but I do not like to see it's voltage drop too far.....not even to 12 volts. It is easy to keep the aux battery topped up when you are driving every day. It is used mainly for cold drinks, milk etc.

The camper's fridge also runs 24/7/365 off 2x 105a/h Super Charge Gold Series SLA batteries. It has a tiny freezer at the top that can only hold a couple of packets of sausages etc.

Both the Patrol and camper spend a lot of time here at home during the week, waiting to be used on weekends etc. I keep both Patrol and camper plugged into 240 volts here at home. Both units have a 15 amp 3 stage battery charger, so when they're at home the fridges are running off the 240v and the respective batteries are being charged all the time. The 3 stage charger ensures the batteries are never over-charged either.

On those extended trips I was talking about, we still only have the 2 fridges BUT we also take the old 55 litre esky (nothing flash...one of those blue ones with a white lid). It is that esky which acts LIKE a fridge for us.

In your case, having the large esky already, you're already half-way there. You just need to get a Engel (or similar) of about 32 or 40 litre capacity to use as your deep freeze. It would depend on how many people you're catering for and how long you're gunna be away from civilisation etc.

Hope this helps....

Roachie

Yeah Roachie,

I was thinking the 40 or 32 Engel, combined with my big 62ltr esky I should be right. Ill have to scale down on the my clothes etc, but at least ill have cold wine, fresh meat etc. Im only feeding myself and the 3 kids, but I like the idea of plugging it into the 240volts when I get to a caravan park.

Whoa, your battery system appears to be complicated.

Quote: "Whoa, your battery system appears to be complicated"....hahahaha

And it's about to get a bit more complex. I'm just about to hook up a 3rd battery in the Patrol. It's just gunna be permanently wired to the existing starting battery; the 6.5 Chev needs a bit of grunt to get it fired up on these cooler mornings, so I figure 1500 CCA has gotta be better than 750CCA...hahaha

That'll mean I have 5 batteries (6 if I include the little 7a/h jobbie I use to power the flouro light around the campfire) to keep charged up.......

hey Roachie

I have decided that the Engel 40 Ltr will do the trick. But havent purchased it yet. It comes with an insulation style cover.

But I also asked the local Camp shop about batteries and for around $100 I will be getting one of those big batteries that charge your car battery and the Fridge will run off it for 72 hours non stop. The battery can be charged via 240 volt. Wish I could remember what they were called, but it can apparently be charged by the car 12 volt socket as well?

The 40 ltr fridge I feel wont be big enough, but I dont think ill loose too much space from my 62 ltre ice box...especially now I wont be needing to have some spare space for the ice!

thanks for your assistance and suggestions...it was very well received.

lyn

G'day Lyn,

I'm very curious about what you will get in the way of a "big battery" for $100- that will run your fridge for 72 hours AND charge your car battery....(or maybe you meant "charge off your car battery"?) Either way, I'm sceptical that you'll get much of a deal for $100-. If you do, all good and well; great.

You see, in my opinion, to run a 40 litre Engel for 72 hours at a nominal ambient temp of, let's say, around 20oC, I am of the opinion you'd need something like my Fullriver AGM 120a/h......and they're about $260-!! Of course it depends on a lot of different factors. A lot of this stuff fits the category of "suck it and see". However, that is the reason for forums like this......hopefully other people have already "wasted" their hard-earned cash to suffer mistakes and then tell people like you of their story, so that you don't have to waste your money.

I strongly recommend finding out what you'll be getting for your $100- and getting back to us on here. I don't claim to be any sort of expert; but I have wasted more than my fair share of cash, buying stuff that wasn't fit for purpose......then having to shell-out more dosh to get what I should've got in the 1st place!!!!

Ok,

The battery has jump leads attached, but sorry I cant think of the brand. Its actually $120, and another friend of mine has the same/similiar battery and they run their autofridge off it. It has 2 x 12 volt sockets in it, as well as a lead to 240volt.

The name of your recommended battery does sound familiar, and I promise ill get back to you with the actual brand. Im buying off a reputable dealer whom I have trusted time and time again. I like you, are sick and tired of buying things that dont work then spending more money to get the things that do work, hence why i continue to purchase off this retailer.

watch this space for more info....

Ever heard of dual batteries....?

Mate..... you don't deserve a reply

So what happened SD ?

excellant ideas and thank you I will try very hard not to forget that pull the plug suggestion.

I forgot one night too.

had to wait for the ranger to come around and start me up...then I got booked for not wearing a seat belt on the beach....

ahhh what a great weekend that was.

Hi Jim,

BCf mentioned that they get a lot of returns from the waeco fridges. Im a bit concerned the thing will break down on me while out west with the kids.

The prices between them have eased somewhat, but to tell you the truth I prefer the inside of the Waeco, with its light and seperate dairy section.

Just concerned with their mechanical ability.

I wonder if anyone has first hand breakdowns and what is it that is supposed to break down.

lyn

I agree with Jimbo. Weaco CF80 is a winner. Works a treat. Never skipped a beat in 3 years. Holds plenty of Dark and Stormy's and food aswell. (got to have your priorities in order!!!LOL)
One thing I would suggest, is to go bigger rather than smaller. Have had lots of mates upsize, not one downsize.

Phill

"Im a bit concerned the thing will break down on me while out west with the kids. "
Bollocks.
With that attitude you better not take the car of the highway.

brew 69

yep ok...

Great advice...thanks for that.

I have a Waeco 60ltr and have just bought a vacuum machine !!

How long can you leave the vacuumed meat in the bottom of a fridge ( set at 0deg ) ???? 7 days ?? 15 ??

any fridge full of 4xxxx is good

The good thing is that there are 15 in the freezer so you get to drink them quick.

yeah Derek, it looks like an interesting option.

Can you take that partition out and make it one big fridge?

I like the engel and using a board with holes as one person on this forum suggested. That way I dont have to decide what to have for dinner until beer oclock and thats important...or at least wine oclock...dont drink beer.

But the evakool acts like a normal esky too, meaning you wont need the cover.

Hi lynxxy

The fixed freezer is part of the design and uses a twin wall evaporator core. This is part of the design for low power consumption.

Im wanting to get the 2 zone too. ARB were saying that using the top zone will drag a bit out of your motor and you need to be carefull not to burn it out?

Does it stay as cold or do you need to turn it up further?

Is your engel the fridge freezer dual component one?

They are rather expensive, and on top of that they are so heavy and you would need to get a slide fitted into the back of the car.

I would rather have something that me and the eldest could manage without too much difficulty, lifting it in and out of the car. moving it around the tent, etc eetc.

thanks for your help.

It can be used as a fridge or freezer but not both at once. We purchased the slide as well because as you mentioned otherwise hard to get access into it. We also found this with the 40L on a slide on top of the draw system, was a tad too high for easy access and awkward to open the lid all the way properly (back of an 80 series).