Autofridge eutectic 39 litre Compressor type fridge 12v

A friend has one and swears by it.
I think its advantage lies more for trips where the car drives every day, as it can be run continuously to freeze the fluid then uses very little overnight. So great for weekends away , and a second battery may not be needed.
I do not see such an advantage if at one place more than a day or so, as once the fluid is melted it becomes just another compressor fridge.
I chose an Engel instead based on reliability.
regards Philip A

Did you google it to the page about it?????????

Have both the 39 & 73L models which I bought for both efficiency & reliability. Estimate I can get about 20% extra run time compared to other similar sized fridges due to the Eutectic & decent insulation. If you compare the power usage statistics of the Autofridge V's an Engel or Waeco for example they may appear to use more but their run time can be conciderably less, in fact the most efficient way to run them is for 2 hours in the morning & 2 hours in the evening then leave it off for the rest of the time.
Certainly not worth the extra money as other units 1/2 their price will still keep the drinks just as cold but I am impressed with the fact one is 20 years old & the other 13 & they just keep going :-)
Cheers Craig............

Warstar,
as others have said if *YOU* have to turn it on for a few hours morning, then again at night, and yes it will use less 12v power that way.
BUT .....
when used up North in higher ambient temps and your using the fridge on a regular basis, like putting the Barra fillets in and taking out and then also REPLACING WARM cans, the fridge has to be turned on to maintain the *constant* cabinet temperature, this uses the compressor more often and negates the power saving.

I understand *YOU* have to physically be there to turn the fridge 'ON' and then 'OFF' daily, and if you miss a 'turn on' because the Barra are biting or any number of reasons = warm beer ?

A 'normal' compressor fridge turns on/off via a thermostat as is required, the contents will be maintained at a (more or less) constant temperature.
Mine stays between +4° & -6° in the fridge cabinet and I think you will find the 'Waytogo' and 'Angel' & other popular compressor fridges give similar constant temperature performance too.

Mainey . . .

I've had a 39lt for about 12 years. I agree with everything stated above. They may not freeze ice cream but they will freeze everything else... ever had frozen Fritz? When not in the vehicle I run it 24/7. When in the vehicle and travelling out bush it is set at No 3. I turn it off before I go the sleep as I sleep in in the vehicle.

About 18mths about the compressor bugger up... $850.00 to replace. And in September last year it lost its gas, as discovered by a mates mate (fridge mechanic), regased and is still working fine. Whilst with the fridge mechanic he put one of them current testers on the power cable, he commented on its efficiency, I think it read something like 0.07 amps. The fridge mechanic use to work for Peters Icecream and the use to run vans that were cooled by eutectic systems, he said that they discovered in one van the systems compressor hadn't been working for 7 days.

I thought I'd better do something about a backup and in October brought one of the Engel Eclipses which will freeze ice cream.

I have the smaller 39 L version. It has been disappointing from the day I got it. I followed the instructions as to pre cooling it before trips to the extent that I ran it on max for 2 days beforehand using either a waeco power converter or using a 12 Volt battery charger on the battery.
I run it constantly on max when the vehicle is running (usually 6 - 8 hours per day) and then turn it down to 2 or 3. In remote camps I will run it on the genset during the day for 2-3 hours. Full of frozen food and water bottles it will last 1 - 1 1/2 days before it is no longer cool enough for meat and dairy products and that is without opening it more than 2 or 3 times a day.
I have a dual battery set up with a large sized deep cycle battery. The deep cycle battery will never last more than a day at low settings. The distributor said that this is normal even though their advertising talks of days of use.
At a cost of $1500 in 1998 I could have bought 2 Engels or Three Waecos and maybe still had change.