Aldi 3 way frig/coolers

Have had one for over two years, taken to Alice spring in spring time but not North QLD. Worked fine. Must have done easily over 8000KM in the back the car with 2000KM+ of dirt road. Still going strong. Had to do the upside-down treatment (like for all adsorption frigdes) a couple of month back and now it's back to 100%. Good value for money imo.

Running on 12V in the car barely keeps the temperature stable, so I would recommend ice packs or techni-ice for long trips. Other option would be to install in a separate box on the trailer and run with with gas.

Regardless of the solution, short of a full on freezer, I would also recommend a system for vacuum sealing your food too. It does extend the life of the meat products in particular.

We have just bought these new vacuum sealable bags with hand vacuum pump at the Sydney caravan and camping show. Tried them once over the Anzac weekend. They work fine but you have to be carefull to avoid pointy bones or they make a tiny hole and you loose vacuum.

Hope this helps,

Cheers, John

Yep, have a very similar one. Also 3-way 45 litre.
Works well but have not tried it in tropical conditions either.
I hear the comments about lack of cooling performance on 12V. The 12V is a cigarette lighter plug. I'm intending changing it to a Hella plug, connecting to a Hella socket directly via short 50 amp cable to an aux batt and see if a good 12V power source improves things.
Currently, while in the back of the ute travelling, I use it on 240V running off an inverter and cooling is great. Another option to consider instead of gas while travelling.
Cheers.
Peter.

Yep, I bought one 2 years ago and it traveled on some rough and dusty roads sitting in the trailer while running on gas. But is no good on the 12V.

3-ways are good on gas and mains electricity, or off good alternators.
But you can probably forget running off a battery or solar - the money you save on the unit is quickly lost.

After buying my ~40L 12V Peltier (electronic) cooler for $145 (RRP >$250), I was laughing at those that spent over $1,000 more on other fridges.
Sure - it was only down to 20C below ambient, but that was cool (enough).
And even if the electricity ran out, it kept ice at least twice as long as typical eskies (but probably only 1/3 the time of the newer super-eskies).

Than came my 100W solar system. Enough for my 40W - 60W Peltier? No!
So another $500 or more of panels etc to maybe power a 20C below ambient system?

So that's why those people that spend over $1,000 are so stupid! Instead of ~5Amps for 20C below ambient, they PEAK at (say) 2.5A for -20C (maybe 60C below ambient).

So now I'm after a 12V ~40L capacity compressor type fridge. At half the current consumption of my cheap Peltier, it will freeze my own water/ice for transfer to a super-esky every few days. Or it will keep ice-cream in ~45C ambients or higher with maybe as little as 1/10th the current/power consumption of the Peltier.

I know the old 3-way gas types use heat to cool. Gas is great, but electricity is very inefficient for heating and they flatten batteries FAST. Plus they usually cannot be used whilst mobile.
I too looked at the Aldi offering yesterday and was sorely tempted...
But for long-term remote camping etc, ok on gas, but not 12V.

As with many things, it's how you use it.
My Peltier is fine whilst mobile; then I get ice if camping (obviously not too remote!). I wouldn't buy it now for RRP $250. At $145 maybe - but it would simply be a $145 delay for a real 40-45L 12V fridge/freezer.

Best wishes....

The 12v can be vastly improved by proper wiring direct to the battery (fused of course) and using an aditional computer fan. Moving air over the cooling fins at the back makes a huge improvement. A must do if you are driving a lot.

Also I have lived in the desert and tropical north and it works, fine.