EcoFlow River 2 Power bank & CRX50 Fridge

[Black Pearl]

Hi,
I have a fully converted van with 240v and 12v set up. All works perfectly.

Once a year in July we go away for the weekend where there is no electric hook up. 12v is used for the fridge which is cooled down prior to leaving home and run during the journey, which takes anything between 2.5hrs or 5hrs traffic dependant!!

Arriving on a Thursday, running the fridge with trips for beers every so often means it’s intermittent by Saturday and food isn’t chilled properly.

I’ve search all over for the length of time an EcoFlow River 2 could power the fridge but can’t get an answer. Does anyone have any experience please?

Also, how would I plug it in? Via the normal electric hookup socket and a 13A plug on the other end? That seems the most logical way.
How would the unit fair if it rained?

Thanks for any help.
Dan

 

[T6Ollie]

You can calculate the length of time if you know the energy consumption of the fridge and the battery capacity. I just googled the Dometic CRX50 (which I think is pretty popular) which claims to use about 0.26784 kWh per 24 hours (or 267 Wh per day) and the EcoFlow River 2 has a 256 watt hour capacity - so you would get roughly 24 hours run time.

Edit - I just saw there are variants of the EcoFlow River but the concept is the same. Divide the total available by daily consumption to get number of days.

 

[Drive Wayne]

The EcoFlow River 2's 256 Wh equates to around 20 Ah. I think you did OK to get to Saturday!
My wife recently stole 'my' little Bluetti AC180 to go camping with elder daughter and Grand daughter to Lulworth Castle for 3/4 nights in a tent, (while younger daughter and I slummed it in the van at Summer Camp!) only the fridge and phones were powered from the Bluetti.
They took with them (stole again) our small awning compressor fridge for dairies and sarnie foodies.
The AC180 has a 1152Wh capacity, around 90Ah
Having run the fridge in the confines of my garage in the week before, it had the ability to keep the fridge running for about 2 and a half days, unaided.
With a 220 watt Renogy suitcase panel attached it was able to continue well beyond that, potentially indefinitely with the aid of sunlight.
You either need a bigger powerbank, or solar!

 

[Black Pearl]

Thanks guys.
Working the figures is never my strong suit!

If the Dometic CRX50 can stretch to Saturday am then I could use the EcoFlow on Saturday to Sunday. I’ll have the availability to charge it up from a 240v source should that go flat.

Thanks for your replies.

 

[kipperman]

One other variable to consider is that the bigger the difference between the inside of the fridge and the outside the more work the fridge has to do - in other words the compressor is on for longer and that means more energy being transferred. If you have solar though that often balances out - hot sunny days will compensate for the higher energy transfer.

 

[Alster]

We’ve got the river3 which is 245wh I think and over the weekend it kept our subcold trek50 going for about 8 hours but it was shut in the (dark coloured van) on a very hot day so would expect longer on a cooler day or better ventilation. If you have the option you should be better running it on the 12volt outlet as you loose efficiency with the inverter.

 

[DXX]

If the portable power pack is just on the limit for your duration the cheapest option would be to take a good quality cool box packed with ice, use this for the start of the trip and then move to the fridge. Alternatively add the ice packs to the fridge when needed or space.
I quite often buy frozen food along with a food shop just to help the fridge pull the temperature down.

 

[doncarlyon]

Is there a leisure battery as well or just the powerbank?

 

[Black Pearl]

Leisure battery in good working order fully fitted.

The idea being that I only need the extra power bank for when the battery goes low. Being a black van it may hold the heat more.

Our last trip in July was warm (28*c) so it was probably working hard to keep stuff cold.

 

[Drive Wayne]

Leisure battery in good working order fully fitted.

The idea being that I only need the extra power bank for when the battery goes low. Being a black van it may hold the heat more.

Our last trip in July was warm (28*c) so it was probably working hard to keep stuff cold.

Just a bit of solar to keep that LB topped up is all you need!
I thought you were just on the Ecoflow!

 

[doncarlyon]

Leisure battery in good working order fully fitted.

The idea being that I only need the extra power bank for when the battery goes low. Being a black van it may hold the heat more.

Our last trip in July was warm (28*c) so it was probably working hard to keep stuff cold.

Which leisure battery do you have?

Which setting do you have the fridge on?

 

[Black Pearl]

Something else I’ll have to research now!

Cheers.