Portable Fridge Options

[Kev.O]

I have a separate 200w panel, the fridge pulls around 46w from memory. My Jackery is 1500w though the fridge when down to temperature isn’t on all the time so will comfortably last a couple of days with no solar.

When I travel in the van I have a rear 12v socket so plug the fridge in here, by the time I get to my destination the fridge doesn’t pull much when plugged in the Jackery (still using the 12v socket).

How long are you looking to run the fridge for?

 

[Andyf]

Want the option of say 5 to 7 days

Options

Buy a fridge with battery and a couple of other extra ones
Fridge and battery plus portable power
Fridge with portable power
Fridge and portable power plus solar

Andy

 

[Kev.O]

Hi Andy, will the fridge be in the van for the 5-7 days or will the fridge be kept outside the van, therefore making the option of solar easier?

 

[Kev.O]

Having used the Jackery and fridge properly over the weekend, I would suggest I could get a little over 3 days solid use from the charge without Solar. Hard to do the exact maths as I did inflate a few paddle boards, change a few phones and boil the kettle a couple of times.

Hope this helps someone in the future searching the thread.

 

[mattius]

How portable is the alpicool when loaded?

I'm torn, with already a dometic campervan fridge in our t6.1 conversion, we just need some extra cooling capacity for long trips.

In theory we can use the onboard fridge to cool iceblocks and keep something like a cooler cool.

But a decent cooler such as the yeti, is the same price as an alpicool

A yeti is arguably more portable, and I worry how much space the alpicool would take up in the living compartment.
Intrigued as to others solutions?

 

[Kev.O]

I took a fully loaded alpicool onto a beach the other day, managed it from the car park to most of the rocky beach where I opted to have a hand to lift it to avoid damage from the pebbles on the bottom of it.

 

[d8smt]

So as promised, a quick update on the X50 performance.

Just been round Europe in a heatwave with this fridge and used it as a supplemental fridge to my installed Domestic CRX50. It performed very well. In a nutshell:

- the CRX had a problem whereby the second coolest selling is a little cold (2 degrees) and the third setting is about 9 degrees. Nothing in-between, and so in high heat you get stuff that is too cold out to warm (eg fruit) plus a lot of condensation water in the fridge. Not so with the Alpicool, the fridge temperature was always within 2 degrees of the display temperature (it was already 1 degree it when I bought it and tested it in UK).

- Both fridges very quiet, didn't notice them when sleeping in the van

- the Alpicool does use a bit more current/battery especially overnight. The CRX is rated at 40W, and the Alpicool 60W. In reality, the CRX used an average of 3 - 3.5Ah per hour of battery, overnight tested in an 11 hour period evening to morning, setting no2, temperatures 34 degrees to 25 degrees overnight. The Alpicool, on a 5 degree setting, used 4.5 - 5.5Ah per hour. So overall through Germany in a heatwave, about 8Ah was utilised by both fridges (reasonably well filled) averages hourly overnight, compared to the equivalent of 5.5-6Ah when I'm the UK under lower summer temperatures (17-25 degrees C).