Look at the heavy duty trucker stuff. It gets used constantly, year after year after year, mile after mile after mile, and survives vibration, motion, and whatever lumps and bumps in the road.

If it's a POS, the product won't be around long, especially the way the economy has been treating OTR truckers.

 

Look at the heavy duty trucker stuff. It gets used constantly, year after year after year, mile after mile after mile, and survives vibration, motion, and whatever lumps and bumps in the road.

If it's a POS, the product won't be around long, especially the way the economy has been treating OTR truckers.

This ^

 

look at those with a 12V compressor... not the cheaper thermoelectric ones... the compressor ones are highly efficient and yes they cost a bit more but they work great

 

Yes, the thermoelectric ones use a lot of power, and cannot keep things safely cold in hot weather.

 

What brands are you specifically looking at? Not all are made equal. Some will do a decent job at keeping food and drink cool/cold in a very stable environment. Others are made to still function on a constant basis while at off camber angles. They are very rugged and can take a lot of abuse. They will get extremely cold and make ice of you during the summer if that's what you are after. They also come with dual temp zones that work very well. I have an Engel brand that has run consistently for years now with zero issues. I have left them plugged in for months at a time with no issues. Some of the freezer/fridges from companies like ARB are very nice but in my opinion are still way over priced for what you are getting. I'm not knocking them as they are quality made but I think you can get another brand that does the same thing for a whole lot less money. You are going to pay more for these of course but I am often of the school of thought to purchase the best possible thing I can reasonably afford. If I don't have the money I'll save it up to get what I need.

 

Basically there are 2 types of 12v cooling out there, as other have mentioned. Actual compressor units like your home fridge that have a compressor motor and refrigerant. Then there are the thermo-electric units using Peltier-effect cooling with little more than a fan.
The compressor units will get much cooler and stay cooler, even in brutal heat, but they are more expensive. Overall they use less electricity. The Thermo-Electric units draw alot of electricity 24/7. They do not cycle on and off like the compressor units. They also are limited to generally being able to cool only about 40 degrees less than the ambient temperature. If you are in a 100 degree car than means cooling to about 60 degrees. Not cool enough for food safety.
The Thermo-electric coolers are good for short-term use, like transporting cold food from the grocery store on a long trip home, or keeping pre-chilled foods cooler on road-trips. I have several of them in various sizes.
I have modified a few of my thermo-electric coolers to have much more powerful fans on the hot side to vent off the heat produced. It makes the units cool about 10-20 degrees better. I also find that they work best with pre-chilled food/drinks in them. They are power hungry and need to be connected to a vehicle's 12v system to draw power when the engine is running. They will draw down a starting battery in a few hours if the engine is not running.
I would like to get a 12v compressor unit, but they are so expensive. Right now for off-grid, I use large auxiliary batteries, a pure sine-wave inverter and standard 120v AC dorm fridge(s)

 

Basically there are 2 types of 12v cooling out there, as other have mentioned. Actual compressor units like your home fridge that have a compressor motor and refrigerant. Then there are the thermo-electric units using Peltier-effect cooling with little more than a fan.
The compressor units will get much cooler and stay cooler, even in brutal heat, but they are more expensive. Overall they use less electricity. The Thermo-Electric units draw alot of electricity 24/7. They do not cycle on and off like the compressor units. They also are limited to generally being able to cool only about 40 degrees less than the ambient temperature. If you are in a 100 degree car than means cooling to about 60 degrees. Not cool enough for food safety.
The Thermo-electric coolers are good for short-term use, like transporting cold food from the grocery store on a long trip home, or keeping pre-chilled foods cooler on road-trips. I have several of them in various sizes.
I have modified a few of my thermo-electric coolers to have much more powerful fans on the hot side to vent off the heat produced. It makes the units cool about 10-20 degrees better. I also find that they work best with pre-chilled food/drinks in them. They are power hungry and need to be connected to a vehicle's 12v system to draw power when the engine is running. They will draw down a starting battery in a few hours if the engine is not running.
I would like to get a 12v compressor unit, but they are so expensive. Right now for off-grid, I use large auxiliary batteries, a pure sine-wave inverter and standard 120v AC dorm fridge(s)

What he said. ^^^

Look up Peltier device and read how they work.

"In refrigeration applications, thermoelectric junctions have about 1/4 the efficiency compared to conventional (vapor compression refrigeration) means: they offer around 10–15% efficiency (COP of 1.0–1.5) of the ideal Carnot cycle refrigerator, compared with 40–60% achieved by conventional compression-cycle systems"​

​

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_cooling#Performance

​

​

They use a lot of power for a little cooling.

 

How does a 110v unit with an inverter compare to a 12v unit in terms of energy usage?

 

I have an old dorm-size Magic Chef fridge running from a homemade solar "generator". It draws 80 watts when running, but since it switches on and off to hold the proper temp, it averages 25 watts an hour in a normal room environment.

In contrast, a small (4-beer) travel cooler from Walmart pulls about 4 amps continuously. So about 48 watts/hour. The fridge stays at 33 degrees, the best the cooler can do is "ok for a drink" cool, not so good for tuna sammiches, and no good at all for ice cream.
Lots of room in the fridge, not so much in the cooler.

 

We have the lower cost option with our Coleman thermo cooler. It has been run two weeks straight twice a year for 4+ years with no issues. I do freeze a 1/2 gallon jug of water to use as an ice cube without creating the water in the unit and this has really made it work very well in 90+ F heat. We also pre-cool it in the house with the A/C adapter before packing it up for travel.

 

Not much difference. A good quality compressor unit like Dometic pulls 55 watts while running on 12 v. My fridge uses 24 watts, and the inverter adds 20 watts. The real difference is the capacity and the cost. My fridge currently costs $200 at Home Depot. The Dometic is $950 at Amz. Dometic would be much more convenient for use in a car, but in a cabin or a camper, I'd rather have the extra $750.

 

the Dometic I looked at only uses 36W... but it's only a number... what matter is how many Ah it uses per day... ;-) which is why fridges over here is listed by the daily and yearly consumption numbers.

 

I would think those would also be "only numbers" - don't both depend on the surrounding temperature and how often they are opened and other variables?

 

I have two Dometic "coolers" temperature can be set between -8f to +50°f ... Mine are 7 years old, one is a 28 qt size the other is a 40 qt size ... They can run on either 12 or 24 volt DC, or 120 volt AC ... Mine run over 360 days a year as a long distance over the road truck driver.

I use the 28 qt set at 0°f for my freezer, and the 40 qt set at 34°f for my fridge.

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The thermo electric coolers at the truck stops only lasted me around a year ... And never really kept my stuff as cold as I liked ... They only reduce the inside air by about 35°f from whatever the outside air it is in.

 

I have an Engel fridge which can also be used as a freezer. It is over 15 years old. My husband used it in his semi-truck travelling across Australia for several years. Now I use it at home as an extra fridge or freezer during holiday times or during harvest when I have an excess of produce to store. I've lent it to my Brother in law for camping and we used to use it for camping ourselves. I've had it going continuously for several months at a time with no issue, either fridge or freezer mode. It's brilliant.

 

I have an Engle that I've had for years running 24/7. Engle is the best on the market and there's nothing else even close. I also have a cheap Bodetta fridge/freezer in my van and it works fine, but when used as a freezer, it SUCKs electricity. I have a a 110 freezer running off an inverter that uses about 500 watts a day on average. If you have the battery capacity, a 110 freezer is fine, they use more power, but they are about a tenth the price of an equivalent DC freezer, and much easier to replace if it dies.

 

As stated above; the thermo-electric are a waste of $$$$$. Use a lot of power, don't get cold and don't last.

110v on inverter work, but are hard on alternator and battery.

12v compressor will keep cold and last for years.

We tried all 3, while driving a truck.

 

Bought mine last November. Been running it a good amount of time. Works great.

 

 

I run mine off my 12v Auxiliary battery in my truck.

 

Timely thread,as I'm going kinda this route.Work truck has 2x100 watt panels,2 L/A batteries and invertor.Been spending abot 9$ a week for ice in my cooler(in Fl.)
I had the stuff for the solar set-up,installed it on the truck for the heck of it..so I see ads for used little dorm fridges..50-75$..going to try that.New ones aren't much more..125$ and up.
Just need to keep water cold/cool,and my brown bag lunch and snacks..so figure 50 bucks is worth a shot.
If it dosen't work,well,I got a beer fridge for the garage.
Prices seem coming down for the 12vdc coolers..same for the Yeti knock-off coolers..but I'm going to give the mini fridge a shot for 50$.

 

Many years ago I was working on a trade for a marine 12vac fridge. A buddy of mine was in the maritime appliance industry; It fell through. At almost the same time I was successful trading for a 7cuft Dometic RV fridge. It's recovery time after fanning the doors and adding room temperature food (think leftovers or produce) is pretty bad. It does freeze water in our unconditioned garage in the summertime. After initial cool down time, it would stay 40* & +5* in freezer. Ice cream would be frozen but soft. It could easily freeze fresh meat. It's a backup to our backup for refrigeration. Calculated, it will run about 28 days on a BBQ propane tank.

I would still like to get my old wrinkly hands on a 12vdc compressor fridge, I'll take the 5 cubic foot model.

 

I've got lots of experience with these fridge/freezers and can attest to their durability and use. I currently have an Engel and a Dometic but additional brands like (National Luna - top shelf), ARB, and Snomaster make great units. They are adjustable from fridge temps to freezer temps and some are dual zone/compartments do you can do both. They are 12v and 110 and come with plugs for both. They're designed to use in vehicles but often times the factory wiring for cigarette lighter plugs are a bit insufficient and are keyed hot. I typically wire in my own plug from the battery when needed. Great units for prepping. A battery box with a solar panel makes it a great unit in grid down applications.

 

I have four 4x4 fridge freezer, The 1st one I bought around 2015 and they all are worth their weight in gold,

I am going to buy a National Luna in a few months because I need a side opening fridge but all the others still work fine, The small one can use as little as 82w per 24 hours and even the biggets one which is 78L / 82 Quarts is pretty good on power in fridge mode and is good when used as a freezer, The key to saving power is to set them at -12*c OR 10*f for camping Trips if yout only going for 3 or 4 weeks or so, You don't need to set them down at -18*c / 0*f unless you are using it for long term storage IE 3 months or more. On a 1 or 2 month road trip you don't need it that Low.

Also when set to -12*c / 10*f you can keep frozen food in the main area and the Dairy area will stiil stay around 0*c / 32*f which will make a single Bin model work as a Duel Zone saving power in the process where as a True Duel Bin model will chew more power than using a Single Bin model this way. In Australia we do this all the time when we head in to the Outback for months at a time when using limited solar power,

 

I have four 4x4 fridge freezer, The 1st one I bought around 2015 and they all are worth their weight in gold,

I am going to buy a National Luna in a few months because I need a side opening fridhe but all the others still work fine, The small one can use as little as 82w per 24 hours and even the biggets one which is 78L / 82 Quarts is pretty good on power in fridge mode and is good when used as a freezer, The key to saving power is to set them at -12*c OR 10*f for camping Trips if yout only going for 3 or 4 weeks or so, You don't need to set them down at -18*c / 0*f unless you are using it for long term storage IE 3 months or more. On a 1 or 2 month road trip you don't need it that Low.

Also when set to -12*c / 10*f you can keep frozen food in the main area and the Dairy area will stiil stay around 0*c / 32*f which will make a single Bin model work as a Duel Zone saving power in the process whaere as a True Duel Bin model will chew more power than using a Single Bin model this way. In Australia we do this all the time when we head in to the Outback for months at a time when using limited solar power,

What is a 4 x 4?

 

I use this one in my semi. I'd say it runs steady for 25 days every month. My first one lasted 2 years but mine sees a lot of use and the vibration and rough roads are hard on em.

I've yet to find a mini fridge that lasts much longer either and I've tried several. The magic chef seems to be going strong though.

 

I use this one in my semi. I'd say it runs steady for 25 days every month...

Have been using this puppy on / off for road trips since last June in our Diesel Sprinter... BougeRV 12 Volt Refrigerator Portable Car Freezer 53 Quart Fridge 12V/24V DC 110~240 Volt AC ..So far, So good..

..Solid-little compressor, and I like the 'multi-tap power options' (12/24V DC or AC, when avail..) and we also got the 'cover'..

Fwiw..
jd

 

I am power testing my small fridge and if you look at the first picture you will see that the power brick using it on AC is consuming 0.7w per hour, In the second picture you will see that the fridge and the power brick has consumed 69 watts in 21 hours which is very impressive But if I run it on 12v DC then 21 X 0,7 watts = 14.7 watts if you deduct that from the 69watts means the fridge has used 54.3 watts in 21 hour / divide that by 21hours means the fridge is using 2.58571428571 watts per hour, Times that by 24 hours means it will use a total of 62.0571428570 Watts per 24 hours when run on 12v direct.

62.057w for 24 hours is pretty incredible,

,

 

Is this for a vehicle? Small cabin? Household use?

For something a little bigger, what I'd think of as "household use", Sunfrost has always looked appealing with energy efficiency and they're available in 12vdc, 24vdc, 48vdc, 110vac, or 220vac. I believe there are a couple of other brands out there that are super efficient.

If you have short runs of wire for DC hookup, it doesn't get much more efficient than that. When the runs start getting longer, AC starts to look more attractive. And it's amazing how quickly what seems like a really short distance turns out to be 50' or more of wire.

 

Is this for a vehicle? Small cabin? Household use?

For something a little bigger, what I'd think of as "household use", Sunfrost has always looked appealing with energy efficiency and they're available in 12vdc, 24vdc, 48vdc, 110vac, or 220vac. I believe there are a couple of other brands out there that are super efficient.

If you have short runs of wire for DC hookup, it doesn't get much more efficient than that. When the runs start getting longer, AC starts to look more attractive. And it's amazing how quickly what seems like a really short distance turns out to be 50' or more of wire.

If you go up in wire size DC can work well. But the key to using DC is to keep the Runs as short as possible.

 

Mine is 45L … the freezer keeps ice cream frozen and the refrigerator keeps beer ice cold.
Perfect for me

 

Mine is 45L … the freezer keeps ice cream frozen and the refrigerator keeps beer ice cold.
Perfect for me

Well I suppose you have the necessities covered: Beer and Ice Cream.... 😁

 

Years. For the true refrigerator/freezer ones.

There is a difference between the "cooler" type versions (complete waste of money, IMO), and the true refrigerator / freezers. Compressor run, vs extremely inefficient thermal paneling.

We run a dometic brand 12V (compressor) in the kitchen for extra convenient freezer capacity, next to the regular kitchen household fridge / freezer. Been running continuously for about 5 years, the few truck camp trips aside.

Made an insulation cover & lid for it about 10 years ago now. Cover is reflectix insulation, with a tan heavy duty fabric glued to the relectix.

Have a remote sensor with the readout velcroed to our kitchen fridge/freezer. Runs about -25C when set at -16C if not opened much. Trucks along at -16C if we're in & out if it frequently.