[vermin]

Hi Guys,

When I get back from overseas I am going to mod my car out as a bit more of a tourer with rear shelves etc...

I would like to purchase a 40l frigdge, but I am not sure what I should use to power it.

Originally I was thinking petrol generator, but now I am leaning toward a battery setup.

Has anyone got some advice for me? Was thinking either dual battery in engine bay or running a portable battery from the rear of the vehicle.

How long would a good setup power the fridge for if the car is just sitting there...

[shep]

i have a 58amp battery on a solenoid and it will keep my 40ltr engel at -5 for
2 and a half days i am going to put a 80w solar panel on the roof which
should extend the run time considerably.

[vermin]

Would a place like battery world be a goer as I have no idea how to set it up properly.

[mrw82]

from my experience, steer well clear of battery world. your better off finding a good auto electrician.

[royce]

Auto electricians dont know about this stuff cause tis not a recon alternator or starter

all the Fridge manufacturers will tell you about power draw and so on to work out what you need, but it simply comes down to fit the biggest AGM battery you can afford and or fit and live with it, if thats not enough run time then solar is a good addition if you arent moving a lot

[vermin]

Cool - thanks for the advice.

Will hunt around for a good battery specialist that can help.

I am going with a 40l Waeco or Engel.

[Zook_Fan]

You could get one of these:

http://www.engelaustralia.com.au/cgi-bi ... ny=battpak

They are a pretty good unit and were built for exactly your purpose. If you want a cheap one I could supply one (still brand new), it would still come well under that price with postage. PM me if interested.

[mightymouse]

Try to get information from a mobile home site

[Zook_Fan]

oh and for the record, buy an engel. the 40lt engel runs at 2.5amp/hour where as the waeco is somewhere around ~4.2amp/hour. waeco won't actually tell you that, there website talks shit about an "average power consumption" which has little relevance to anything. the exact figure is on a sticker underneath the fridge if you want to have a look but it is terrible compared to the engel.

Engel is more efficient, stronger, a hell of a lot more reliable and the guys actually stand by their product.

[Ben_Sierra]

Amps per hour as a measurement makes no sense whatsoever...

And average power consumption is everything... Thats what matters when it comes to battery life, not which has the highest peak power consumption...

[theroadrunner]

for some good advice go to a bcf store and there is plenty of fridge/freezers to look at, if you are leaving the fridge in the 4wd a dual battery setup is the best, if your looking for a gen get a yamaha there about the best on the market

[Zook_Fan]

No. Average power consumption is fucking useless. you cannot tell me that waeco know exactly what my climate is and exactly how long my fridge is going to run on any given day. all their website tells you is if the ambient temperature remains at a constant all day, don't know about you but that doesn't happen here, then you will get an average draw of 0.89amps or some crap.

you need to work out roughly how long the fridge will run where ever YOU are going to use the fridge not where waeco decide to stick for their independant test. i know for our climate that both the engel and waeco will run between 10-12 hours during summer, if it not locked in a car and the other infinite variables that can change it. This means that the engel will draw 25-30 amps in the day where as the waeco will draw 42-50.4 amps. Thats a pretty big difference if you ask me... Granted this is only if the fridges are running at full consumption, which they wont but they do generally sit on a constant rate around .2-.3amp/hour below that. The fluctuation is very little.

As for generators yamaha are the best on the market. The 2kVa unit is very quiet and by far the most economical around.

[Ben_Sierra]

No figures from any manufacturer can be relied on to provide exact figures for every condifiotn. I find it very hard to believe that Waeco fridges will use almost twice the power as an Engel to do exactly the same job.

Unless of course the insulation in the Waeco is bad, or it is letting heat in somewhere...

[Zook_Fan]

why do you think they put the sticker underneath the fridge but engel slap it on the side?

they do let heat in. the seal on waeco's is nothing but compressed foam, engel use a proper fridge seal.

also engel use a swing motor. it is totally unique and is amazingly efficient. the compressor the waeco use is no where near as impressive but it gets the job done, it just takes more.

there is little difference between the two insulation wise and both have a lot better insulation when the transit bag is used.

seriously do some reading on the engels and you will see. the biggest thing that defines the engel's economy is the motor.

[eldo]

There are a few auto elecs on this forum so I'm sure one of them can give you decent advice. I personally would not use bcf for advice. Generator wise I would stick with Honda, they are proven performer and there are alot more Honda dealers verses yamaha dealers . I
sure that yamaha have been playing catch up with the technology for some time now so their product is probably ok these days

[Red89]

Pm Zbeast on P4x4, he owns and runs Custom Car and Boat Electrics. He will be able to give you advice on what suits your needs, without trying to sell you something.

As for the fridge, my Waeco can run on my cheapish single battery setup for 3 days straight in mid 30's without any problems. I would happily get another one.

[89_tintop]

I have recently done this set up in my dads car... I researced what would be the best set up overall as the car is set up for touring but the fridge goes alot more then just camping/touring.

We ended up with a dual battery for the car (was factory fitted dual battery to begin with) isolated one battery using a solenoid and put in a deep cycle battery that was purchased from battery world.

When we chose the battery we looked at how long it would run the fridge before it needed to be charged, and also how long it would take to recharge the battery back up. We went with a battery that wouldn't run it as long ( o ly a few hours overall) but would recharge within an hour from fully dicharged to fully charged just by runnng the car.

This setup hasn't been tested that much since being installed but the couple of time it has we are getting close to 3 days without charge. With a drive up the beach or just start the car and idle it for a while it increases the time.

The fridge is a waeco
battery is a AGM Deka seamate and rv absorbed glass mat battery.
92ah@20 hour

[Built4thrashing]

Ive just recently bought a fridge and after looking into both brands i went for a Waeco purely on price and the fact it had its own built in battery. the waeco was almost $400 cheaper.
its only a 31 ltr but the added bonus of the built in battery which when ignition is turned off or battery goes flat the built in one takes over, (will run fridge for 12hrs @ 3 degs or so they claim. ) then when ignition is turned back on fridge goes back to car bettery and starts charging built in battery.

Engels are a better designed fridge but when price is an issue the waeco wins hands down.

B4T

[theroadrunner]

There is a fridge/ freezer on the market that is far better which is the evercool (icemate) the only draw back with it is that it runs on 12v only

[royce]

hehe zook fan you are so far wrong I am not suprised that all your knowledge of this is from an engel rep

Waeco will tell you the average consumption of its fridges in various ambient temps (and average meaning a measurment over a time period) so you can work your battery capacity (again something measured over a time period)

Danfoss the company is a million times bigger than engel and its pissy swing motor, a bd35 or 50 can be bought and fitted anywhere by any fridge mechanic, hell you can even get Chinese knock offs, the swing motor breaks you have to replace THE ENTIRE COOLING UNIT cause its sealed from the factory

I have found in QLD Winter 40 ah/hrs of battery lasts a weekend easy, in Summer you need closer to 100 and throw all that out the window if you wish to keep putting hot stuff in or leave the car closed up in the sun or not have it totally full

amd a 10watt panel will keep any bd35 powered fridge going easy

[Schnerb]

i havent read through the rest of the thread, but i have an old chescold 3 way fridge. its bloody brilliant, i inherited it from my grandparents caravaning days... its got 12v for in the car. then at camp it runs on gas (4.5kg bottle should last a week or so) and then when there is power, there is always the 240v. the gas wont freeze things, but its cold enough to keep ice frozen, and to chill anything easily. im sure the newer models might be a touch better. wouldnt go camping without it!