Coolers, Iceboxes and 12 V refridgerators

2nd Hand Yank · Post by **2nd Hand Yank** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 2:28 am

G'day guys,

I was wondering if anyone here has personal experience with any of these, for use in cars (Subarus

)

I'm thinking I'd prefer an icebox, maybe a 25L one
as they seem a good compromise between chill-performance and volume-vs.-price.
I thought about a styrofoam one, but I think I'd probably abuse it too much with all the stuff I pack into my wagon.

I'd like to leave food and drinks in my car for days at a time, grab something when the mood suits.
I don't want to have to load up a cooler every day that I might want a picnic lunch at the beach.

Pretty soon I'll need something in my car to keep cold groceries from spoiling quickly.

Are any brands of iceboxes better than others for ice-retention?

I had a Coleman X-Treme cooler back in Canada that worked very well.
But they don't make the X-Treme in the size that I want.
I'd like to leave something behind the front seats on the floor.

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 6:26 am

Tropical Ice Box are the go
www.tropicaliceboxes.com

2nd Hand Yank · Post by **2nd Hand Yank** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 8:47 am

Gannon wrote:Tropical Ice Box are the go
www.tropicaliceboxes.com

Not available for online shopping.

Who carries them?
What makes them special?

Bryan1 · Post by **Bryan1** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 8:59 am

The main problem with eskies in vehicles is when it is 42C in the shade outdoors car interiors heat up even more. So trying to keep food under 5C is going to take a decent refrigeration source. Power this by your main starting battery and soon you find find the battery is dead and you won't be going anywhere. Now one can install a deep cycle battery to power the ice box when the vehicle isn't going but some smarts will be needed.

Also think of the size of the icebox, do you really need a huge one as the power needed to cool such a large area will be huge. Now if one really wants a diehard fridge in their car one can get 8-32 volt fridge compressors.
We have one powering our house 290 litre fridge on a separate 24 volt batterybank.

Get a fridge mechanic to convert an esky and the power draw will be a heap lower only if a heap of external insulation is around the esky (think 150mm or more). A deep cycle battery will be needed and think in the 200AH or more range so yea the size of that said battery will be bigger than any esky.

All in all a decent fridge can made to put in a subi but due to the cost of the setup this would only be for the diehards.

Cheers Bryan

vincentvega · Post by **vincentvega** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 9:19 am

Its really not that difficult..

25L / 35L Waeco fridge
50 - 100AH AGM battery
dual battery management system. can be as simple or as complicated as you like.

I run a 50L waeco from a 75AH absorbed power AGM. easily gives me a few days of refrigeration without charging and when you are touring it gets topped up every day anyway. works great and no fridge mechanic required

2nd Hand Yank · Post by **2nd Hand Yank** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 7:38 pm

How is the insulation on fridges like Waeco?
If the insulation is thick it might not matter I only top it up while driving.
Use it to extend the ice. (a few thin ice packs, lunch box sized)

I'm thinking a 25L fridge might be out of my price range.
It's mostly just for myself and I don't know how much use I'd get out of it.
I was eyeing some 14-15L fridges though.

A 25L icebox or cooler is probably the smallest I'd want, since I'd be using heaps of ice.

I'd be content with something that will have ice more than 50% frozen after 24 hrs, during a 40 C day clear day, with zero shade for my L Series. I have the darkest legal window tint all around, (but a tint strip on windscreen) so that should help a bit.

2nd Hand Yank · Post by **2nd Hand Yank** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 7:39 pm

vincentvega wrote:Its really not that difficult..

25L / 35L Waeco fridge
50 - 100AH AGM battery
dual battery management system. can be as simple or as complicated as you like.

I run a 50L waeco from a 75AH absorbed power AGM. easily gives me a few days of refrigeration without charging and when you are touring it gets topped up every day anyway. works great and no fridge mechanic required

What's an AGM battery?

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 8:24 pm

Wikipedia is your friend en.wikipedia.org/absorbed glass mat

AGM batteries are just like flooded lead acid batteries, except the electrolyte is being held in the glass mats, as opposed to freely flooding the plates. Very thin glass fibers are woven into a mat to increase surface area enough to hold sufficient electrolyte on the cells for their lifetime. The fibers that compose the fine glass mat do not absorb nor are affected by the acidic electrolyte they reside in. These mats are wrung out 2–5% after being soaked in acids, prior to manufacture completion and sealing. The AGM battery can now accumulate more acid than is available, and never spill a drop.

Wagonman · Post by **Wagonman** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 12:09 am

Im glad some one brought this up.. Im almost up to the point of setting up my Ruby with dual batteries and a Engel fridge.

I had a icebox.. but i found they still only last a day in the car in the Aussie heat and the bags of ice almost justified the price of something better.

Anyone know how reliable a standard EJ22 alternator will be with a dual battery set-up running a Engel?

Wagonman

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 9:39 am

It will be fine, as long as you have a dual battery controller to only allow your 2nd battery to discharge when the engine isnt running, and to control the rate of charge when the engine is on.

GOD · Post by **GOD** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 3:33 pm

Wagonman wrote: Anyone know how reliable a standard EJ22 alternator will be with a dual battery set-up running a Engel?

Wagonman

Running an Engel has nothing to do with alternators and battery setups. A fridge compressor draws <10A, i.e. bugger all.

I've charged dual and even triple batteries with standard EJ alternators. The alternators have been fine, but the crusty old L Series alternator to fuse box wiring got hot (especially when the auxiliary battery was close to dead flat), so I've upgraded that.

Gannon wrote:It will be fine, as long as you have a dual battery controller to only allow your 2nd battery to discharge when the engine isnt running, and to control the rate of charge when the engine is on.

Dual battery controllers might be nice to have, but a cheap 100A relay does the same thing in most cases. Can the smart ones limit inrush current when connecting a dead-flat battery?

Dane.

sven '2' · Post by **sven '2'** » Sun Sep 18, 2011 4:44 pm

vincentvega wrote:Its really not that difficult..

25L / 35L Waeco fridge
50 - 100AH AGM battery
dual battery management system. can be as simple or as complicated as you like.

I run a 50L waeco from a 75AH absorbed power AGM. easily gives me a few days of refrigeration without charging and when you are touring it gets topped up every day anyway. works great and no fridge mechanic required

Run the same fridge.

Fridge mechanics! What the? All done for you = Engel or Waeco (or others)

Brumby Kid · Post by **Brumby Kid** » Sun Sep 18, 2011 8:57 pm

How do you set up a dual battery system? Anyone got a diagram?

Cheers Cam

Tweety · Post by **Tweety** » Sun Sep 18, 2011 10:18 pm

I have such a set up in my trike (see conversions ea81 in trike automatic)

so both batteries charge as you drive and starter battery doesnt discharge too much.. I have a waeco caravan fridge in the van. works great.

Disadvantage- once you hook up a twin battery system you cant swap vehicles. eg putting the fridge in another vehicle you cant power it when you stop, not for long anyway.

you have to have two heavy wires form battery to the fridge.

D3V1L · Post by **D3V1L** » Sun Sep 18, 2011 11:59 pm

fridge and second batteryb for the win.

i got a 60l fridge, and a 105 ah agm battery. can run the fridge for 6 days before battery needs charging, but obviously driven every day is not a problem for it.

ill probably never use my trysty ice box again except in the boat for the fish

davo

2nd Hand Yank · Post by **2nd Hand Yank** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 8:20 am

Okay, sounds like a 14 L fridge might be worth the extra expense over a 25L icebox...

But how is the insulation on fridges, for when it isn't charging?

Can I unplug it from the car and take it to the beach, like an icebox
or is it too fragile, like blowing sand would stuff up the fridge?

That would be another downside if it could be easily damaged if I take it out of the car.
As well as, if it loses its much quicker than an icebox.

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 12:01 pm

You want to look at the Evakool, they are esky' with a fridge attached.

They are an awesome bit of gear and being fibreglass never smell like plastic or poly ones do. Trust me i have left raw fish in mine for days with a quick wipe out no smell.

http://www.evakool.com/home
http://www.evakoolstore.com/

2nd Hand Yank · Post by **2nd Hand Yank** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:34 pm

Thanks for the links.

Ice-Mate 26L might not be too big between the front and back seats.
They have "seconds" for sale at $59 plus $22 shipping.

Ice-Mate 26L weighs 5.0kg instead of Evacool's 3.0kg... yet they both claim up to 10 days of ice.
Where does the extra weight go? They say their Ice-Mate doesn't come with a basket or bungs.

Would Ice-Mate probably be better insulating,
or be much tougher so it'd be worth the added 2.0 kgs?

2nd Hand Yank · Post by **2nd Hand Yank** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:36 pm

Matt wrote:You want to look at the Evakool, they are esky' with a fridge attached. They are an awesome bit of gear and being fibreglass never smell like plastic or poly ones do. Trust me i have left raw fish in mine for days with a quick wipe out no smell.

http://www.evakool.com/home
http://www.evakoolstore.com/

Sounds fabulous never smelling like fish,

but I would need to re-arrange my wagon to fit a 40+L anything into it.
My wagon's boot is doubling as a mini-garage atm.

longy99gt · Post by **longy99gt** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 12:55 am

i second that motion with the evakool,
i have a 47L evakool fridge/freezer,
and two 60A/H batteries in the boot, runs for 2 days atleast without driving, or 4 days with moderate driving, and indefinately with solar panels,
I have been selling Engel, Waeco, and Evakool for 7 years now,
very happy with my choice, would pick the same fridge again any day,
the 10 day life on evakool.icemate ive boxes is accurate with block ice and sizes from around 40L and up, the 25 sizes would only be good for a few days, if your lucky, 25L isnt much, more food = less ice, less ice = shorter life. remember you'll need about 1/3 minimum ice/food ratio...so your 25L is down to 15L very quickly,