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Portable fridge

17 years ago

Does anyone know of a good portable fridge? I'm looking for one that does not run off the car battery, but rather a seperate 12v battery. Is there even such a thing? I just realized that buying ice while camping is costing us at least $35 for a two week camping trip, that's just too much money to spend to keep the ketchup and mayo cold!

Thanks for the tips.

PC

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Comments (7)

tplife
17 years ago
prarieclover, the ones that run off the car battery will plug into a "auto booster" that looks like a lunchbox and retails for around $ 50.00 at WallyWorld. It's portable and recharged from the wall or through your vehicle. Although they look small inside, they don't waste room on ice. What we do is use dry ice (buy it at the "factory" or from a grocery store) for the frozen marinated meats and a smaller cooler with wet ice for drinks. Hope this information will help.
hippy
17 years ago
PC
It would be a little more helpful to know the type of camping you do and what mode of transportation you use before suggesting anything.
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Thanks for the info Sid! I have zones set up already as part of some electrical upgrades that were performed and this allows me to run my gasoline generator (Honda EU3000, great little generator by the way) and power the house when the electric company misbehaves. I considered a Natural gas generator but for the cost, I would prefer to start going solar and will have my little generator in cause of a super emergency. My roof does not have shading but I do love the Sunflower and tracking solar although the cost versus value is debatable for my situation. Really I am just doing Grid tied because I can't afford to go off grid at once. Most of the grid tied credits are almost a wash in my area. Your statement is exactly how grid tied works in my area. I am actually on the waiting list for a Powerwall. It is both a backup battery and can function as a huge UPS for power fluctuations. I have noticed more and more power fluctuations in the last three months. All my major appliances and the electronics are attached to Modified or Pure Sine Wave UPS. They beep randomly when they kick in due to unstable power. For battery backup, I was actually looking at the salt water based batteries from someone like Aquion. Safety and lack of management like AGMs was my main motivation. The batteries will be in a storage space in the home. They are still quite expensive so I hope over time, they come down in price. The charge controller and inverter will be my biggest expense. Still have to make a decision whether I want to roof mount the solar or go with a tracking solar pole mount. Looking at the logic of this approach in my region. Also need to read the rules for my county about tracking solar. I know there was some hoopla a while ago about wind turbines. Thanks for all your feedback so far.
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PrairieClover
Original Author
17 years ago
We do mostly car camping. We have a small 1970's bare-bones pop-up tent trailer. I'm looking for a small fridge that would hold a bit of fresh meat milk, cheese, and some condements. I don't want one that plugs into the car battery via the ciggarette holder because we already use that outlet for the CD player (older car too).
PC
hippy
17 years ago
May wish to look into Battery Isolator Kits. They can be gotten for around $30 and up.

They connect to the cars alternator with one wire. Then a wire is ran to the battery that starts the engine. The other "aux" side goes to an auxiliary battery that can be used to run the fridge or any other 12 volt products from cell phones to 12VDC/120VAC inverters.

With these systems. Your cars starter battery will stay fully charged. While the auxiliary battery can be used until it is dead.

They work best when used with two batteries rated at the same CCA (cold cranking amps).
tplife
17 years ago
Sorry, I couldn't paste my photo of the Solar-powered Yugo and its 300-square-foot collector grid, but I would stick with Hippy's option for serious power reserve.
rustyj14
17 years ago
Why not get a large solar panel, mount it over the camper while driving, to keep a battery charged in the trailer. then at night, before setting up, turn the panel up, lock it in place, set up the camper, and enjoy yer beer, etc.
but--be prepared to answer lots of questions!
rustyj14
17 years ago
Just thought of several other ideas:
Rig up an alternator to be driven by one wheel of the trailer, via a rubber wheel running against the tire. Or, mount an alternator on a platform, with a fan on it, to be run by the air you pass thru while driving along! You'd have to make sure it turned the correct way, to charge the battery! And, have something to shut off the charging when battery was fully charged! Didn't some airplanes have a wind driven generator, mounted on the outside of the plane?
Rustyj

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