Camping Fridge

Steve

Valued Member
Premium Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2013
Messages
670
Location
Brisbane Australia
I've just started a new job and as such my new office is somewhat isolated from amenities.
My great idea was to get one of those 12v camping fridges that I can sit in my office to keep my lunch and drinks cool during the day. Then on the weekend when I head off camping I can throw it in the car and away I go.
At work it would run off 240v (as I assume they would come with an adapter) so I wouldn't have to worry about power.
Its my birthday in just over a month or Xmas is just around the corner so I have a couple of opportunities to get something I really want instead of a new shirt or jocks! :clip:
It's a win/win for me as i have always wanted a fridge, I need one at work, the wife is happy to fork out for one as a present, and it perfect for camping. (and just think, it gives me an excuse to look at a second battery setup for the 4x4 and more gadgets......) :idea:


Now I haven't done any research yet but I thought it might be a good idea to put the question out there and see if anyone has any experience in these, good or bad, and give some insight into what I should look for as far as functionality, price, brands, accessories, specials, etc etc goes. I'm not sure on size either as I will really need to get into a shop and check them out in the flesh.

Happy to hear anyones thoughts.:twothumbsup:
 

Mark

Founder
Staff member
Premium Member
GOLD
Joined
May 27, 2012
Messages
5,192
Location
Bellmere, QLD
Website
www.selfsufficientme.com
Climate
Sub-Tropical
I know there's several great brands of portable fridges out there and that they are pretty expensive! I don't have a camping fridge and have never owned one but that's only because after years of Army life I'm kind of "camped out" for the moment anyway and we tend to only do the odd overnight-er travelling very light with a good esky.

However, I used to always stock Engel fridges in my transport store and found them to be very reliable. There was a time in my career when I was posted to a civilian liaison unit in the NT as part of about 6 teams who's area of responsibility was the whole of Northern Australia. I was part of a team and also the unit's transport manager (with a really great budget) so I kitted out our Landcruisers (about 12) with all the latest gear including Engel fridges.

In my case, for a good part of 2 years my team would travel our AO from Cairns to Cape York and through to Thursday Island for up to 8 weeks at a time and I never remember our Engel fridge failing us. We really put all our gear and vehicles through hell on those corrugated Cape roads, dust, sand, mud, and water but always had a cold drink and BBQ meat at the end of the day - awesome. :)

So I guess Engel as a brand of portable fridge sticks in my mind and if I were to go and buy one today it would be a brand I would definitely look at first but then I can't say I have had any real experience with other brands of camping fridges so my opinion is bias.
 

stevo

nativebeehives.com
Premium Member
GOLD
Joined
Jun 13, 2013
Messages
1,804
Location
Clontarf, Qld
Website
nativebeehives.com
Climate
Sub-Tropical
This could add up to be an expensive present :birthday:

If you google you'll find lots of debate about Engel or Waeco so they're the main ones, i'd look at ARB aswell. My ARB 47L was about $900 from memory, and they were all around the same price.

My fridge has been running non stop for atleast a year. Fridge/freezer means you can either cool stuff OR freeze stuff, or have icy drinks. You can't cool stuff and freeze at the same time stuff unless you get a big fridge with separate compartments. So you can't take icecream camping unless you want frozen beer aswell.

as you've already mentioned:
You'll also have to look at how you're going to power it when camping, i'd really avoid running it from your one and only starter battery? If you do, raise the temp on the fridge so it's not working too hard, and drive the car a couple times a day, which you might do anyway if you're driving around touring. Get a voltage meter on your battery, or you can charge a deep cycle battery at home, chuck it in the car for the weekend and it could run the fridge for the weekend, or get it connected as a second battery.... just charged from the car, or... solar panels... what are we up to now... $2000 ? :whistles:

and always keep the fridge full, if you don't have anything to put in it, put 2L coke bottles full of water, this makes the fridge work less. If the fridge is empty it will be on again off again all the time.

Maybe avoid ones that are too big. It might seem cool to get a huge one, but they are a pain to move and take up all your camping gear space.
 
Last edited:

stevo

nativebeehives.com
Premium Member
GOLD
Joined
Jun 13, 2013
Messages
1,804
Location
Clontarf, Qld
Website
nativebeehives.com
Climate
Sub-Tropical
When I first got my fridge I had heaps of trouble and thought it was the fridges fault, but as usual it turned out to be user error. I just set it to zero degrees running it from a normal car battery, and when the battery voltage went down the fridge would cut out because it has a low voltage cut out setting, and then the battery voltage would rise because it had no load, then the fridge would start again, and this would go on for hours, took me a while to work out what was happening. I ended up buying a good deep cycle battery and that fixed everything.
 

Tim C

Two heads are better than one
Premium Member
GOLD
Joined
Aug 6, 2014
Messages
445
If you have a good deep-cycle battery, then a bar fridge with handles on it will do the same job. My little Samsung has bounced along some of the most unforgiving roads in Australia. It runs through an 80w Waeco inverter, which is better than a 300w chinese one. My 2 Engels are home in the garage. Even with the expensive slide tray, you can't get to them without unloading the stuff off the top. The same fridge I have running at -3c for my auxillary freezer at the moment. Never rely on a cig-lighter plug, either direct wire or alligator clips. Just a poor bush-mechanics view.
 

Tim C

Two heads are better than one
Premium Member
GOLD
Joined
Aug 6, 2014
Messages
445
Hi Steve and Stevo. If you want to avoid batteries altogether, there is a little circuit I stumbled upon called the Mini-maximiser. It will run a 12v 6a load direct from a solar panel. A panel connected directly will only produce constantly 1/10th its power, but near 100% with his circuit.
For loads larger than 6 amps you can either parallel multiple units or up-size the active components(probably more expensive).
 

Tim C

Two heads are better than one
Premium Member
GOLD
Joined
Aug 6, 2014
Messages
445
Very good Mark!~Hi again. Yeah, someones making them. Pretty good profit for $2.50 in parts !! I might have to belt a couple out!
I am just starting to etch my own circuit boards, by hand, but need a laser printer to professionally print multiple etches. If you google it you should be able to find the whole article on building one, if anyone's interested. Yeah Mark, you'd probably just buy one, hey?:twothumbsup:
This one I made on a perf-board.
camera 360.jpg


I just had a look at my mini-maximiser. I used a BUK455 (40w dissipation) instead of BUK451(100w dissipation). They're about $7 ea. vs $1.50.
 
Last edited:

Mark

Founder
Staff member
Premium Member
GOLD
Joined
May 27, 2012
Messages
5,192
Location
Bellmere, QLD
Website
www.selfsufficientme.com
Climate
Sub-Tropical
I might have to belt a couple out!
I am just starting to etch my own circuit boards, by hand, but need a laser printer to professionally print multiple etches.
So you make it from scratch! Oh of course you did - how stupid of me :)

You know, you could make a sizeable business on eBay (fleabay as you call it) through selling things like this - Australian made too!

Anyway, very clever... Cheers
 

Tim C

Two heads are better than one
Premium Member
GOLD
Joined
Aug 6, 2014
Messages
445
Yeah between a few electronics and veg seeds I could turn a few bucks..but it's 15kms to the post office and regular despatch would be difficult without a car. I can just imagine getting back from the trek to find 2 or 3 more orders already arrived. But ultimately that is the plan. I can even be travelling around the Golden Triangle with the van in tow, all seeds and electronics on-board, doing mail-outs as I go.
 
Top Bottom