Bit overwhelmed with ARB fridge. Please help me set it up so I'm good to go?

[vision-quest]

Hey guys, I'm heading on a southern Utah/Northern Arizona road trip from Boulder, CO on Friday. I have recently bought a new 50qt ARB fridge. I'm wondering if you guys can make sure I have it set up to work correctly?

I will be having the fridge sit behind my front seat on the folded down rear seats, and plugged in to the cigarette lighter to charge while driving. This is correct right?

What settings should I have the fridge set to? It will be running off my starter battery as I have not had time before this road trip to install an auxiliary battery system. I just don't want the car battery dying on my in the desert.

Am I correct in assuming I should get about 48 hours of run time without driving to charge the battery before the fridge will switch off?

Also, finally, how do I correctly charge this from the wall socket in my home before the trip. I can't seem to tell if it is at 100% charge or not.

Thanks so much for any assistance here, I'm a little in over my head!

 

[fjtoyman]

Ok first, you're not "charging" anything when it's plugged into the wall 120v. There are no batteries in the ARB fridge. You're just getting it cold.
Next, what car do you have? More importantly, does the cigarette lighter socket still provide +12v when the key is off? Some, Toyota for example, do not and if left too long without power, your food will spoil.
If it doesn't stay on with the key off, you can temporarily wire a cigarette lighter plug directly off the battery close to where you want the fridge plugged in. Be sure and put a fuse in the line up by the battery. Or you can get one of those jumper packs but I don't know how reliable those are.
Then, for me, the setting at 32℉ keeps drinks and food cold enough. I've seen guys run colder but food tends to freeze I some areas of the fridge.
As far as amount of time before your battery dies, hard to say, depends on the shape of your battery. A good one will very likely last 48 hours without starting the car, but there's another reason to have a jumper pack, just in case.
Finally, secure it to the seat somehow - tie it down, it's heavy and if you come to even a hard stop, it could cause injury.
Post back with more questions, sounds like a fun trip. The ARB is a great accessory to have along, you won't regret it.

Dan



Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

[BigSwede]

I agree with pretty much everything Dan said.

Given your situation, a backup jump starter would be a very wise investment I would think.

Longer term, you don't necessarily need a dual battery system, unless you plan on running the fridge for days without starting the vehicle. I tend to go from place to place in my rig, so I rarely go more than a day without some driving. I have a single large battery (group 31) and it has never come close to running out of juice after running the fridge and my CPAP overnight. And I carry one of those little LiFePO4 jump starters as backup, although I've never had to use it.

 

[AndrewP]

Running directly out of your cigarette lighter socket is not a good idea. First, as mentioned above-the socket is often not powered with the ignition off. The second and more important issue is the condition of the contacts in the lighter socket. They are often dirty/corroded/oxidized and with high resistance and the the fridge running will cause heating of the plug, often to the point of melting it.

The right way to do this is to run a new circuit from your battery. 10 gauge works perfectly, fuse the (+) right at the battery with a 30 amp fuse and run through a firewall grommet to the fridge. Then you have full time power and much less voltage drop.

It is possible to run with a single battery, just be careful. Carrying a jump pack is a good idea.

And it goes almost without saying, that a loaded fridge is a 100 pound missile in the event of an accident. Make sure it is very secure.

 

[tarditi]

I pre-cool the fridge (plugged into wall) before I load it into the vehicle (pre-cool the food, too) - it can serve as a cooler (it's insulated) but has no internal thing to "charge" per se. A transit cover helps it keep temperature as well.

I can go about 2 days on my starter battery without the voltage monitor on the fridge giving a warning having to charge up the vehicle

There is a remote fridge monitor available - this may help you keep tabs on the fridge, too - ARB just had a big promotion giving them away with new purchases, so there are a few of them available on the forums and ebay, etc.

 

[verdesardog]

One poster above had one of the best comments...tie that sucker down! In an accident it could become a missile hazard and kill you if you don't.

 

[Ducky's Dad]

Even with a transit bag, throw a small quilt or sleeping bag or even an old blanket over the top to keep the sun off it while parked. Be sure you don't block the vents. A full fridge is easier to keep cold than a partially filled one. Once a full unit is cold, it tends to stay that way, so I always pre-freeze a few plastic water bottles and put them in the bottom of the fridge. I don't have have an ARB, but my Indle B has a voltage cutout switch on the control panel that allows me to set three voltage levels where the fridge will shut off to protect the battery. If you set that too low, the fridge will shut off but truck won't start once you hit that level. I would NEVER run a fridge off the truck's only battery without having a jump pack along.

 

[unseenone]

Keep it full for most efficient operation. As you empty it, add water bottles or something to it. I've found on my Snomaster that 36F is the optimum temperature to not freeze, and be quite cold.

A agree, lose the 12V cig plug. After you run your dedicated circuit you might use Anderson connectors. Also agree that pre-cooling before your trip will help a lot. You will not get 48 hours, but you might get overnight, this is going to depend on outside temperatures.

100W of solar would make a world of difference if you want to be somewhere for a couple of days and keep your battery topped up, of course a 2nd battery would also be nice with the right isolator setup.

A good test to convince yourself the 12v socket is not a good idea, is to let it run a while, then feel the plug, you will note it is very warm, if not hot. This represents loss of energy due to the design of the plug. Eventually it will melt and fail.

I agree you need a jump box for sure if you are not adding a battery right away. I'm adding a link to some pictures of my fridge setup, dual battery setup and my power setup if it's helpful for ideas. There are also some electrical graphs the show how it is maintained on 100W solar power.

 

[1Louder]

If you can get it. Get the ARB wiring kit and wire the fridge directly to your battery. It is not hard to do. You just have to go through the firewall and run the wires. There will be a place with a rubber gasket where you can cut a hole or there will be a button that you cut and then feed through. The 12 volt plug in your vehicle does not have a large enough gauge wire to run the fridge properly. Worst case get a cigarette lighter plug with alligator plugs and plug this directly on to the battery when you are camped. Most auto parts stores have them. I carry one as a backup. You can DIY a wiring harness as well just make sure you use at least 8 gauge wire. Lots of people say why pay for the ARB Kit when you can do something yourself. Well I like this because everything is wrapped together, has the built in fuse, and it is very easy to install. Time is not on your side and this is the easiest route to go. My vehicle has 2 plugs for 2 fridges. 1 ARB and 1 DIY. Both work but the ARB was much quicker to install.

Since you only have 1 battery I would set the fridge voltage sensitivity to high. That should protect your battery.

http://store.arbusa.com/ARB-FRIDGE-FREEZER-WIRING-KIT-THREADED-SOCKET-10900027-P22817.aspx

All other comments above are correct. I will add one other. If you are not worried about freezing anything crank the fridge down to 26-28 degrees while driving. Then when you are parked you can raise it up to 32 or so and save abuse of your battery. If you are driving every day your standard starting battery should be fine but I agree you should have a jump box as a back up unless you are traveling with another vehicle.

4WheelParts carries this and there are 2 stores in your general area. I would just call first to make sure they have it in stock.
http://www.4wheelparts.com/Outdoor-...x?t_c=88&t_s=564&t_pt=101601&t_pn=ARB10900027

Here's a list of dealers of ARB products in your area:
http://www.arbusa.com/Find-A-Dealer...104.8337879&distance=50&zip=80239&category=11

Not sure when you are hitting the road but Amazon says you can get it tomorrow:
ARB 10900027 12/24V DC Wiring Kit For Refrigerator
by ARB
Link: http://amzn.com/B00NIOBC02

 

[Lucky j]

Do not remeber if this was mentionned, but you also have safety setting that will prevent draining the batterry. But carrying a small jumper batterie is a nice safeguard. I now carry one and it can be use for a lot of things.

 

[vision-quest]

Running directly out of your cigarette lighter socket is not a good idea. First, as mentioned above-the socket is often not powered with the ignition off. The second and more important issue is the condition of the contacts in the lighter socket. They are often dirty/corroded/oxidized and with high resistance and the the fridge running will cause heating of the plug, often to the point of melting it.

The right way to do this is to run a new circuit from your battery. 10 gauge works perfectly, fuse the (+) right at the battery with a 30 amp fuse and run through a firewall grommet to the fridge. Then you have full time power and much less voltage drop.

It is possible to run with a single battery, just be careful. Carrying a jump pack is a good idea.

And it goes almost without saying, that a loaded fridge is a 100 pound missile in the event of an accident. Make sure it is very secure.

Thanks for the info guys! To address this, unfortunately I have ZERO electrical knowledge to get this done and there's no way I'm going to be able to get this to the shop before I leave. Honestly what you said makes no sense to my mechanically challenged brain.

Also, I'm running a 2008 UrbanRunner

 

[vision-quest]

Do not remeber if this was mentionned, but you also have safety setting that will prevent draining the batterry. But carrying a small jumper batterie is a nice safeguard. I now carry one and it can be use for a lot of things.

Do I have to turn that safety setting on? Is it the low/med/high setting? I have that set to high.

 

[1Louder]

Thanks for the info guys! To address this, unfortunately I have ZERO electrical knowledge to get this done and there's no way I'm going to be able to get this to the shop before I leave. Honestly what you said makes no sense to my mechanically challenged brain.

Also, I'm running a 2008 UrbanRunner

Red to + and Black to - that is all you need to know if you get the ARB wiring kit. The kit has simple to follow instructions. You don't need to pay anyone to do it. There is plenty of wire to meander around your vehicle. The side/floor panels by your doors should just pop out and that a great place to feed the wires to the back seat.

 

[vision-quest]

I forgot to mention, I also have a wall plug socket in the center console, it comes included with the UrbanRunner package of the 4Runner.. though I have found it's quite slow to charge anything.

 

[1Louder]

Do I have to turn that safety setting on? Is it the low/med/high setting? I have that set to high.

Set to high is what you want.