Using a mini fridge with inverter?

[t0mills]

I've got a week long trip coming up soon. I had planned on buying one of the EdgeStar Fridge/Freezers, but missed their first sale ($399) and was waiting to see if they would drop them back down again.....but now they are sold out.
So, it doesn't look like I will be getting one in time for my trip.


I have a small 3.2cu/ft stainless steel mini fridge that I keep in my garage. It runs off of 110, and is pretty quiet.

My question is... Have any of you guys ever ran one of those in a vehicle? I have a power inverter that is rated at 750w continuous, and 1500w peak.

The vehicle is a suburban, so there is plenty of room, and I have no problem rigging up some sort of latch that will keep the door closed tight when the vehicle is moving.


Any feedback/opinions are appreciated!

 

[jham]

any offroading in the trip or just pavement?

 

[t0mills]

any offroading in the trip or just pavement?

Mostly pavement, with a few dirtroads thrown in the mix. Pavement will be all scenic highways through Colorado/Utah.

 

[go4aryd]

If you shake up consumer fridges, you are likely to mess up the condensor. I forget the exact problem it can create, but if you don't care if it quits you have little to lose. I have had problems when moving my kitchen fridge via moving truck.

 

[dustboy]

but if you don't care if it quits you have little to lose.

Except your food spoils on a weeklong desert expedition and you have NO COLD BEER!:sombrero:

I'm curious about this one too. I'll never be able to afford an Engel, but it seems like there's got to be a cheaper way.

 

[Aggie]

I'm curious about this one too. I'll never be able to afford an Engel, but it seems like there's got to be a cheaper way.

Yeah a Cooler and Ice... LOL.

 

[go4aryd]

No matter what you pack, even without a fridge or cooler, it can't be worse than what you would eat on an extended backpacking trip.

 

[Northern Explorer]

What is the power consumption (amps@110vac) of the refrigerator?

What percent of the time are you expecting the refrigerator compressor to run?

How many amp hours do you have in your battery bank?

What is the efficiency rating of your inverter?

How long do you plan on running the refrigerator before recharging the batteries?

 

[shawkins]

I'm curious about this one too. I'll never be able to afford an Engel, but it seems like there's got to be a cheaper way.

Craigslist is your friend! I got my 45 qt. Engel for $300 or $350.

 

[E9999]

I did some tests trying to run a mini fridge off an inverter.

Was possible at least statically, but ended up blowing up my 400W (600W peak) inverter on startup, even though the fridge sucked only something like 80W when running steady IIRC.

Also the vertical door is a serious drawback.

Also I can see with my new 12V freezer (that has an inverter built in I believe) that it sucks more power on 110V than on 12V, which I attribute to losses in the inverter.

So, altogether not a great way to go IMO.

 

[Expedition.Report]

Old thread here, but I figured I would revive it rather then start a new with about the same topic.

What makes the units such as the ARB Fridge/Freezer able to handle the off road with a bunch shaking and moving while the household mini fridge is rendered unusable?

 

[Martinjmpr]

Just guessing but I'd have to say the components and wiring connections are probably more stout to withstand shaking/bumping. Not an issue in a dorm fridge so there's no reason to make it capable of withstanding those stresses.

And of course there's no guarantee that anything will break, but it's much more likely, and think about how much of a hassle it would be if your fridge conked out in the middle of the night in the middle of the desert, 2 or 3 days away from the nearest stop in a town. You'd have to face your food spoiling or re-routing your trip for an emergency run into town for a cooler and ice.

The other issue is power draw. An inverter with enough juice to run a fridge can draw a vehicle battery down pretty quickly. If you figure that you'll be at your campsite by, say, 4pm so you can set up camp and cook dinner, and that you will be leaving the next morning at 8 am, that's 16 hours of running without the engine recharging the battery (unless of course you plan to start the truck every few hours to charge it up, which I suppose is an option but not one I'd be thrilled with.) I would think if you're going to go this route, make sure you have one vehicle that is not running a fridge that you can get a jump start off of if neccessary.

BTW, a bit off topic, but I wonder if anyone has made a portable version of the gas/electric refrigerators that are commonly found in RVs? Seems to me that might be an answer to the power issue. If you could carry a small propane cylinder to power the fridge when the engine isn't running, it would be a better option than draining your battery every night, and propane is extremely easy to find, at least in the US (every RV park in America and Canada has a propane tank.) Not only would the gas/electric solve the power problem, but I would imagine that any fridge robust enough to be put into an RV could probably withstand at least some mild off-roading.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Frenchie: What kind of fridge was that? All the small Dometics I see on line are "built in" designs, not "portables."

The other issue is cost. If the OP is looking to save money it doesn't seem like the small RV refrigerators are any less expensive than an Engel or ARB, and many of them are more.

 

[john61ct]

Like charge laptop, iPhone, camera and other electronic products outside.

None of these require AC, just adapt the vendor's ciggie plugs, or get DC converters. Much more power efficient.