Another fridge idea, or am I just not thinking

[oly884]

What about a small dorm fridge? Roughly 300 watts, so that gives around 3-4 amps. Hook it up to an inverter? Though, my only concern would be angles (for me, probably not much), the inverter itself, and whether I'm thinking clearly about this. Comments?

 

[OutbacKamper]

What about a small dorm fridge? Roughly 300 watts, so that gives around 3-4 amps. Hook it up to an inverter? Though, my only concern would be angles (for me, probably not much), the inverter itself, and whether I'm thinking clearly about this. Comments?

Hi Oly884;
While 3 amps sounds good, that is at 110 volts. At 12 volts the amperage goes way up.
I am no expert but here is what I think:
watts = volts x amps
300watts = 110volts x 2.7 amps
300watts = 12volts x 25amps

So your inverter will be drawing about 25 amps from your 12 volt battery, compared to 3 to 5 amps for a typical Engel/Waeco 12 volt fridge.
Cheers
Mark

 

[oly884]

Hi Oly884;
While 3 amps sounds good, that is at 110 volts. At 12 volts the amperage goes way up.
I am no expert but here is what I think:
watts = volts x amps
300watts = 110volts x 2.7 amps
300watts = 12volts x 25amps

So your inverter will be drawing about 25 amps from your 12 volt battery, compared to 3 to 5 amps for a typical Engel/Waeco 12 volt fridge.
Cheers
Mark

ah ha, I was thinking the other way with the amps.

300 watts/110 volts = 2.72 amps

then 2.72 amps would be what's drawn from the battery. Eh, like I said, i wasn't sure if i was thinking about it right.

 

[Ramdough]

Your battery in your truck is 12 volts, so it would be 25 amps from your battery.

Also, house fridges are not ment to be used while driving. The compressor will burn up.

Unfortunately, you just have to bute the bullet and shell out the money to get one built for offroad.

 

[hoser]

Bar fridge vs Waeco fridge:
http://www.fridge-and-solar.net/fridgetest1.htm

 

[gjackson]

The other dissadvantage of a front loading fridge is that you loose all your cold air when you open it. Cold air being denser, 'falls' out of the fridge. In a top loading fridge the cold air tends to stay there with the lid open requiring less running when you close up again.

cheers