Mounting the fridge right behind the front seat with access from the rear doors?

KevinsMap

Adventurer
Definitely like the way your fridge sits, and looking forward to see how all the rest goes together. Still debating on removing the carpet in the rear before building the raised floor.
This is the CFX-65DZUS. It's the smallest I could find that had the ability to work as a fridge and freezer together. They made one called the CF-50DZ, but I couldn't find it available here in the states any more.
Pretty nice quality on these fridges. It took 2 hours to go from 82*F to 9*F in a 97*F garage.

I did a quick search of your posts (so your pardon please if I have missed it) but I see no mention of additional battery capacity? Now this is not a crisis, because careful use and monitoring with a new OEM battery will be Ok for light occasional use - for awhile, and I speak from 8 months of doing just that - but it is hard on battery life and needs a backup plan. All the time I used my Engel fridge this way, I also travelled with a AntiGravity Micro-Start... and I never left the fridge turned on for long when not actually camping or traveling.

I use my fridge much more heavily now, but then, I have a MasterVolt 160Ah marine AGM powering it, as previously described. In my research, I could never get that much capacity under the hood (edit: from the single aux battery. In my setup, the starter battery is another 97Ah, for a total of 257Ah). The heavy battery is housed very low, on the floor just forward of fridge, behind the front passenger seat. For safety, and although it is a type of battery that will never outgas in normal use and charging, it is hydrogen-vented.
 
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what I would like to see done is a custom frig that would be shorter and wider that could be mounted in the floor area of the either the 40 or 60 back seat. seem like it could be done if you could some how weld or glue strong insulting panels and add a cooling system to it. much better use of space. IMHO
 

Comanche Scott

Expedition Leader
I did a quick search of your posts (so your pardon please if I have missed it) but I see no mention of additional battery capacity? Now this is not a crisis, because careful use and monitoring with a new OEM battery will be Ok for light occasional use - for awhile, and I speak from 8 months of doing just that - but it is hard on battery life and needs a backup plan. All the time I used my Engel fridge this way, I also travelled with a AntiGravity Micro-Start... and I never left the fridge turned on for long when not actually camping or traveling.

I use my fridge much more heavily now, but then, I have a MasterVolt 160Ah marine AGM powering it, as previously described. In my research, I could never get that much capacity under the hood (edit: from the single aux battery. In my setup, the starter battery is another 97Ah, for a total of 257Ah). The heavy battery is housed very low, on the floor just forward of fridge, behind the front passenger seat. For safety, and although it is a type of battery that will never outgas in normal use and charging, it is hydrogen-vented.

You are correct that I only have the stock battery, and you make a really good point. :beer:
Flooded cell is a messy battery when deep discharging and re-charging. I run a Diehard platinum in my other rig with the diesel, and there is a world of difference.
I'm hoping my neighbor is due up for a battery in one off their vehicles, and can use this one. Then I can justify buying a dual battery system for the Jeep (giving stuff away to good friends counts double on upgrade credit list :)).
I'd like to have a dual battery setup in the Jeep by next spring. With hunting season coming, the Jeep will get plenty of drive time when the fridge is running for now.

what I would like to see done is a custom frig that would be shorter and wider that could be mounted in the floor area of the either the 40 or 60 back seat. seem like it could be done if you could some how weld or glue strong insulting panels and add a cooling system to it. much better use of space. IMHO

Man, that is a great idea! :beer:
If Mopar teamed up with Waeco, they could build a very nice custom unit for the JK, the JKU, the WK and the rest of the alphabet.
this fridge will fit with the 40% seat in place, but a custom unit that would work on either side molded to fit the floor would be awesome!
 

KevinsMap

Adventurer
what I would like to see done is a custom frig that would be shorter and wider that could be mounted in the floor area of the either the 40 or 60 back seat. seem like it could be done if you could some how weld or glue strong insulting panels and add a cooling system to it. much better use of space. IMHO

That describes my arrangement; see posts #10 and #11 of this thread for pics. The Engel fridge is mounted only 1 inch above the seat area floor, which is 3" above the footwell level. The battery and charging electronics sit in the footwell, on the floor, forward of the fridge. Everything is rack mounted to the floor using the OEM seat mounting bolts, but with rubber vibration isolators.

There is hardly any unused space on the floor of my entire passenger side rear seating area. The top of all of these components does not exceed 22 inches from the floor of the footwell. Very space efficient.

Edit note: I could have made it even shallower, because Engel makes a nearly identical unit that is about 4 inches shorter. But not for me ;-) I need to fit wine bottles!
 
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