15L drink/lunch fridge freezers appearing

[esh]

I have wanted a Waeco (Dometic) CF-11 for years to use as a center console or otherwise handy in-cab fridge. Dometic prices are starting to reach what 40-50L fridges were back in the day, but Amazon has that wonderful Recommended purchase bar that randomly appears for other suggestions. The first that showed up was an "Alpicool" (I don't think many of these names really matter). It is a legit mini-sized Danfoss looking compressor driven fridge freezer. They are generally Engel-looking units in plastic, and about 1/3 price of the smaller capacity Dometic.

After looking and verifying what I found wasn't a thermoelectric unit (can tell because those tend to say -10 or 20, or +10/20 etc degrees somewhere in the description), I ended up getting a "Ausranvik" blue unit, mostly because the lid has a latch and it came with both AC and DC ps/connectors.

My first impression is that is decent with average build quality- not cheap, and not certified extreme expedition approved. The lid orientation is good for how I intend to carry it, and it also orients the vents so that there is a less chance of them being blocked. Compressor sounds like a small version of my Waeco CF-40 or Dometic CFX-50 Danfoss compressors, but the fans are on the cheaper side or just not well dampened. I haven't done a draw test, but it took an hour to get from 75F to 32F on hi setting. There is an eco mode as well. Temperature control allows from -4F to 50F, and there is low/mid/high cutoff for battery. High is the conservative cutoff. It does run more than I expect, but that also may be I have it sitting on my desk for work next to me, and the bit more noise from proximity and fans over the larger Dometic I have.

Anyways, it seems like a good purchase and gives easy access to a surprising amount of space to snacks and drinks. Time will tell, but likely would purchase again at $185. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KSPY3KQ

 

[john61ct]

Great score at a very low price.

There are thermoelectric units that are actually very effective and efficient, but very rare.

Alpicool has a decent rep, dunno if independent of part of a conglomerate.

Very efficient.

They have an interesting design that includes a LI battery and charger all in one.

 

[tacomabill]

Thanks for sharing. Checked out the Amazon link and there are a bunch of reasonably priced units and brands in many sizes. If these turn out to be efficient and reliable then the big brand names are way over priced -I think they have enjoyed the profits of a niche market for a long time.

 

[67cj5]

That brand is well known in the EU and seem well liked so I think you have a good one there,

I know of someone in Australia who has bought a cheaper fridge and it is performing as good or better than his Engel.

Fridge that run short On cycles will run more often and fridges that run a long-ish run cycle will also have a very long Off Cycle, but no matter which one of these it does the power draw seems to balance out the same unless it has been packed wrong so I would not worry about it too much, just let it cool down at a set temp for 24 hours and then run a Power test for 24 hours and that should give you all the info you need,

Well done Top Score

 

[john61ct]

What makes Engel and maybe ARB "better" is robust build quality, longevity, ability to get parts and maybe even service ten years on.

Whether that translates to being worth a higher price is of course a subjective decision.

Decades from now maybe there will be hundreds of members posting "wow my Alpicool's been bouncing around back of my ute for yonks now, never skipped a beat!"

 

[67cj5]

What makes Engel and maybe ARB "better" is robust build quality, longevity, ability to get parts and maybe even service ten years on.

Whether that translates to being worth a higher price is of course a subjective decision.

Decades from now maybe there will be hundreds of members posting "wow my Alpicool's been bouncing around back of my ute for yonks now, never skipped a beat!"

Yep, One thing I really like about ARB's is they behave just like a house fridge and they have multi zones which makes it easy to store different items, It's a common misconception that a multi zone fridge needs 2 compartments, When set at the right Temp you can have up to 3 or 4 temperature zones, I wanted to get the Engel but the ARB is far more flexible.

 

[esh]

Thanks for sharing. Checked out the Amazon link and there are a bunch of reasonably priced units and brands in many sizes. If these turn out to be efficient and reliable then the big brand names are way over priced -I think they have enjoyed the profits of a niche market for a long time.

The difference for me was the previous lack of a small compressor fridge other than the CF-11 Dometic. ARB/Engel/Luna, etc don't come into play as far as I know. As to the larger sized fridges in these brands or others, well that is a discussion for multitudes of other threads. I only have my old Waeco CF-40 and Dometic CFX-50 to compare against this small unit, and they are different use cases.

So far so good. I think the exhaust fans could be better quality or dampened, but it's been sitting on my desk and in a quiet setting where I work so that isn't realistic, nor do I think any fan noise would be noticeable in a cab over normal road noise.

 

[TNExplorer]

Wonder how long a fridge that small would run on a 75 AH deep cycle?

 

[tacomabill]

Wonder how long a fridge that small would run on a 75 AH deep cycle?

I have a 76 AH AGM battery. My 18 litre Indel B [aka Truckfridge] uses .25 volts overnight, based on my voltmeter, which is a rough estimate at best. But I have measured it many days over a three year period and get the same result. it is powered by solar and truck alternator when driving. I do not have one of those fancy battery monitors so I have no idea actual amps used. I have gone three days without sun or driving.

Update 7-20-12020: just got back from camping and the fridge ran 5 full days without starting the truck. I had steady sun for 7 hours at lattitude 45.
My voltmeter showed the battery never went below 12.44 so it appears that with good sun I could run it indefinitely. I then moved to another location where I had partial shade/sun and the fridge shut off after 5 days: voltage was 11.99 so the low voltage cutoff switch worked.

 

[67cj5]

The difference for me was the previous lack of a small compressor fridge other than the CF-11 Dometic. ARB/Engel/Luna, etc don't come into play as far as I know. As to the larger sized fridges in these brands or others, well that is a discussion for multitudes of other threads. I only have my old Waeco CF-40 and Dometic CFX-50 to compare against this small unit, and they are different use cases.

So far so good. I think the exhaust fans could be better quality or dampened, but it's been sitting on my desk and in a quiet setting where I work so that isn't realistic, nor do I think any fan noise would be noticeable in a cab over normal road noise.

Actually Engel do make a very small fridge/freezer, It's called the MD-14 and it has been around for years,

here's a link to it,

https://www.tentworld.com.au/buy-sale/engel-md14f-14l-chest-fridge

 

[bluejeep]

I have one of those MD-14's, perfect size and operation for many years. Love having firm ice-cream at camp

 

[esh]

Wasn't aware of the Engel, which still retails in the CF-11 ballpark of 480 USD at current rates not including getting them to the US. No thanks. They also make a 27L going for 850 USD on Amazon.

Seems like a good way to go if you are expecting to be hard on a small fridge.

 

[67cj5]

Wasn't aware of the Engel, which still retails in the CF-11 ballpark of 480 USD at current rates not including getting them to the US. No thanks. They also make a 27L going for 850 USD on Amazon.

Seems like a good way to go if you are expecting to be hard on a small fridge.

I have 2 Dometic CDF-18 and they are Awesome little fridges.

 

[esh]

I took the Ausranvik out for a bit of a drive and recovery of my dad stuck up in the mountains. It pulled 3-3.5A in normai mode. Didn't think to measure in Eco mode. My Dometic CFX50 draws 4-4.5A for comparison.

For context, this would be capable of 3 days comfortably on a single battery over a long weekend. Would provide plenty of food for 1 or 2 and cycling a couple drinks in as needed. A pair of them would be great to have a frozen fridge and a cold fridge and get you further, though you are up to 6-7A now, and bigger fridges may make more sense at that point depending on your use case.

 

[67cj5]

I took the Ausranvik out for a bit of a drive and recovery of my dad stuck up in the mountains. It pulled 3-3.5A in normai mode. Didn't think to measure in Eco mode. My Dometic CFX50 draws 4-4.5A for comparison.

For context, this would be capable of 3 days comfortably on a single battery over a long weekend. Would provide plenty of food for 1 or 2 and cycling a couple drinks in as needed. A pair of them would be great to have a frozen fridge and a cold fridge and get you further, though you are up to 6-7A now, and bigger fridges may make more sense at that point depending on your use case.

If a person could manage using a 50Qt fridge then the power to size ratio is pretty good, My 82Qt fridge has a bigger compressor and is just about on the limit when it comes to power draw, The 63Qt model uses the same compressor as my 50Qt so it's power draw would be almost identical,

I also did 2 tests One with the cover and one without and there was a slight decrease in the power draw,