ARB Fridge for truck bed

[Cecald]

Hey folks, I will buy an ARB fridge soon for some small camping trips with my family (feeding 3 kids and my spouse). This is my first fridge, so I'm just trying to guestimate what size I need. I will keep the fridge in my truck bed most of the time, or pull it out completely to run on a battery. FYI, reason I'm stuck on ARB is because they're able to accept 110/220V and 50/60Hz, and we move between the US and foreign countries for work. Camping trips would only be between 1-3 nights, maybe getting longer if the family feels up for it. I tend to not be overly careful or considerate about my gear, and I hate "babying" delicate things. I'd rather have a fridge I can use, and it if gets a little rain on it (or a lot . . . .) no big deal. My guess is that for my short trips, the 47Qt size is enough . . . .

Any advice on whether or not I should I go with the elements, or can I get away with the zero line given some exposure? Elements looks nice enough, but perhaps too big.

Appreciate any input. Long time lurker, and it's enlightening to hear from your experiences.

 

[67cj5]

Hey folks, I will buy an ARB fridge soon for some small camping trips with my family (feeding 3 kids and my spouse). This is my first fridge, so I'm just trying to guestimate what size I need. I will keep the fridge in my truck bed most of the time, or pull it out completely to run on a battery. FYI, reason I'm stuck on ARB is because they're able to accept 110/220V and 50/60Hz, and we move between the US and foreign countries for work. Camping trips would only be between 1-3 nights, maybe getting longer if the family feels up for it. I tend to not be overly careful or considerate about my gear, and I hate "babying" delicate things. I'd rather have a fridge I can use, and it if gets a little rain on it (or a lot . . . .) no big deal. My guess is that for my short trips, the 47Qt size is enough . . . .

Any advice on whether or not I should I go with the elements, or can I get away with the zero line given some exposure? Elements looks nice enough, but perhaps too big.

Appreciate any input. Long time lurker, and it's enlightening to hear from your experiences.

I own the 47L and the 78L and the 47L is easier to live with due to it's smaller size the 78L although it is not too heavy the shear size of bigger fridges makes it a 2 man job As is the 63L Elements fridge because it weight 60Lbs empty so lord know what it weighs when it is full of food and drink,

The variable voltage of the ARB's is great, many of the others have pre set voltages with either 50Hz or 60Hz but not both like the ARB's can and being able to use from 100v to 240v takes the worry out of world travelling,

Another thing to note is The ARB Classic series are about the cleverest fridge you will come across not just how little power it consumes, But how the power is used and how it distributes the Cold, There is a lot more happening than just setting the Temp and it getting cold then turning off etc because everything it does is 100% variable.

 

[Herbie]

Just a reminder that the other solution to the multi-voltage problem is to get whatever fridge mostly suits your needs, then source an appropriate 12V power supply for whichever mains voltage the fridge doesn't support.

(e.g. get a 110VAC/12VDC fridge and a 220VAC->12VDC power supply to leave in whichever place you need to run the fridge on 220v). Set the power supply to 12.8v and plug in to the DC input on the fridge and it will never know it's not on a battery.

Note that this also works for DC-only fridges. This is, essentially, how I've been running my Truckfridge TF49 as an "overflow" fridge to keep extra milk/butter/veg while we're limiting trips to the grocery store during the pandemic. I got the (cheaper) 12v-only Truckfridge and it's mounted in our van, which is plugged into an Iota power supply while the van is in the driveway, so the fridge has full-time 110VAC power even though it's "DC only".

 

[67cj5]

That only works if you are staying in one country because Some countries use 50Hz and other use 60Hz add to that the change in AC Voltage means a person might end up needing to buy multiple AC to DC adapters and plug converters, There is a good reason why all the Name brands cost more and that is because all these things are factored in to their design, There is nothing wrong with the brand you mentioned but it boils down to Brands and Features as well as Quality.

 

[Cecald]

Thanks! Yeah I’ll stick with the arb as I’m also not counting on a kid or friend to plug it into the “correct” outlet wherever we are.

appreciate the feedback. Anyone using the zero line with it exposed quite a bit?

 

[Herbie]

That only works if you are staying in one country because Some countries use 50Hz and other use 60Hz add to that the change in AC Voltage means a person might end up needing to buy multiple AC to DC adapters and plug converters, There is a good reason why all the Name brands cost more and that is because all these things are factored in to their design, There is nothing wrong with the brand you mentioned but it boils down to Brands and Features as well as Quality.

You missed my first point completely. I specifically said to buy any AC/DC fridge that suits your primary needs (say 110V/60hz + 12VDC), then buy the DC power supply for the other power need (220v/50hz). One fridge, plus one power supply. Yes, you'd need two power supplies if you buy a DC-only fridge and plan to operate in both 110/60 and 220/50 environments. Not to mention that for not much more money than a "plain" 12V power supply, you could have a fully featured battery charger/maintainer as well, so it does double-duty and services the whole vehicle. Are you going to have a shore-power battery charger/maintainer anyway?

If you have plug changes for different 220v/50hz countries, you're going to need those anyway since even the ARB fridge only comes with one AC power cord (which will have the correct pin shape for the market it is sold in). All compressor fridges run the compressor at 12V - the feature to accept 110v or 220v input just means the fridge has a built-in AC to DC power supply.

If OP want to buy the ARB, by all means proceed. The "kid and friend" argument is moot since they will still need to select the correct power cord, as mentioned above. My point was only that you can give yourself more options if you realize that 12VDC power is the same whether it's coming from the vehicle battery or a power supply, so one is not really limited to only the manufacturers that do 110-220v inputs.

 

[67cj5]

If you have plug changes for different 220v/50hz countries, you're going to need those anyway since even the ARB fridge only comes with one AC power cord (which will have the correct pin shape for the market it is sold in). All compressor fridges run the compressor at 12V - the feature to accept 110v or 220v input just means the fridge has a built-in AC to DC power supply.

That's not quite correct, ARB fridges do not run their compressors @ 12v unless they are plugged in to 12v only, It does not run on 240v and then step it down to 12v via a built in DC adapter,

Danfos/Secop make many BD35 Compressors but Only the BD35F and about 2 other models of the BD35 Compressors are designed to run on all voltages from 100v to 240v and 12v to 24v without the use of a step down adapter all the other BD35 compressors run on either 12v, 24v, and 48v. "Only" and these models are not fitted to ARB fridges with the aid of a 240 to 12v Adapter

The BD35F does not run at 12v when powered by 100v to 240v, It runs at 100v to 240v and the 12v/24v is a totally different Circuit, and both systems are independent of each other and if one dies it will still run on the other, which is why a lot of the cheaper fridges are not a good choice because they are either shipped with a AC to DC adapter or they have a AC to DC adapter fitted inside the case and if the 12v side dies it will not work on 240v because of the power step down and those cheaper Danfos/Secop compressors can only be powered by 12v/24v.

 

[Herbie]

Just plain wrong. It's a DC-powered compressor - as in the MOTOR in the compressor runs via DC (3-pin brushless, to be precise). The Danfoss control module includes the AC to DC conversion circuit. The different part# offerings include various control modules that accept the variety of AC inputs and convert to the appropriate DC outputs, but the fact of the matter is that these are DC compressors. If we need to be pedantic, I will say that I oversimplified by claiming they all run on 12V, since technically they offer 24VDC and 48VDC models for commercial trucking and telecom cabinets, and all of the BD models use their "VSD" variable-speed drive which is modulated BLDC for speed control, but for all the systems used for "overlanding" fridge/freezers, they're 12V compressors that are modulated to less than 12VDC by the controller.

You can see it in the fridge service manual here: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/C1w416NiZLS.pdf
Or you can see that Danfoss themselves refer to the entire BD family as part of their "Light DC Compressor" line: https://assets.danfoss.com/documents/DOC327540281404/DOC327540281404.pdf - this includes all the part variations that do and do not offer AC inputs. One might note that ALL BD-series compressors support DC input, but only a few support AC in addition to DC.

Just stop and think about it for half a second - you cannot make a motor that runs on both AC and DC. Those are two totally different motor designs. To make an AC/DC system you can either convert DC to AC (which can be done but gets expensive fast as anyone shopping for inverters knows), or you or convert AC to DC which is fairly trivial (and cheap) if your current requirements are modest. This is what you're paying for when you select a compressor that includes an AC-capable controller module.

You may be getting tripped up by the note in the user manual that indicates that the fridges will "prefer" AC power over DC if both are plugged in simultaneously. This feature is a choice made by the controller - whether to use the rectified AC or the straight DC supply.

 

[67cj5]

I have seen the Specs on All of danfos compressors because I posted it here a few months back, and I have the service manual, I did not get tripped up by what it says in the user manual, The 240v is nothing more than the priority voltage supply, None of this changes the fact that the BD35F is designed to run on all the above mentioned voltages except 48v where as the cheaper variants of the BD35 can only run on 12v, 24v and 48v.and many other companies use the BD35 as a selling point when in fact their fridges have the cheaper version and they supply a AC to DC adapter so they can be run on AC power which means you are going to need a separate AC adapter to suit every country you visit if you want to run it on AC in 6 Countries means 6 AC adapters which can work out expensive in the long run, So it makes more sense to buy the ARB which can set it's self to suit anywhere in the world,

Many fridges can run on 100 to 240c and 12v which makes them useless for 24v travel, Other only run on 12/240v or 110/12v which again makes them useless, others run on 24v/110 and others run on 24v/230v, This is one of the pitfalls when it comes to buying a fridge So although the ARB's cost a bit more than the cheap RoC fridges it makes more sense to buy one that does it all.

Having been testing many fridges for over 4 and a half years 24/7/365, The ARB's seem to be doing a lot in the background while they are running or while you set them to cool down, Much more so than you will read in any reviews, None of the other fridges seem to do much while they are running.

 

[DiscoDino]

I had the 47, then moved to the 63...3 kids and spouse...recommend the 63 best of both worlds...size and space.
It lives in the truck bed under the tonneau cover...otherwise I would have gotten the Element...

 

[Cecald]

I had the 47, then moved to the 63...3 kids and spouse...recommend the 63 best of both worlds...size and space.
It lives in the truck bed under the tonneau cover...otherwise I would have gotten the Element...

Thank you - that’s very helpful feedback. I did think the larger size would be more useful, but personally wanted the smaller one for ease of portability. Appreciate your thoughts.

 

[takethetruck]

We've absolutely abused our ARB Elements Fridge, having had it mounted on the exterior of our rig on a swingout for most of our adventures. And it's still going strong!



The 63qt size is good for about a week of cold food storage for our family of 3, though obviously mileage varies, but I definitely wouldn't want to go any larger.

 

[drrobinson]

Another +1 for the Elements. We have been running on outside rain/snow/shine/dust for 9 months with no problems so far.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[67cj5]

We've absolutely abused our ARB Elements Fridge, having had it mounted on the exterior of our rig on a swingout for most of our adventures. And it's still going strong!

View attachment 612455View attachment 612456

The 63qt size is good for about a week of cold food storage for our family of 3, though obviously mileage varies, but I definitely wouldn't want to go any larger.

I know they are weather proof but I am not sure about dunking them in water like in the 2nd photo as the water can get in to it from underneath which is a whole different ball game, Weather proof means Rain from the top and sides and being submerged like that, That might be something to be mindful of,

 

[takethetruck]

I know they are weather proof but I am not sure about dunking them in water like in the 2nd photo as the water can get in to it from underneath which is a whole different ball game, Weather proof means Rain from the top and sides and being submerged like that, That might me something to be mindful of,

Yeah, definitely agree that complete submersion is probably not recommended by ARB (that's why I say we "abused" it ?), nor would I recommend it to others. Though the fact that ours is still going strong after years and tens of thousands of miles of less-than-delicate treatment like this definitely speaks to it's quality and ability to put up with harsh environments.

I'm sure it's happy to be back inside the bed of our truck though, now that we have the GFC on .