Arb fridge

[devero4]

I have a 43 quart Engel in my 1999 4Runner. It regularly stays turned off during the week, but runs pretty much every weekend. When I'm driving to camp, I plug the fridge into the factory rear power outlet, which is now hot at all times after jumping the relay. When I arrive at camp, I then switch the plug to my Solar/House battery generator power plug. The nice thing about the ARB and Engel fridges is that they are so efficient, drawing less than 3 amps on "High". This allows me to keep the Engel plugged into the vehicle's power outlet for 2 days at a time (engine off) if I really needed to. A lot of the other big name manufacturers have fridges that draw closer to 5 amps, which is no bueno for my setup.

 

[broncobowsher]

My ARB frinde dates back to about '08.
It lives half it's life in the back of my Xterra. Even through the week. Most of the time not powered up.
It is living a perfectly good life back there. I power it up before doing a grocery store run (a couple hours if possible). Nearest store is 7 miles from home and ice cream melts fast in the summer without it. 70W solar panel on the roof keeps it running.

Instructions warn not to run the fridge off an invertor. The AC power for the fridge needs to be a sine wave, not the modified square wave most invertors run.

 

[RichJacot]

My ARB frinde dates back to about '08.
It lives half it's life in the back of my Xterra. Even through the week. Most of the time not powered up.
It is living a perfectly good life back there. I power it up before doing a grocery store run (a couple hours if possible). Nearest store is 7 miles from home and ice cream melts fast in the summer without it. 70W solar panel on the roof keeps it running.

Instructions warn not to run the fridge off an invertor. The AC power for the fridge needs to be a sine wave, not the modified square wave most invertors run.

That's interesting. I didn't notice that on my ARB 50. I'm not saying it's not there but I didn't catch it. ;-)

Ours have lived 100% of it's life (5+ yrs) in the back of our FJ Cruiser with a 50W panel and whenever we run it we always it our inverter button if the FJ is running. We've never had an issue. Are we slowly killing our frig?

Can anyone confirm or deny the inverter issue?

TIA

 

[Coopsdaddy]

Im leaning towards the 63 sence i do have 3 kids,and it shorter,i dont think the extra length would be put to as good of use as i could build a upper deck for storage above it.Do you think they will faze out the 63 qt sense they have a new version?

 

[BobsCreek]

for what its worth -

"As an extension of this testing, the ARB fridge should only be used in conjunction with a pure sine wave inverter. Using a modified sine wave inverter may emit a high pitched mechanical noise from the main circuit board inside the fridge, which may cause damage to the appliance not covered by the product warranty" http://www.arbeurope.com/site/wp-co...-fridge-product-update-March-20141.pdf?5a2689

There was more to it than that, but the simple take away is if you cannot confirm it is sine, then don't use it. Also, on that note my inverter is supposed to be sine but it seems to not actually be according to some folks who tested the model...

 

[DaveInDenver]

Can anyone confirm or deny the inverter issue?

The version of ARB broncobowsher has was like an Engel I believe, which I have (an MT45). Those have an inverter built-in to create the AC necessary to run the motor. From what I've seen choppy AC should work in theory since the 120VAC is rectified and common with the DC supply input to the inverter. But I don't know that they expected you to do this so haven't looked at the filtering to know if it's sufficient for very noisy power with harmonics and voltage spikes.

Danfoss dual voltage or DC in units probably work the same, I assume they do. But whether they want clean AC or can tolerate choppy or so called modified inverter outputs, I don't know.

I use 12VDC if I have it and only mains 120VAC. Never personally have run my Engel on an inverter or generator, so I can't say for sure. Even if it works it's going to be the lesser efficient way to power it since you're doing two conversions before the motor gets its power.

 

[Coopsdaddy]

Ok i have decided on a 50qt,i think we need the 63 but its footprint is just to big,who runs sales on these,seems everybody has sales but arb fridges are excluded?

 

[spikemd]

12v fridge is single best upgrade for camping not dealing with soggy food or spoiled food especially if we r gone for a week in the backcountry.

The 63q is really long. I agree that you want as big as possible but the larger the fridge the more juice it requires which becomes an issue when building a dual battery or solar array to meet demands.

I have had my ARB running constantly since 2008, one of the first fridges released here. Only issue is this year the 120v regulator seems winky so I run it on 12v in my house.

 

[bpm4x4]

I bought my 50qt from 4wd hardware a few days after thanksgiving last year. They had a 1 day sale and I couldn’t pass it up.

 

[Coopsdaddy]

Im waiting and hoping for a holiday deal on a 50 qt,please post if you here of any.

 

[freedomrider]

Im waiting and hoping for a holiday deal on a 50 qt,please post if you here of any.

If you have a local retailer, go in and ask for a discount. I bought an ARB fridge at a local 4 Wheel Parts store several years ago. It wasn't on sale but the sales guy (or maybe he was a manager) offered a discount without me even asking. It's worth a try.

 

[Ducky's Dad]

Last year, 4WP and their sister company (4W Hardware or something like that), had a one-day Christmas special on the ARB 50 at $599 with free shipping. It was on December 7, part of a series of one-day deals. I'm still kicking myself for not getting one as a backup. Watching for the same deal this year.

 

[john02tj]

I've had mine for about two years. I love it and use it for every camping trip or grocery getting.

 

[charliedontsurf]

What is the best way to keep the fridge on if you don’t have a rear outlet in your vehicle? My 2014 FJ has everything for off-roading (crawl etc) from the factory but no outlet in the back...

 

[Corey]

What is the best way to keep the fridge on if you don't have a rear outlet in your vehicle? My 2014 FJ has everything for off-roading (crawl etc) from the factory but no outlet in the back...

Do like I did in my FJ Cruiser.
Install a dedicated 12v plug in the rear, run 8 gauge wire to a fuse about a foot from your battery.
Mine is hooked to my aux battery though with the blue and gray wires you can see below.
Run the wire behind the right side panel, and drill a hole for a plug.

You can see the single plug below the ARB one gallon air tank.
The other two 12v plugs are wired up to thinner wire that will not support the startup voltage my National Luna fridge requires.
I tried with those plugs, but the compressor in the fridge would not even start.