Cheap Fridge <$400 shipped

[RHINO]

Yeah but if your edgestar lasts 3 years and your engel lasts 15?

perfectly valid point, the hardware that makes the edgestar cold is the same hardware thats been in home refrigeration forever, i dont know about you but i stay awake at night just waiting for my home fridge to stop working.:sombrero:

 

[cruiseroutfit]

i dont know about you but i stay awake at night just waiting for my home fridge to stop working.:sombrero:

I would worry about my home fridge if it were mounted in the elements, bounced along the trail and used at times to keep food from freezing not the opposite

 

[sven]

A year ago, my cig plug melted after a weeks use in WV. I fixed that by upgrading to a better higher quality cig lighter plug.

Now the latest problem is that in my wifes Honda Oddy, the fridge will kill the fuse in the rear cargo plug (stock). The fuse is rated at 10 amps. I think these fridges are spiking beyond 10 amps at certain points.

 

[evldave]

I would worry about my home fridge if it were mounted in the elements, bounced along the trail and used at times to keep food from freezing not the opposite

At my high school graduation party (20+ years ago now ugh), I won a small dorm fridge, about the same size as my new fridge. It spent 7 years in college, living in different places each year, travelling back home to parents each summer...now as an adult, it's been in all my apartments and now houses...it currently sits under my workbench in the garage (it's home for the last forever years)...it is dented, painted, has stickers, has been knocked over, down, around (but not up!). I've never bothered to let the coolant settle, I've even moved it around roughly while plugged in and on. It's missing shelves, has duct tape holding part of the compressor to the frame, probably has dead spiders from whoknowswhere all crammed up in the mechanism, spent an entire summer outside in the elements on the back porch so I'd have beer at the ready, and through all that it still keeps my beer cold

I used to average about 20-25k per year offroad, now that I'm domesticated, I'm down to about 2-3k per year max, so my demands on a camp fridge probably aren't as tough as others here...I'm assuming my edgestar will last 5-10 years, hopefully more. If it does, I'll buy another one down the line (if they are still around), If it doesn't last that long, but still lasts 3-5 years, and I'm in the financial situation, I'll probably buy an ARB/Engel/etc. If it doesn't last 3 years, I'll be upset I wasted $450 on a fridge that couldn't even last as long as my beater beer fridge that's lasted me 20 (and was free!). I'm patient, I can wait to pass judgment.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

...I used to average about 20-25k per year offroad, now that I'm domesticated, I'm down to about 2-3k per year max...

20-25k miles offroad? Seriously? I spend 75-100 days a year out on the trails, camping, etc and don't even get a quarter of those miles in the dirt. What were you doing? I'd love to hear some of your experiences.

 

[camp'n_hunt]

A year ago, my cig plug melted after a weeks use in WV. I fixed that by upgrading to a better higher quality cig lighter plug.

Now the latest problem is that in my wifes Honda Oddy, the fridge will kill the fuse in the rear cargo plug (stock). The fuse is rated at 10 amps. I think these fridges are spiking beyond 10 amps at certain points.

The mfg says 5.4 amp at 12 v, which would be at constant, the motor will draw up to double to get up and spinning. Depending on the wire size in the Honda you could change out to a 15 amp fuse, install a new wire or install a capacitor.
It would be nice to how much people fridges draw. If the components are quality then everyone’s should draw pretty much the same.

 

[evldave]

20-25k miles offroad? Seriously? I spend 75-100 days a year out on the trails, camping, etc and don't even get a quarter of those miles in the dirt. What were you doing? I'd love to hear some of your experiences.

Whoops, crap...to clarify, now that I see what I typed, it should be off-HIGHWAY, sorry i didn't mean to overhype my offroad prowess ...not all is offroad - forest service roads, backroads, dirt roads, washboard, etc fall under that I have driven tahoe-portland on primarily all dirt roads (both directions at different times). I also drove Portland to Chicago using no interstates and mostly forest service roads (where available) and drove to Alaska on every backroad I could find, but I certainly didn't drive all those miles off a road (sorry for the confusion).

My point was that I'm likely not going to be a good representative example of people (like you) who spend more time off a road, so I'd expect the fridge to last longer for me to feel it was worth the $$...if I was still spending all that time off a road, I'd be more inclined to buy a higher-end fridge to start. Make sense? lol I didn't think so

 

[cruiseroutfit]

...Make sense? lol I didn't think so

Absolutely, that makes perfect sense. Hope your fridge serves you well

 

[18seeds]

I had the 43 qt edgestar. I think they are great if you get a well working one. Def a good bang for your buck. It does draw a lot more electricity than the more expensive ones.

Mine kind of worked and decided to just fork out the money for a new ARB fridge. Def a lot of money. Some things just cost a lot.

 

[ldivinag]

can you folks post pixs pf the modifications you did to the 12v plug?

is it at the fridge end itself? the wire? then cig lighter end?


thanks...

 

[Xterabl]

can you folks post pixs pf the modifications you did to the 12v plug?

is it at the fridge end itself? the wire? then cig lighter end?


thanks...

There's a pic in this thread:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47802

Just snip of the the cigarette plug from the end of the edgestar 12V cable, and install the connector of your choice. Personally, I used a 110VAC wall plug (I know, not the soundest of practices...), the kind where one blade is bigger than the other so I won't inadvertently connect 12V to gnd.

 

[ldivinag]

so it's the cig lighter plug end that fails on most people?

i was thinking of going with anderson 40 amp connectors since i'm standardizing my truck with them already...

the end that plugs into the fridge itself is ok, right?

 

[Strizzo]

My lighter plug came loose a couple times last weekend when driving on washboard roads, so i'll probably go the alternator plug route, but buy two sets so that i can still move the fridge to another car and use the cig. lighter plug.

 

[evldave]

so it's the cig lighter plug end that fails on most people?

i was thinking of going with anderson 40 amp connectors since i'm standardizing my truck with them already...

the end that plugs into the fridge itself is ok, right?

seems like overkill, but should work...

The plug going into the fridge uses a polarized plug just like on regular power cords (like an playstation or my slr battery charger)

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Cables-Go-27399-Polarized-2-Slot/dp/B0002J26LA"]Amazon.com: Cables To Go - 27399 - 6ft Polarized 2-Slot Power Cord: Electronics[/ame]

You can either cut up the factory plug or go to your local radio shack and get a UL-listed (and probably better construction) plug and then add your anderson connector.

Personally, I decided to go the 2-wire trailer plug approach, I then have a 12V plug receptacle w/2-wire plug on one end, an extension cord w/both ends 2-wire plugs, and cool enough by coincidence, my battery maintainer uses a 2-wire trailer plug, so I can hook it up straight to my deep cycle using the maintainer plug (saves an extra connection, not that it really matters, but it's cool and I can act like I planned it that way).

 

[Xterabl]

so it's the cig lighter plug end that fails on most people?

i was thinking of going with anderson 40 amp connectors since i'm standardizing my truck with them already...

the end that plugs into the fridge itself is ok, right?

Correct. Although I believe I did read in one of the threads that the end plugging into the fridge snapped when someone's dog stepped on it....