Cheap Fridge <$400 shipped

[Herbie]

It takes about 4 hours to fully charge my battery bank from the alternator. That's with some beefy 4AWG wire too. A lot of it has to do with heat. As the batteries get hot, the charge controller will drop the current to protect the batteries, even though my battery system can pull 50 amps from the alternator.

From websites like AAA and others, I've found the statistic that it takes 1 gallon of gas to idle your car for one hour. I'm on the road about 30 weeks a year, and I need to recharge batteries once a week. So the math works out to 30 weeks X 4 hours X 1 gallon = 120 gallons a year X $3 a gallon gas = $360 a year.

So that's $360 a year, not including wear and tear on the engine, to recharge batteries using the Jeep's engine. An Engel fridge is $375 more than an Edgestar, so the savings of an Edgestar is wiped out in the first year, and it makes the Engel cheaper than the Edgestar in subsequent years.

Like I mentioned a couple posts ago, when you get into solar and batteries, every amp is worth a fortune. While the Edgestar saves you a lot of cash upfront, you end up paying in other ways if you're trying to run a battery bank and solar panels. If I wasn't on the road as much as I am and if I didn't run a solar system, the Edgestar would be perfect.

Most of your math looks right, but this is the second thread in the last week that I've seen the "1 gallon per hour to idle" stat, and it just doesn't seem to bear out. My Scangauge reports my 4.3L v6 idles at about .25 to .3 gallons per hour.

Yes, idling your massive vehicle engine is a fairly inefficient way to charge a set of batteries, but it isn't quite "gallon per hour" inefficient.

Niggles over the dollar-cost of keeping batteries charged with an Edgestar versus a competing model aside, you're right, for some applications power efficiency is king. For other applications, it is not. For anyone who absolutely MUST save power at all costs, look into a cooler, a PC fan recirculating the air, and a block of dry ice. It will keep things cold for longer than you can imagine...

 

[teotwaki]

probably the 1 GPH number was for a 351 V8 with a carburetor :sombrero:

 

[theicecreampeople]

ok im a soon to be owner of a edge star 43qt ,,was 384.00 on amazon ..cant wait to not have to get ice or have soggy food ..:wings:

 

[NuggetHoarder]

My Scangauge reports my 4.3L v6 idles at about .25 to .3 gallons per hour.

Thanks for that Herbie. That's great to know and one of the reasons I've been watching this thread so intently. Also, thank you for taking the time and effort to run the tests. That is very valuable information and I greatly appreciate it.

Even at .25 gallons per hour, I don't want to turn my Jeep engine into a gas generator. That's definitely not an efficient use of the engine. I'd be better off buying a Honda EU1000 if I went that route but then I'd be introducing a 55db noise source into my campsite, plus carry the 30lb weight of the Honda, plus storage space and I'd only be getting 8amps max out of it, which would take 14 hours to charge the battery bank.

I've been through the math a million ways and it just boils down to the fact that every amp is worth a fortune in a solar system. I'm not trying to denigrate the Edgestar in any way, I think it's a great fridge at a great price and is the perfect fridge for 2 and 3 day trips... it just isn't the best for full-timing with a solar system and the very limited payload of a Jeep.

The real shocker would be if someone can give Herbie an Engel MT45 with the transit bag insulation and after running the tests, it burns about the same amps as an Edgestar. If that happens, then the Engel no longer has any advantage over the Edgestar in my book. I'm hoping that someone can offer one up for the test.

 

[teotwaki]

--------------snip--------
The real shocker would be if someone can give Herbie an Engel MT45 with the transit bag insulation and after running the tests, it burns about the same amps as an Edgestar. If that happens, then the Engel no longer has any advantage over the Edgestar in my book. I'm hoping that someone can offer one up for the test.

Pretty sure the numbers are in favor of the Engel/ARB/Norcold/Waeco fridges for lower current draw than the Edgestar. The numbers are all over the portal in various threads.

This was one dataset for a Norcold
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=824351&postcount=41

this one: 30 watts versus 54 watts

We started getting a lot of inquires from Chinese manufacturers of compressor fridges starting about 2 years ago. They wanted to know if we would distribute their product in North America.

They all look quite comparable with the Engels and WAECO's (of course there is the unknown reliability and warranty issues) until it comes to power consumption.

Engles pull 0.7 - 2.5 amp WAECO's pull 3.75 amp (average) depending on the fridge settings and outside temperature. See http://www.adventuretrailers.com/fridges.html

The Edgestar pulls 4.5 amps on 12 volt. In amps it all seems very close because the numbers are small, but if you convert them to watts (a more familiar measurement, same as your light bulbs) then the power drawn now seems to be more drastic:
Engle 8.4 - 30 watts
Waeco 45 watt average
Edgestar 54 watts.

It's always power consumption people are concerned about.

http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=142707&postcount=5

 

[Xterabl]

The way it breaks down for me is.... That makes the Engel worth it to me.

Otherwise I think the Edgestar is awesome. The price is right, and I wish I didn't need the ability to sit for more than a couple days. If I was only doing weekend trips, I'd definitely want an Edgestar over an Engel.

Thanks for the detail. You nailed it at the end there...as with so many things, it all depends on your time horizon.

 

[COJeeper]

FP430 Scratch and Dent

$329 shipped.
I picked up a scratch and dent FP430.
It seems to be well made a few minor dents which I expected.
Plugged in at my office and it is working perfectly.
For the price I think it was a pretty good deal.

Update: After one day of running my S&D FP430, it stopped cooling and leaked all the refrigerant out through a bad solder joint. I was refunded the full purchase price. So I turned around and ordered another (New FP430) at a discounted price they offered me, which arrived in 3 days. Both the distributor and the manufacture provided me with outstanding customer service. It did take 3 calls to get everything squared away, one to the distributor, one to the the manufacturer and again to the distributor to get a new one on the way.
While on the phone with Manufacture, I was told that since my original purchase was previously returned for some other reason besides the dents it had, they were going to pull the warranty on the serial number for the unit. They asked me if I could dispose of the unit, they did not want it back. Well????.....Ok??.... Now.... I do have another new unit ordered and on the way.... and one just sitting there dead. I started to think Hmmmm....I'm not a refrigerator expert but I bet, I can find a repair guy locally to take a look at this newly acquired scrapped no warranty unit heading to the landfill. I dropped it off a my local appliance store yesterday morning, they had the leak re-soldered from the compressor to the condensing coil and recharged with a R134A for $75 bucks. Some might call this a confession. But I hate to just throw stuff away.....Long story short. I now have twice the cooling capacity for adult beverages while Camping/Flyfishing.... Total investment $404.00 Net $202 a unit. And I now qualify for LEED points by not adding to a landfill. I did have some time making calls and running around with this plus 75 bucks additional out of pocket. However, I can mess with Trout fishing buddies and say that my investment is twice as (Cool) as they thought it was. Pun intended.

 

[craig333]

Pretty sure the numbers are in favor of the Engel/ARB/Norcold/Waeco fridges for lower current draw than the Edgestar. The numbers are all over the portal in various threads.

This was one dataset for a Norcold
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=824351&postcount=41

this one: 30 watts versus 54 watts



http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=142707&postcount=5

When they say average, just how long a time span was the test run?

 

[teotwaki]

When they say average, just how long a time span was the test run?

I guess "They" would be the author of this post where the excel sheet came from

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=824351&postcount=41

 

[Glorybigs]

As of March 2nd. ^AM Pacific time
Compact Appliance has both of these cheap at the scratch and dent section.
63 QT. for $349.oo
86 QT. for $429.oo
http://www.compactappliance.com/on/...ems-Scratch_and_Dent&psortd1=1&start=40&sz=40

How do I find the "scratch and dent" section on the website?

 

[teotwaki]

How do I find the "scratch and dent" section on the website?

In the main banner at the top there are some "buttons" and to the right is "Clearance Items" then select the drop down "Open Box Products"

 

[korisu56]

http:/www.compactappliance.com

original price= 492.94. weekend sale @ 15% off. additional 3% for usaa. $10 off above $298. no sales tax except s. carolina and texas. same day shipping

$396.43 w/ free shipping for the weekend. only applied tax is for s.carolina and texas.

 

[BirfMark]

Overnight should be no problem at all. Depending on your battery, outside air temp, and how cold you want to keep your cooler, you'd probably be okay for two or three days.

Definitely good for one though, no problem.

 

[NuggetHoarder]

I want to put this in our jeep but want to make sure I don't kill the battery overnight. How long have you owners kept this plugged in without a start and had your jeep still good?

Your experience will be unique because there are so many variables. Ambient temperature, contents of the refrigerator, the temperature setting (fridge or freeze) on the refrigerator itself, the number of times you open and close the refrigerator, and your battery's type, size and age will all affect the runtime.

Can you run your fridge overnight? Probably. Is it a good idea to run a high amperage device, like a refrigerator, off your primary starting battery? Never. It's a game of Russian roulette that you will eventually lose and you'll be stuck on the trail until you get a jump.

You most likely have a starting battery that is designed to deliver very high cranking amps for a few seconds when you start your engine, not a steady stream of amps over a long period like a deep cycle battery. Deep cycling a starting battery will cause serious damage and severely lessen the lifespan of the battery. You could destroy your battery completely on just a few campouts if you are using a non-deep cycle battery in this way and you drain the battery completely.

 

[korisu56]

Roger. Thank you for the input. Just pissed I JUST had to buy a new batter for the wife's jeep. I may just buy a yellow top for my CJ and put it in hers for the long trip. Thank you very much for the insight.

PS- Sorry if the batter talk got off topic. Apologies.