Fridge Questions

[CA-RJ]

We are thinking about taking the plunge and buying a fridge for the 4Runner. I am getting tired of our ice melting and water getting into bags and containers. I have been trying to figure out what size to get. Edgestar has a 43 quart and the 63 quart sizes. It's hard to figure out how much actually fits in them. Can I fit enough food for a family of 3 for a week in a 43 quart one?

My next set of questions deal with powering the unit. The most common way to power it is with a dual battery setup. My stock battery seems to do fine with the starting chores and I could add a second Sears Diehard Platnum battery (group 35, stock size for the 4Runner) to power the fridge. I've also read where people run just one good battery and use that for the starting and fridge power.

We rarely do trips longer than a week, but do often go to remote areas. The last thing I want to do is kill the battery running the fridge all night. My truck is a stick, so I suppose I could always push start it though.

Lastly, how do I wire the fridge up? Do I power it directly from the battery through a fuse block? Do any of you use a DC adapter (ie the cigarette lighter socket)?

Any tips, suggestions, words of wisdom, ect. would be great from you experienced fridge owners!

 

[Corey]

I run my fridge from dual 12v outlets in the rear of the rig.
Only one of them is used to power the fridge though.
More info on them can be seen in my buildup thread.

The power wire from the outlets go to a BlueSea fuse box which is wired to the stock battery.
I have a dual battery setup, but the spare is used in case I run the main one down.
I also keep the batteries topped off with a solar setup which can be seen in the 12v section on this site.

I have ran my fridge before for four straight days without starting the rig or using solar (at home during a long weekend) and it started right up to go to work.

I do not know the power consumption of the one you are looking at.
I went with the ARB 45 qt which is the same as the Engel 45, both two of the most popular fridges.

Have had my fridge setup now for around three years.
Nothing like cold dry food.
I would never go back to ice.

 

[Xterabl]

If you are considering the Edgestars, most have found that the compressor start-up is a rather high current draw, which renders stock 12V plug outlets somewhat inadequate. The fridge might shut off if the battery is nowhere near the 10.4V cut-off point due to voltage drop caused by long, skinny wires and brief high-current draw of the compressor. So, it'd be best if you could run 12 or 10 wire gauge from your fuse block (if wire length > 10', I'd go with 10 gauge). Also, compared to ARB or Engle fridges, the Edgestars have about twice the power consumption. So, 12.5V --> 10.5V will likely happen in ~2 days vs. 4 or 5 days for the other, more expensive fridges.
Hope this helps.

 

[goodtimes]

Family of 3 for a week out of a 43qt? It's possible, but would depend on just how much refrigerated stuff you took with you. We [somewhat] limit the amount of meat, cheese, etc. that we eat while camping, which allows us to keep a greater percentage of our food out of the fridge. The stuff that we do put in the fridge gets packaged in as small of containers as possible. In fact, most of it is in zip-lock bags, keeping the air space associated with each item as small as possible.

Also, just as a general comment about the soggy bread in a cooler problem -- I used to have one or two large, water-tight, tupperware containers that I would pack with my refrigerated goods (all in their individual zip-lock bags), that would then be put in the cooler. I never had a problem with water infiltration using that method. Not as elegant of a solution as a 'fridge, but it worked.

 

[CA-RJ]

Also, just as a general comment about the soggy bread in a cooler problem -- I used to have one or two large, water-tight, tupperware containers that I would pack with my refrigerated goods (all in their individual zip-lock bags), that would then be put in the cooler. I never had a problem with water infiltration using that method. Not as elegant of a solution as a 'fridge, but it worked.

The problem with tupperware containers is that they take up a lot of space. We tend to take a lot of things that need to be kept cool on our trips. We usually max out our ice chest pretty quickly.

 

[goodtimes]

The problem with tupperware containers is that they take up a lot of space. We tend to take a lot of things that need to be kept cool on our trips. We usually max out our ice chest pretty quickly.

No argument there. It's better than soggy food, but not as nice as a fridge.

If you take lots of refrigerated stuff, definitely skip the 43qt (or similar sized) model.

 

[roadkill]

If you are considering the Edgestars, most have found that the compressor start-up is a rather high current draw, which renders stock 12V plug outlets somewhat inadequate. The fridge might shut off if the battery is nowhere near the 10.4V cut-off point due to voltage drop caused by long, skinny wires and brief high-current draw of the compressor. So, it'd be best if you could run 12 or 10 wire gauge from your fuse block (if wire length > 10', I'd go with 10 gauge). Also, compared to ARB or Engle fridges, the Edgestars have about twice the power consumption. So, 12.5V --> 10.5V will likely happen in ~2 days vs. 4 or 5 days for the other, more expensive fridges.
Hope this helps.

in my superduty (dual batteries) this happens. I use mine during the week for water on the job site, it sits on my backseat. when temps get in the upper 80's and above with all windows shut, I come home friday evening and by mon morning I have a dead battery. if I start it and use the truck on sunday I'm good. I normally just plug mine in the wall and not worry about it on the weekends.

 

[cnynrat]

We have one of the new 47L ARB fridges in the FJ. We also have an Engel 45 in the trailer.

As far as wiring the fridge up, I installed a power outlet in the back of the FJ wired to my second battery through an in-line fuse. I used 10Ga wire since it's a pretty long run. Since the fridge is the only item I plan to connect directly to the second battery that was easier than installing a fuse block. My second battery is a 120 AH Optima yellow top.

If your travel pattern is to drive the truck most days, I don't think you'll have a problem running your battery down overnight. If you want to be able to park for a few days in one location you'd probably be best off with a second battery IMO (you could also contemplate a solar set-up, but I think the second battery would be cheaper to install). A lot will depend on the fridge you get, and how you use it. Considerations such as ambient temps, how often you open it up, and whether you need it to cool down something mid trip that didn't get in the fridge from day one will all be factors. Overland Journal has a great article this month with some good power consumption measurements.

My flip answer to your capacity question is it depends how much beer you drink. Somebody will be along shortly to point out that beer is volumetrically inefficient and suggest you drink scotch instead. :costumed-smiley-007

Seriously, it really does depend on what foods/beverages you bring for a week. You might want to try putting food for a typical trip in your current cooler without any ice and measure the volume. You could then compare that pretty easily to the inside dimensions of the fridges you are considering. For us, I think a week's worth of food might fit with some very careful planning.

 

[goodtimes]

If your travel pattern is to drive the truck most days, I don't think you'll have a problem running your battery down overnight.

That has been my experience too.

Also don't forget that most fridges have a low voltage shut off that generally work pretty well. And of course if you are still concerned about it, but don't have the $$$ for a dual battery set up, you can always carry one of those little jump start boxes, just in case.