perterra
Adventurer
Youre the only person who knows the answer for your needs. Either one will work, and either one has negatives
Fridge vs. cooler for basecamp-style travel
- Thread starter jk6661
- Start date
Youre the only person who knows the answer for your needs. Either one will work, and either one has negatives
calicamper
Expedition Leader
We do a 6-9 day trip every summer. Pending temps I get 3-4 days easy out of a frozen 1gall milk jug poor mans Ice block in the old Colman ice chest. Then we get a block of ice.
I wont be going fridge route till we are doing more trips, currently 3-4 a yr is all we do.
I wont be going fridge route till we are doing more trips, currently 3-4 a yr is all we do.
rkj__
Adventurer
Most of my trips are two or three nights in one location.
I have a cooler, and a fridge. To run the fridge, I have a ~75Ah battery, and a 40W solar panel.
So far, I have only used the fridge when camping in campgrounds with electrical hookups. The fridge drains the battery pretty quick once the vehicle stops running, especially if you open it frequently, and / or summer temps are high. I feel like I would need to invest in a larger battery bank, and more solar to make running the fridge sustainable for 4+ days. That would require several hundred dollars of investment. Even then, like you, I often camp in shady areas, where it is hard to collect direct sunlight.
When leaving home with the cooler, I try to pre-chill everything, and use those re-usable ice packs, sometimes supplemented by ice blocks frozen in tupperware containers. I also try to eat the most perishable items earlier on in the trip. I have also found that I am rarely very far from ice, if a re-stock is needed on longer trips.
Some styles of trips are really well suited for fridges. Some are really well suited for coolers. For some, either can work well, with the appropriate adjustments or compromises.
I have a cooler, and a fridge. To run the fridge, I have a ~75Ah battery, and a 40W solar panel.
So far, I have only used the fridge when camping in campgrounds with electrical hookups. The fridge drains the battery pretty quick once the vehicle stops running, especially if you open it frequently, and / or summer temps are high. I feel like I would need to invest in a larger battery bank, and more solar to make running the fridge sustainable for 4+ days. That would require several hundred dollars of investment. Even then, like you, I often camp in shady areas, where it is hard to collect direct sunlight.
When leaving home with the cooler, I try to pre-chill everything, and use those re-usable ice packs, sometimes supplemented by ice blocks frozen in tupperware containers. I also try to eat the most perishable items earlier on in the trip. I have also found that I am rarely very far from ice, if a re-stock is needed on longer trips.
Some styles of trips are really well suited for fridges. Some are really well suited for coolers. For some, either can work well, with the appropriate adjustments or compromises.
zimm17
Observer
Fridge! I've run mine inside a hot jeep (100+ degree temps) and it went 2 days before turning off on battery saver. If you drive 30-60 mins a day, it'll run forever.
Now that I live in southern Florida, I keep the fridge installed full time. When I go grocery shopping, I switch the power on. In less than an hour it's down to temp and when I buy my groceries, I put all the cold stuff together so I can drop them into the cooler. Then I can do more errands and not worry about the food.
Another "ah-ha" moment was trailside when my buddy's sandwich bag leaked and his whole family's food for the day was soaked in water. No such issues with a fridge. Best piece of camping gear I ever bought.
It even doubles as an auxiliary beer fridge in the garage when you plug it into 110v.
When I returned home after having evacuated for hurricane Irma, I dialed the ARB down to zero and filled it with frozen food to take back home (the grocery stores weren't open or stocked), then used a big marine cooler with ice for the fridge items. Worked great, the temps held about 10 deg for the 2 days of driving.
Now that I live in southern Florida, I keep the fridge installed full time. When I go grocery shopping, I switch the power on. In less than an hour it's down to temp and when I buy my groceries, I put all the cold stuff together so I can drop them into the cooler. Then I can do more errands and not worry about the food.
Another "ah-ha" moment was trailside when my buddy's sandwich bag leaked and his whole family's food for the day was soaked in water. No such issues with a fridge. Best piece of camping gear I ever bought.
It even doubles as an auxiliary beer fridge in the garage when you plug it into 110v.
When I returned home after having evacuated for hurricane Irma, I dialed the ARB down to zero and filled it with frozen food to take back home (the grocery stores weren't open or stocked), then used a big marine cooler with ice for the fridge items. Worked great, the temps held about 10 deg for the 2 days of driving.
Ghost65
Allergic to Pavement
Fridge, hands down.
Owned my ARB 50 qt. for going on seven years, and basecamped with it frequently. Haven't seen the need (yet) to install a solar surplus charger, because I'm a bit finicky about monitoring my battery, that I just upgraded to a nice AGM model for the Tacoma to back off my morning camp obsession. I just flick my key in the ignition after a night of fridge running and let the system charge for a few minutes...never had a starting/fridge depletion issue running it here in the hot deserts of the southwest (Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California).
Plus, the space you save in ice volume alone makes the extra stuff you can pack cold a value.
I keep my ARB on the AC line in my garage as a backup storage of beverages which comes in handy during extended "mod sessions" in the garage.
I've never thought "Hmmmm, let me get some ice, throw it in a cooler so I can have cold drinks while I wrench...:sombrero:"
I added up the cost of ice during a calendar year of trips (at least thirty nights) and frankly, it did add up. If you amortized to cost of the fridge, battery upgrade, etc., that route to me was still less than driving for/purcasing ice for every multi-night excursion.
Good luck man, there are a lot of choices out there for sure.
Owned my ARB 50 qt. for going on seven years, and basecamped with it frequently. Haven't seen the need (yet) to install a solar surplus charger, because I'm a bit finicky about monitoring my battery, that I just upgraded to a nice AGM model for the Tacoma to back off my morning camp obsession. I just flick my key in the ignition after a night of fridge running and let the system charge for a few minutes...never had a starting/fridge depletion issue running it here in the hot deserts of the southwest (Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California).
Plus, the space you save in ice volume alone makes the extra stuff you can pack cold a value.
I keep my ARB on the AC line in my garage as a backup storage of beverages which comes in handy during extended "mod sessions" in the garage.
I've never thought "Hmmmm, let me get some ice, throw it in a cooler so I can have cold drinks while I wrench...:sombrero:"
I added up the cost of ice during a calendar year of trips (at least thirty nights) and frankly, it did add up. If you amortized to cost of the fridge, battery upgrade, etc., that route to me was still less than driving for/purcasing ice for every multi-night excursion.
Good luck man, there are a lot of choices out there for sure.
Fridge/freezer, hands down. Free yourself from the ice tether. It is liberating. The very first time we took ours camping (82 & 50 qt ARB's), it was a long 4 day holiday weekend. The "camp store" ran out of ice on Friday. People spent the entire weekend driving over 50 miles or much more, 1 way, just looking for/to get ice. We have a small 18' camper & it has an equally small fridge. We LOVE that we can use the 82 as a fridge & the 50 as a freezer, in addition to the camper fridge. We can stay gone a LONG time. I have not set them up for 12v yet, as we have had 120v everywhere we have gone, but I will be getting some dcycle batteries for them someday soon.
e60ral
2016 4Runner Trail w/KDSS
Instead of leaving the fridge at camp, why not leave it in your vehicle?
I use my fridge every day, it's handy leaving snack stuff and water in the back so I can eat lunch if I'm in on project sites for work and I like being able to do grocery store runs during lunch to avoid the after work rush
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
I use my fridge every day, it's handy leaving snack stuff and water in the back so I can eat lunch if I'm in on project sites for work and I like being able to do grocery store runs during lunch to avoid the after work rush
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
Martinjmpr
Wiffleball Batter
.
Yup that's exactly what we do. Our trailer has a small fridge but we only power it up when we are at a site with shore power, otherwise it sucks too much power from the battery (it's a 2 way, not a 3 way so there's no propane mode.)
.
The truckfridge stays in our tow vehicle, so if we're out and about exploring, we have our food with us instead of back at the camp.
Do you ever basecamp for 4-5 days, only driving up to an hour a day?
ducktapeguy
Adventurer
I think it should be fine if your battery and charging system is in good shape. I used to take out my fridge after every trip and clean it out. But I found I was using it almost every weekend for errands, so I started leaving it in the car and just plugging it in on the weekends. Eventually, I got tired of packing and unpacking everything and decided to leave it plugged into my car full time now. I drive about an hour or so each day just commuting and running errands, and haven't had a problem since i started doing it a few months ago. This is with and edgestar fridge which isn't the most efficient, and during the summer when we were having 100+ degree days. I think I tripped the low voltage alarm one time, but it may have been because if I'm working on the car I tend to leave the interior lights and radio on for hours at a time, and a few times i may have left the interior light on overnight. Still never had a problem starting the car though.
I did read that the alternator probably won't give the batteries a full charge on short daily trips like that, so I've just started to plug in a battery charger to top off the battery over the weekend. This is the first time I've ever done it, so I can't really say if it was needed or not, but I'll probably do that once a month just for safety.
Last edited:
So you're running it off your starter battery? How big is that?
Get a quality fridge with a voltage monitor and you'll be golden. Worse case, it trips for low voltage then you're back to a cooler until you turn it on again.
I recently switched. I went with a Dometic 40L because i found it cheap on Amazon. I first used it in my 4runner, no issues. It was great backup when Irma came through and i was without power for almost 2 days, just left it plugged in with the 4R in the garage.
I now have it in a Ford Edge company car, always running. Keeps drinks and some fruits/veggies cold for my work trips. Super nice for grocery runs as well, as i live about 20 minutes from the store.
Both are running original batteries, both i have hardwired a dedicated, fused line to the battery (4R stock outlet couldn't handle the current, Edge cuts power to the sockets after an hour or two when the vehicle was off). It has sat, running, in either for 2-3 days without tripping the low voltage warning. No problem starting. I set the temp to 29F, it fluxuates from around 24F to 33F. So glad i don't have to deal with floating food any more.
I recently switched. I went with a Dometic 40L because i found it cheap on Amazon. I first used it in my 4runner, no issues. It was great backup when Irma came through and i was without power for almost 2 days, just left it plugged in with the 4R in the garage.
I now have it in a Ford Edge company car, always running. Keeps drinks and some fruits/veggies cold for my work trips. Super nice for grocery runs as well, as i live about 20 minutes from the store.
Both are running original batteries, both i have hardwired a dedicated, fused line to the battery (4R stock outlet couldn't handle the current, Edge cuts power to the sockets after an hour or two when the vehicle was off). It has sat, running, in either for 2-3 days without tripping the low voltage warning. No problem starting. I set the temp to 29F, it fluxuates from around 24F to 33F. So glad i don't have to deal with floating food any more.
e60ral
2016 4Runner Trail w/KDSS
I have a 110ah marine battery as my starting battery and it powers my fridge, I have a lithium jump pack as backup.
With a mostly full fridge I can easily last 3 days in hot weather before I hit the low voltage cutoff.
The factory battery wasn't as happy with the fridge, after about 6 months it was starting to hurt the battery performance. The marine battery is perfectly happy.
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
Similar threads
