My 2001 Pathfinder (R50 ) mild/budget build

[stioc]

Today we got a taste of what this summer is going to be like. Where I live (not too inland from the coast) we saw temps around 102F today. So I thought it was a perfect day to test out both the temps of the truck and the new 12v Coleman Powerchill

First the intake and water temps: The highest I saw for the intake temp was 141F (while idling at traffic lights) when it was 102F outside, so give or take about 38F hotter than the outside air. Now I've seen 145F with the stock intake when I did a local trail run last year soon after buying the truck (completely stock), at that time the ambient temps were about 90F. So not bad at all compared to stock- I don't know for sure if the diy airbox helped or not but my gut feeling is that it did. Generally though at 50mph the intake temps would drop down to 114F and at 70mph they're only about 5-6degs more than outside temps. The highest water temps I saw today were 202F when idling or going uphill (a/c on the whole time) but mostly 195F and sometimes down to 188F (usually on the highway). All temps were recorded using ScanGaugeII.

The Coleman Powerchill: I plugged it in this morning and about 3hrs later it was hovering at 38F with the outside (garage) temps had reached around 80F. I then put it in the back of the truck, threw a small icepack in from the house freezer, plugged it in and headed over to Costco for some shopping. When I got to Costco it dropped down to 36F while the outside (rear of the truck) temps were 80F. I cracked the windows a bit, plugged the power into my portable Xantrax powerpack (small 20ah AGM battery). The battery was showing a charge of 13.6volts before I plugged the cooler in. I then went inside the store noting the time (3:14pm). When I returned at 3:58pm (about 45mins later), the inside temps of the back of the truck had climbed to 107F! -that's an increase of 27F. The cooler's temps on the other hand climbed to 48F (an increase of 12F). I put a couple of small cold items in, plugged it back into the truck's 12v socket and headed home. About 40mins later When I got home the outside temp was down to 83 but the cooler's temp was 46. All in all not too shabby at all in my opnion. Keep in mind the temps were recorded with the cooler pretty much empty. Oh and the battery pack voltage after 45mins went down to 13v and then after resting (by the time I got home) were up to 13.3v. Again, not as bad of a current draw as I thought.

So what did I learn from this experiment? It definitely cools the temps by 40F. If you treat the PowerChill cooler like a cooler (using icepacks etc) it should work better than the regular coolers but if you're expecting to bring ice-cream and frozen food while camping in warm temps you'll have to look at the real portable fridge/freezers. For cold drinks, lunch meats etc this should do fine if you can maintain the surrounding temps to no more than 78-80. Think of it as a regular ice-chest on steroids that can help extend the life of your ice-packs. I would say for road trips it should do great and it's no wonder why they're so popular with the truckers. Another thing I found out was that the temps in the back of the truck when parked get pretty high so it might do a bit better strapped on the back seat. Having said all this a real fridge is definitely high up on my wishlist. All temps were recorded using a digital indoor/outdoor guage with the outdoor probe inside the cooler.

 

[mortonm]

Nice test, there definitely would be a large impact from having nothing in the cooler.

Wouldn't take much to change the air temperature quickly, if you had some drinks or food in there I doubt it would have jumped up to 48oF while you were in the store. More mass the better for temperature conservation

 

[stioc]

^ exactly, and that's a great point.

Welp, they say patience is a virtue...I don't posses. A 12v fridge is on it's way.

 

[Rebelord]

Well, that was quick!
The Coleman is still a good backup or second cooler at least.
Another note, what was the width you needed when you made your skid plate? I know you said it was almost 4ft long 48" or so. But width needed? Planning on making one myself also.

 

[stioc]

I may sell it or keep it, we'll see. I also have the 5-day Xtreme ice-chest so I certainly don't need too many coolers.

The sheet I got was 24"x48" - the 24" width worked perfectly. The 48" length was just a bit too long and I cut it where it meets the cross-member.

 

[Weekender41]

I am super jealous of those temps!! I wish I had days like that. I don't think it's ever gotten that hot. Glad to hear it worked well though. Those fridge/freezer combos sure are nice though!!

 

[Rebelord]

The sheet I got was 24"x48" - the 24" width worked perfectly. The 48" length was just a bit too long and I cut it where it meets the cross-member.

Thank you for the dimensions. Ill have to pick up a sheet soon from around here. Probably pick up a 1x24x1/8 or 1/4 stock for the "missing link" and make it a support for the skid plate. Just wish I had a metal brake to make a front one too.

 

[Co-opski]

There are a couple of tweaks I'd like to do when I have some time:
1. Add a flat top on the plates/ribs so if they make contact with the oil pan they don't puncture it.
2. Buy better bolts and washers
3. Cut out a hole for the drain plug
4. Paint it
5. For added support attach it to my DIY missing-link I built a while back (will use u-bolts)

These washers look like they would do the job for you.
http://fourtreks.com/rock_slidder_washer.html

 

[stioc]

These washers look like they would do the job for you.
http://fourtreks.com/rock_slidder_washer.html

Look like they would, thanks!

 

[Matto]

Welp, they say patience is a virtue...I don't posses. A 12v fridge is on it's way.

Awesome! What did you get?

Cheers,
Matto

 

[stioc]

I'll do a quick write up once I get it and why I ordered it

 

[stioc]

My fridge arrived :wings:

I'll admit right now that I never thought I'd buy a fridge, my ice chest worked just fine and I wasn't about to waste that kinda cash on a luxury like that. Afterall what's the point of camping if you're going to bring your whole kitchen sink and the big screen TV with you...like those motor homes. However, all that changed after a couple of trips with the guys who had them. While we were breaking out the Mountain House dehydrated food by the second day into our trip they were enjoying milk, steaks and burgers on the 4th and 5th day. While I still don't think having a fridge is a necessity at all it just makes things convenient and thus a trip more enjoyable- especially for the better halves and kids. A decent bathroom, sleeping and eating arrangement goes a long way making a trip fun for the family. They don't often understand the 8+hr driving just to get to the dirt road and then inhaling dust for another 4-5 days.

Anyway, so the decision had been made that I was going to buy a fridge at some point in the near future, I just didn't expect it to be this quick. I've always been a fan of the ARB products and their refrigerators were no different. They just look sexy compared to the others. However, they're also pretty spendy. The other popular option with the guys here is Edgestar, it's about half the cost of the ARB and has the same nice/standard Dan Foss compressor. This was going to be my pick too but I just couldn't get over the boxy meat freezer look...still I was going to get it, it was the best bang for the buck option. Over the past couple of weeks leading up to the purchase I would put the ARB in the shopping cart on one site then go back and put the Edgestar into another. I kept trying to figure out if this 'one time' splurge was justifiable...$800 vs. $400. Is the ARB really twice as good a fridge than the Edgestar? I just couldn't make up my mind. By coincidence I came across another fridge that initially looked somewhere in between the ARB and the Edgestar, even price wise. After looking more into it I knew it was the perfect fridge for me. It was the right size both in terms of the inside capacity (same as the Edgestar 43qt, the ARB was either 37qt or 50qt) and yet it was slim like the ARB so it wouldn't take up as much room in the back. The footprint sounded great for my truck - it was also the lightest. The looks were pretty decent too and the features were identical to the ARB (digital thermostat, 3 position low battery cut-off, inside light etc). The fridge is rebadged and sold under multiple names including Ironman from what I've read- the one I got is called IndelB. It was tested by Equipt1 and it did really well (even beating out the ARB): http://www.equipt1.com/companies/indel-b/. However, unlike the ARB's 3yr this one only comes with a 1yr warranty.

Next to the Coleman PowerChill 40qt thermoelectric cooler:

Inside- cool blue light:

Within 10mins on MAX cool setting it went from about 70F to 57 (thermostat test setting) and then shut off:

So far I love it, only time will tell how it does over the long term.

 

[XPLORx4]

Congrats on that great find! Where did you order it from? That fridge looks almost the same as my 7+ year-old Waeco Coolmatic CF-40 which was able to pick up as a factory-refurbished for under $400!

I guarantee you will not be sorry you made that purchase, and after a few uses in the back-country, you will wonder how you ever managed to camp without it.

One of the nicer features is that smaller storage area near the interior light, where I often store items that don't need to be quite as cold as the rest of the fridge. It's convenient to hold more delicate foods such as produce (esp. asparagus) that is easily damaged if it freezes.

Only once did I attempt to use my Coolmatic as a freezer (10°F setting). I brought ice-cream cups and otter pops on a camping trip in the heat of summer (90°+ degrees), and everyone enjoyed some cold sweet treats on the trail. However, in freezer mode, the unit ran almost 100% duty, and it drained my battery overnight. If I were to ever feel the need to have a freezer (and a fridge), I would likely purchase a much smaller unit (18-qt fridge/freezer) as the freezer.

 

[stioc]

Wow they do look very similar, I wouldn't be surprised if they aren't. I bought mine from truckfridge.com - they sell them under their badge. I paid $550 shipped to my door. The operational instructions are less than desirable- I was wondering what that area near the light was for, I thought that may be the freezer section but then I realized it doesn't have a fridge/freezer dual setup it can act as either but not both simultaneously like you said. I've seen a couple of people here with the smaller freezer unit like you posted for the exact same reasons you mentioned.

Do you have a sliding tray setup for your fridge? how do you secure it? I still need to figure out what to do about the constant power to the 12v socket. I guess I'll just run a fused 10AWG cable to it like you and be done with it. As a test I ran it on my small Xantrax battery pack (small AGM battery) and it worked fine with no noticeable voltage drain on the battery in the 10mins it was on it.

 

[XPLORx4]

I don't have a sliding tray system for my fridge. Since I usually travel only with 2 people (me and my wife), I just place it on the right rear seat, where it's easy to access. You can run a ratchet strap under the seat and hook it onto the front/back handles to keep it in place. If I carry other passengers and have to put it in the cargo area, it can be similarly secured to the rearmost tie-down under the carpet, although since only one handle is secured, the fridge would be able to become more easily displaced in a collision.