Stork came and dropped off an ARB 60L Fridge... now what?

[con kso]

Came home to find that the big, brown, UPS stork had dropped off our new toy/baby:



We're in the midst of getting our Callen camper CON KSO all dialed in for this winter's upcoming southern Baja surf trip (read about it http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/131134-Labor-Day-Baja-Trip-to-Punta-Cabra-with-CON-KSO-Motos-Chicks-Surf-and-Rum ) and on the advice on some of the local SD Expo members we opted for the ARB 'fridge as our first big camper purchase.

Any insider tips, or "I wish I would've done it this way..." comments before I start tearing into the thing?

 

[WOODY2]

Yep, run a #10 power wire to your new unit and if you have the old style Hella plug and receptacle change it out to the new style. The old style connector have been a constant source of trouble.

 

[65BAJA]

Congrats on the new fridge. :wings:Now go and order the travel bag for it. :box:

I have had my old 42qt for about 15 years now. Still going strong.:26_13_1:

 

[con kso]

Thanks for the advice. I'm not sure what a Hella plug is this one came with a 12v cigarette plug (male of course) it looks pretty robust and the other cord is for plugging into 110v. I've got it plugged in right now and set the temp down to -.1C, test run to see if it's functioning correctly before I throw away the cardboard box.

I plan on wiring up a Renogy 100watt solar panel to some type of sealed battery to power the thing. Keep the advice coming with solar power requirements, wire size, etc.

I'll look into the travel bag for the thing.

Have to say- that sucker is big. My girlfriend ordered it figuring, "why not go big?". Looking like I'll have to build some kind of platform for it in the back seat of the Tundra.

Any reason I should get extra fuses for it? Do these things tend to blow fuses often, anybody know of a good source for the fuses?

 

[65BAJA]

Depending on the weather and on if you get the bag for it you can expect it to use 25-40 amp hours a day. A 100W solar panel, again depending on the weather, will put out 35-50ah a day. That is cutting it pretty close. If you only want it to run for the weekend and you will be unhooking the fridge during the week it should be ok. If you want it to run 100% of the time on solar then you may want to consider 120-160 watts total of solar. Two 60 watt or two 80 watt panels would be very portable and easy to deal with.

 

[con kso]

Awesome- that's great info. Thanks! I'm now looking at two possible portable units: Zamp Solar 120 watt or Go Power 120 watt. Do you have any opinions on the two brands. I'm assuming they'd both do the job for charging a house battery for keeping the fridge going through the night and be able to power the thing during the day. The Zamp is more expensive- is it a better unit?

 

[65BAJA]

Sorry I don't have experience with either of those. I have Grape Solar panels, a Morningstar charge controller, a Magnum inverter, a TriMetric battery monitor, and Optima Batteries. My system is way overbuilt but running the espresso machine in the morning out in the woods is fun.:coffeedrink:

Don't go cheap on the charge controller. A Prostar PWM 15 or 30 is affordable and a solid unit. The Morningstar Sunsaver MPPT is a good unit too but more expensive.

 

[NikonRon]

Don't throw away the box. Ron

 

[con kso]

Thanks Ron- I've still got it. Tested it out over night and it's gotten down to -.01c indicated. Are you suggesting I may need to send it back in the box or just a good place to store it?

 

[con kso]

The deed is done- just ordered 120 watt zamp portable solar panel to power the beer cooler, er I mean ARB. Battery shopping next.

 

[mtnkid85]

The deed is done- just ordered 120 watt zamp portable solar panel to power the beer cooler, er I mean ARB. Battery shopping next.

Keep us updated on your solar/battery install. Its always fun to see every ones setups.

 

[uscg2008]

Sub'd

 

[con kso]

Hey Mtnkid- here's a thread I posted up about the whole set up: http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...gle-battery-solution-or-good-thing-I-have-AAA check it out- field testing starts tomorrow.