To fridge or not to fridge?

O

Omar Brannstrom

Adventurer
Hi

I now little about different fridges but I have Waeco/dometic 25CDF 25 liters and a 40 CF 40 liter fridge and they are good. The ARB was to expensive and ugly looking:) I dont like colors, want them to look military or so. I dont like smurf colors in my Jeep:wings: The old Waeco was about half the cost compared to ARB and Engel, I have no clue about the cost of the new CFX series and how good they are, but the look real good. The Dometic group seems to be a huge company.

My Waeco cdf 25 liters fits in the back of my former 2 door Jeep Wrangler, today I have more space with a 2013 unlimited.

143439365.jpg


Today I would probably go for some new CFX from Waeco/Dometic http://www.waeco.com/en/cfx-compressor-coolers/

If I had the space I would really like to have a true fridge and freezer like the CoolFreeze CFX 65DZ

wae_cfx_65dz_deko_d106.jpg


 
Dan Grec

Dan Grec

Expedition Leader
It totally depends on where you are going and for how long.

If you're doing lots of short (2-4 days) trips not too far from civilization, then I think a cooler can be just fine.

If you're doing longer and longer trips (weeks->months) in very remote and hot places, I think it's time to look for a fridge, and maybe a second battery depending on how long you plan to park at any given spot.

-Dan
 
L

lax71vcu

Adventurer
The Truckfridge I bought has a low battery cutoff as mentioned above where the fridge cuts it self off once the batter reaches a certain voltage level. It was recommended by the manufacturer to leave this set to high to minimize risk of a no start. JK should start if batter has the voltage on either setting but it is always good to play it safe. I am running the original stock battery with 105,000 miles and I have had no problems yet. As stated above just simply start the car once a day and let it run a bit. When at home the fridge stores beverages in any location I want it too. Kinda nice to have as I can put it out for a get together.
 
KG6BWS

KG6BWS

Explorer
grecy said:
It totally depends on where you are going and for how long.

If you're doing lots of short (2-4 days) trips not too far from civilization, then I think a cooler can be just fine.

If you're doing longer and longer trips (weeks->months) in very remote and hot places, I think it's time to look for a fridge, and maybe a second battery depending on how long you plan to park at any given spot.

-Dan
Click to expand...

Depends on where you live too though. I live in the Mojave desert and have had my 50qt (approx) ice chest melt to nothing but water by the end of a weekend be filled at least 75% with ice. For me my Engel Mt45 is one of the best purchases Ive ever made. I left it in my Toyota full time and now in my 2dr JK full time. Put groceries in it, carry my lunch and water for work in it, use it camping and it also works great for day fishing and hunting trips. Catch a fish, shoot a duck/quail/rabbit/etc, clean it, ziplock it and throw it in the fridge.

Worked especially well when I was doing a lot of out of town/state work. I could look for the cheaper hotel rooms, which generally didnt have refrigerators, and rather than eat out 2 or 3 times a day Id go shopping fill the fridge up and have my meals right there in the truck. On one job the guys were all giving me crap about having a fridge in my truck until lunch one day when they were all eating their sandwiches and Im bbqing some sausages. :)
 
F

Finatic Angler

Adventurer
So it look as the fridge is going to work better than the cooler

Can I just plug the fridge (ARB) into the rear socket of my 14 wrangler unlimited? Or do I need a dedicated line?
 
moabian

moabian

Active member
Finatic Angler said:
So it look as the fridge is going to work better than the cooler

Can I just plug the fridge (ARB) into the rear socket of my 14 wrangler unlimited? Or do I need a dedicated line?
Click to expand...

I had mine plugged into there temporarily (2013)...it would sometimes shut off. The wiring to the OEM sockets is usually small gauge and borderline for a fridge. It's always better to run heavy gauge wire to the battery.
 
S

Septu

Explorer
moabian said:
I had mine plugged into there temporarily (2013)...it would sometimes shut off. The wiring to the OEM sockets is usually small gauge and borderline for a fridge. It's always better to run heavy gauge wire to the battery.
Click to expand...

Maybe that's dependent on the size of the fridge? I've been plugging my 25L fridge into that since I picked up my 2012, and it's never shut off on me.
 
Ausjeeper

Ausjeeper

Observer
I used to plug a 47 ltr ARB fridge into the accessories outlet in the back ('13 JKU). and it worked well as long as the motor was going, however if it sat stopped for 2-3 hrs the fridge wouldnt cut in.
 
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moabian

moabian

Active member
4wdadventurer said:
I used to plug a 47 ltr ARB fridge into the accessories outlet in the back ('13 JKU). and it worked well as long as the motor was going, however if it sat stopped for 2-3 hrs the fridge wouldnt cut in.
Click to expand...

Exactly...I should have mentioned that. Most OEM outlets will work for a fridge as long as the motor is running. The OEM outlet may or may not continue to supply enough power when the motor is off. Even if it does, it's going to be borderline...especially on a long run like the rear outlet in the JK. I've used small and medium-sized Waeco Coolmatics, a 60-qt. FridgeFreeze, and now the 63-qt. ARB and NONE of them worked reliably on a stock outlet in any vehicle when the motor was off. It also can depend on where you have the fridge's battery monitor set.

The manual for every fridge has recommended a dedicated, heavy gauge line that is "as short as possible" connected directly to the power supply. When I tried connecting a Waeco or the ARB to the rear outlet in my '13 JKUR, each would shut off within minutes after turning the motor off. It's very easy to run a more suitable wire to the rear of the Jeep and mount a dedicated outlet. I always run the wire through a switch on the dash so that I can turn the fridge on or off from the driver's seat...and either hardwire the fridge to that switch or run it through a "hella" socket that gives a better and more secure connection than the standard 12-volt receptacle. I also use a standard wireless weather station sensor and monitor (like those from any Radio Shack) to monitor the fridge's internal temp from the driver's location. The monitor currently sits in the tray atop the dash and is only about 2 inches square.
 
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L

lysol

Explorer
I can't get my fridge to run on the rear OEM power outlet. I have better success running the ARB 12V cig plug cable under the rear bench and up to the center console OEM power outlet. I can run the fridge no problem while the vehicle is running, but can only run it a few hours with it off in this configuration. I need to install a temporary solution from the front battery until I get my aux. battery installed in the rear cargo area.

My future plan is to have the fridge connected to the aux. battery and no switch whatsoever so as to not promote accidentally turning off the fridge in the middle of a long camping trip spoiling all our food... lol. Only a fuse will act as a switch for the fridge or just simply unplugging it.
 
Bennyhana

Bennyhana

Adventurer
My fridge would always go into low power shut off if I used the power outlet in the back of my 13'. I ran ARB's fridge wiring loom and created a new socket in the Sub box. The wires for the stock outlet are pretty tiny guage.14-16?
 
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