Finally joined the fridge/freezer club! Costway 54qt

[Bubba Tim]

Very efficient with power and holding temp... I have the thermal cover which helps in South Florida. I can run easily 4 days on Bat power before hooking up solar. I will post the mods when I complete the camp kitchen chuck box.

 

[PolarExpress]

very good addition. Is it still killing the battery?

how well does it hold the temp once turned off?

It’s not well insulated so it doesn’t hold temp when turned off. If it’s 90F in the Jeep it’ll go from 32f to 50f in an hour.

As for battery usage, it does pretty well at fridge temps 36F will run for a full day without the engine running. That’s if it’s 85F in the Jeep. If it’s hotter it’ll work harder.

 

[avgjoe624]

Just dropped the Costway 54qt in my cart on amazon.

Wanted to get some insight before i pull the trigger. How is yours holding up so far? Happy with it?

 

[ErnieC]

Nope. It only has a setting for target temp and Eco or High mode. Granted, on High mode it may start the compressor sooner than Eco mode. So it maybe similar to what you’re talking about, but there’s no way for me to choose the exact temps. That would be a nice feature, it’s probably available on the more expensive fridges.

Actually it does. I just got one to play with from Amazon and have been tinkering with it for about a week.
If you push and hold the Settings button for 5-6 seconds it will blink and take you to the extended settings.
Push the settings button 2 more times so that E3 is displayed and then hit the up or down temperature buttons to adjust the setting. I think mine was shipped with the E3 register set to 3. (long story on why/how I found all this out) I believe the E3 register tells the brains when to turn the compressor on.

I had to perform a factory reset and see that the new default setting for E3 is now 1. The cooling behavior of the fridge changed from the way it was shipped to me when I ordered it from Amazon. It used to turn on at TargetTemperature+3 degrees. Now it turns on the compressor when it's 1 degree past the TargetTemperature.

The end result is that it runs more frequently but the temperature doesn't fluctuate as much for the cooler.
e.g. as shipped and initially tested the compressor would turn on at TargetTemperature+3 and then turn off at the TargetTemperature, but then the display would drift down to about TargetTemperature-4 and then slowly climb back up until the next activation cycle.

So in the original config it would run the compressor for about 5-6 minutes and then not activate again until 25 minutes later.
In the new setting, it would run the compressor for about 30secs-1.5 minutes and then not activate again until about 6 minutes later, but the temp would always be at TargetTemperature +/- only 1 degree.

 

[Jenks]

I just finished using my Costway on a 5 day beach trip to Portsmouth Island. For the cost of the fridge I am extremely happy and not having to worry about ice and soggy food was great. It is wired off the single Jeep battery for this trip. The first two days were spent driving multiple hours during the day and the Jeep started no problem in the morning. Day 3 we parked and didn’t move at all on day 4. I did run the Jeep for 20mins around mid morning and again in the evening just to make sure the battery had enough charge through he night. I used my Procal to idle up some to allow the alternator to get the most voltage output. I am going to look into the travel cover and a Yeti400 to run off of durning the night and recharge during the day using solar to help keep the strain off the starting battery in the Jeep. But again for the price I am happy, should this one fail eventually I may consider going with a more expensive brand but for now this works great.

 

[Reaper_st84]

anyone using this costway fridge with Litium generator?(yeti or other brand)

 

[Bubba Tim]

Sounds like a 400$ warranty LOL!!

Same factory in China builds both. They just change the branding.

 

[jeepers29]

Has anyone bought one of the insulating covers for their fridge? I am considering one as we live in Texas and Travel out west mostly. I don't want to spend the crazy money they ask for them if they do not work well to insulate. Thanks for any input. Joel

 

[ErnieC]

anyone using this costway fridge with Litium generator?(yeti or other brand)

I'm testing with an older Yeti 400 AGM version and have seen so far that (in house testing w/ ambient temperature of 65F and cooler set to 36F) it'll last more than the weekend just fine .

I think for my initial test period my Yeti display totals for a Fri 6pm - Sun 9:15pm period: 389Wh 30.4Ah with the Yeti being recharged daily with a Renogy 100W solar panel propped outside from 9am-6pm

 

[ErnieC]

Has anyone bought one of the insulating covers for their fridge? I am considering one as we live in Texas and Travel out west mostly. I don't want to spend the crazy money they ask for them if they do not work well to insulate. Thanks for any input. Joel

I'll let you know my test results next weekend. I just ordered one from FL off of Amazon for <$40 and expect to get it by this Friday.

I was curious to see how well this works compared to my tests so far of
1) just using the cooler (external temp zapped with IR thermometer 60F)
2) cooler wrapped by small camping blanket on top/front/left/right (55F)
3) same as #2 but with addition of sofa pillows stacked around blanket on all sides + 1 more around the back side too (43F)
4) for giggles I put it back in the shipping box and cut out sections for the air intake/fan exhaust and power cord area to see if the box could be used as a poor man's transit case with the only insulation being the top and bottom styrofoam shipping materials (49F measure the top cover only as I was too lazy to lift it up along with the contents in the cooler to zap the sides with the IR thermometer) I suppose I could go to the hardware store and get some insulation foam pieces for the front/sides/back but too lazy to consider that step yet

Can you tell I"ve got too much time on my hands playing with this new camping accessory?

 

[Bubba Tim]

Yes, insulated covers work. I live in Fl. They are a must. A cheap way out is to use a moving blanket from Harbor Freight.

 

[jeepers29]

Thanks for the input guys.

 

[Scontroneboy]

Same factory in China builds both. They just change the branding.

You can check them out on Alibaba as well, $180-$280 per unit and as you said they're all made in China. I saw a social media post from a leading brand that actually used the promo photo from the vendor in China instead of taking their own. Some of the vendors have a 10 unit minimum buy so if you can get a group together the numbers work, but at $380 through Amazon knowing you can send it back hassle free it's worth the extra $100 IMO. Great thread, keep the updates coming \m/

 

[Bubba Tim]

Btw Joel, My cover for the Dometic CFX 75 was $89...

 

[jeepers29]

Btw Joel, My cover for the Dometic CFX 75 was $89...

Thanks Tim. I am wondering if the domestic cover would fit the ARB ? Something to look into.

 

[Reaper_st84]

Anyone know if there is a thermal cover for the costway 44 quart(smaller one) who will fit the costway perfectly?

 

[Reaper_st84]

Got my 44 quart,worst packaging ever [emoji2959]... but the fridge looks to works ok.
Temperature on screen doesnt match the real inside temp at all.It took 10 minutes to reach 4°c starting at 15°C not bad.

 

[Bubba Tim]

That sucks. When I ordered my Dometic from Dometic, It came wrapped and sealed on a palette. Not even a dimple in the cardboard box.

 

[Reaper_st84]

That sucks. When I ordered my Dometic from Dometic, It came wrapped and sealed on a palette. Not even a dimple in the cardboard box.

Yeah thats really not the same quality and cares.

 

[britz]

Got my 44 quart,worst packaging ever [emoji2959]... but the fridge looks to works ok.
Temperature on screen doesnt match the real inside temp at all.It took 10 minutes to reach 4°c starting at 15°C not bad.
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My 54 showed up looking the exact same way, like it was the first day of forklift driving school. Not a scratch on the unit though.