Fridge Freezer Question

[Pick Teej]

Considering picking this up..
its stated to pull 50watts, meaning 4.17 Ah.. Could I get by for a week at Assateague Island with only my main battery? cant quite afford a dual battery setup yet. I do have a 50watt solar panel so i could use that when the jeep isnt running. but i would run the jeep at least once a day for 30 minutes to charge the battery back up.

let me know if this is safe or has bad idea written all over it.

thanks!

 

[*SOUL REBEL*]

Considering picking this up..
its stated to pull 50watts, meaning 4.17 Ah.. Could I get by for a week at Assateague Island with only my main battery? cant quite afford a dual battery setup yet. I do have a 50watt solar panel so i could use that when the jeep isnt running. but i would run the jeep at least once a day for 30 minutes to charge the battery back up.

let me know if this is safe or has bad idea written all over it.

thanks!

I have an ARB 50 qt. Fridge, a dual battery set up and 4.8 watt solar charger. However, when I run the fridge and use the solar charger the second battery never even gets switched on. This is just my experience. I personally have never drained my starter battery with this set up. Now if you're running anything else on that Shore power you're definitely going to be stranded.

 

[Bob Seaborn]

wow ....thats a lot of amps to run a fridge ...take a look at the spec on the engels ..I'm not saying buy and engel but theres a reason why they are rated at the best on the market ,, i run two in my rig and one of them is 23 years old and still going strong ...

Name: 40 Litre Chest Fridge / Freezer Digital Platinum Series
Model No: MT45FP (MT45F-G4P)
Category: Chest Fridge / Freezer
Capacity: 40 Litre (60 X 375ml Cans)
External dimensions:: H 508 W 648 D 364 mm
Internal dimensions:: H 370 W 380 D 260 mm
Net Weight: 24 Kg
DC Power Consumption: Variable from 0.5 to 2.6 AMPS Maximum
Power: Built In 240Volt AC / 12Volt DC / 24Volt
Smaller Model: MT35FP (MT35F-G4P)
Larger Model: MT60FP (MT60F-G4P)

 

[DanW]

I'm no electrician, so I'll leave that to the experts, but I'd bet you'd be fine with it.

That fridge you are looking at is the same as the Smittybilt. Many don't like the Smittybilt, but many owners are very happy with them and say they work well. At that price, they may be the best bargain out there. There are also lots of very good Amazon reviews on that fridge. Dare I say its feedback appears as good as ARB and Dometic. (I'm hunkering down for the incoming artillary!) My understanding is that it may even use a Danfoss or similar compressor, too. I also like the size and footprint of that particular fridge for the limited cargo area of a Jeep 4 door. Tall and narrow is good.

If you get it, please post pics and share your experiences. If it is as good as the reviews, it may get VERY popular around here as people stretch their dollars for all the expensive mods for their machines.

 

[Pick Teej]

wow ....thats a lot of amps to run a fridge ...take a look at the spec on the engels ..I'm not saying buy and engel but theres a reason why they are rated at the best on the market ,, i run two in my rig and one of them is 23 years old and still going strong ...

Name: 40 Litre Chest Fridge / Freezer Digital Platinum Series
Model No: MT45FP (MT45F-G4P)
Category: Chest Fridge / Freezer
Capacity: 40 Litre (60 X 375ml Cans)
External dimensions:: H 508 W 648 D 364 mm
Internal dimensions:: H 370 W 380 D 260 mm
Net Weight: 24 Kg
DC Power Consumption: Variable from 0.5 to 2.6 AMPS Maximum
Power: Built In 240Volt AC / 12Volt DC / 24Volt
Smaller Model: MT35FP (MT35F-G4P)
Larger Model: MT60FP (MT60F-G4P)

i am aware it does draw ALOT of current compared to an ARB, DOMETIC, ENGEL, but its also half the cost... this is like yeti cost.. maybe even less.

 

[DanW]

i am aware it does draw ALOT of current compared to an ARB, DOMETIC, ENGEL, but its also half the cost... this is like yeti cost.. maybe even less.

I can't help but wonder if those numbers are a misprint. Check the Smittybilt numbers and see how it compares. The fridge is identical, but there is the possibility the compressor is not, and maybe it does draw more power. Also, read through the Q & A and reviews on Amazon. There might be some nuggets of information in there that could help figure this out.

 

[Pick Teej]

smittybilt states average of 40watts or 0.7Ah/hour. this one states 50watts on average. so maybe i cant math very well and its not 4.17Ah and its only about 1Ah. or 4.17 is at the coldest possible setting. Smittybilt does boast a danfoss compressor while this is a chinese replica...

 

[DanW]

smittybilt states average of 40watts or 0.7Ah/hour. this one states 50watts on average. so maybe i cant math very well and its not 4.17Ah and its only about 1Ah. or 4.17 is at the coldest possible setting. Smittybilt does boast a danfoss compressor while this is a chinese replica...

Remember, too, Chinese instructions often lose important information or confuse it in translation. They are pretty good at replicating things, so to be 50Ah would be WAY off the mark. Again, read through the Amazon reviews and you should get an idea of how it works. I read through them a month ago and was considering taking a shot at this fridge. Remember, too, with Amazon, you can try it out and return it if it doesn't perform acceptably. The more I think about it, the more I am skeptical that their compressor is so badly off the mark with consumption. I can't imagine it would get all those rave reviews if it was wiping batteries out quickly. I also think it may just spike for a short bit until it gets cool, then runs at lower consumption.

I've got a Snomaster on the way, but if I had the money, I'd like to order one of these and try it out, just out of curiosity. Funny thing. It gets much better reviews than the Smittybilt. Maybe they did a better job on their own than the one for Smittybilt, in spite of the Danfoss compressor.

 

[Pick Teej]

Remember, too, Chinese instructions often lose important information or confuse it in translation. They are pretty good at replicating things, so to be 50Ah would be WAY off the mark. Again, read through the Amazon reviews and you should get an idea of how it works. I read through them a month ago and was considering taking a shot at this fridge. Remember, too, with Amazon, you can try it out and return it if it doesn't perform acceptably. The more I think about it, the more I am skeptical that their compressor is so badly off the mark with consumption. I can't imagine it would get all those rave reviews if it was wiping batteries out quickly. I also think it may just spike for a short bit until it gets cool, then runs at lower consumption.

I've got a Snomaster on the way, but if I had the money, I'd like to order one of these and try it out, just out of curiosity. Funny thing. It gets much better reviews than the Smittybilt. Maybe they did a better job on their own than the one for Smittybilt, in spite of the Danfoss compressor.

maybe people have lower expectations from a no name brand compared to smittybilt. i think im going to pull the trigger on it shortly. just need to make sure it will fit!

 

[DRLExpress]

For some reason I am not getting a link or something to see what fridge you guys are talking about.

Doug

 

[Pick Teej]

c

For some reason I am not getting a link or something to see what fridge you guys are talking about.

Doug

costway 54qt portable fridge freezer on amazon

 

[Pick Teej]

I have an ARB 50 qt. Fridge, a dual battery set up and 4.8 watt solar charger. However, when I run the fridge and use the solar charger the second battery never even gets switched on. This is just my experience. I personally have never drained my starter battery with this set up. Now if you're running anything else on that Shore power you're definitely going to be stranded.

are you running optimas or just a standard car starting battery?

 

[Steve]

For some reason I am not getting a link or something to see what fridge you guys are talking about.

Are you using an ad blocker? If so, it doesn't show Amazon links. Disable it for overlandbound.com, 'cause we don't have any ads here anyway. :)

 

[DanW]

My Snomaster arrived today. It has a 66w compressor. I'll be trying it out this weekend in my Jeep, so I can let you know how it works. I think that's its peak, not what it will typically draw once cool.

This thing just went from 90 degrees inside to 38 in just 10 minutes! Wow! I have it set for negative 8. The compressor seems to have powered down a little now from maximum, which is where it was for that 10 minutes. I'm basing this on noise, however. I have no measuring instrument on it for power draw.

 

[VCeXpedition]

If you run things like fridges or compressors, regardless of the draw rating, on only one battery, I would recommend a jump pack like a NoCo or other decent brand as a backup in case your starter battery got drawn down too far to start.
Even if you do have a 2-battery system, a jump pack is a good idea.

Bottom line... a jump pack is a good idea in any case - cheap insurance!


FWIW.
Dan.

 

[DanW]

If you run things like fridges or compressors, regardless of the draw rating, on only one battery, I would recommend a jump pack like a NoCo or other decent brand as a backup in case your starter battery got drawn down too far to start.
Even if you do have a 2-battery system, a jump pack is a good idea.

Bottom line... a jump pack is a good idea in any case - cheap insurance!


FWIW.
Dan.

I agree. I've got one for my JK Wrangler. My new JL actually has two batteries. It has the regular battery and then a smaller one, as part of the auto start/stop, which I have disabled. My understanding is that the smaller battery is isolated from accessories and is solely there to start the engine. That should cover me for the fridge. In my JK, I've got a Northstar AGM pure lead battery. Even though I'll have the jump pack, the Northstar should handle the load with little trouble. I don't see myself running it longer than overnight with the engine off, though.

 

[Pick Teej]

Welp..... here goes nothing.

 

[sabjku]

If you run things like fridges or compressors, regardless of the draw rating, on only one battery, I would recommend a jump pack like a NoCo or other decent brand as a backup in case your starter battery got drawn down too far to start.
Even if you do have a 2-battery system, a jump pack is a good idea.

Bottom line... a jump pack is a good idea in any case - cheap insurance!


FWIW.
Dan.

Yep, I completely agree with this as well. I had my ARB37 wired directly to my stock starter battery, and I went through 2 of those in about a year. I was about to get the third(under warranty) and then went and purchased an Odyssey Extreme. At the same time I purchased a NOCO jump starter as well. It's amazing as to how much less stressed I am about the fridge/battery situation now.

 

[Homeguy]

I’ve got a 50litre ARB fridge with 2 batteries and I’ve left the fridge/Jeep for 3 days and no problem. The ARB fridges once they reach temp they will just maintain that. They also have a circuit protection so if your battery voltage gets to a certain point the fridge shuts off.

 

[DanW]

I just put mine in the garage, loaded it up with warm drinks, and plugged it into the wall. I figure it is best to start out with everything cold and not make the fridge do the hard work on the Jeep battery. Then, I'm going to drive my Jeep to work tomorrow, let it sit all day, then pull cold drinks out as I go watch a football game! (I'm a middle school principal). I think I will really enjoy this thing! Btw, it ran perfectly when plugged into the 12v in the back of the Jeep. I set the compressor speed to auto and the voltage guard to 10.7, for now. I may raise it to the high setting, which I think is 11.7. It is VERY quiet, even when on high speed.

OP, that Costaway has a similar footprint, I think, but is slightly longer and a few inches taller, IIRC. It will have 15 liters or so more capacity than this one.