Powering a fridge in a Jeep JL

[NJRadioGuy]

Hi all,

I'm attempting to power a permanently-mounted Iceco JP40 fridge in the back of my Jeep JL Wrangler Rubicon. I would like to find an equally-permanent solution.

My old power setup was an Ecoflow River Plus (LiON technology, 756 Wh) sitting on the back shelf above the fridge, secured by bungee cords. It would power the fridge for less than 24 hours without being recharged. That power station was plugged into the cigarette lighter port in the back, but would suck the crank battery dry overnight. I changed the fuse to only power the outlet when the ignition is on, but that means the Ecoflow never gets charged unless I'm on a very long road trip, thus needed to be plugged in all the time when I'm home, which is not feasible.

I bought a Bluetti AC180P power station and DC-1 charger. I put the battery in the Jeep but it's much too big to fit on the shelf in the back. I can no longer see out of half the back window, which is not an option for me.

I'm out of options. For those who live out of their JLs how do you handle fridge power? All I need to power is the fridge and to recharge my phone, watch, and tablet overnight. Nothing else. No need for AC whatsoever and no desire to ever need AC power since this is for getting away from everything <grin>. Solar isn't really an option either since I park in heavy shade at home, and 95% of my campsites are in national forests, also in deep shade. I'd also thought of two 50 AH LiFePO4 batteries in the back cubby, but in the northeast there will be weeks at a time that are well below 0°C, thus not allowing the batteries to charge.

A Power station seems like the best option but where to put it and how to keep it topped up. Those are the questions for which I'm seeking answers. Please and thanks.

 

[socal66]

I have a Jeep JL 3.6 and I have been using a dual battery setup under the hood for my accessory power needs which is mostly the fridge. I have used the Genesis Offroad Gen3 dual battery setup with 2 AGM batteries and have recently switched to their Omega system which allows me to run an AGM as the starter and a Lithium Ion battery for accessory power in the same tray under the hood. Both have been more than adequate for my power usage and with the 240 Amp alternator things get charged up relatively fast without the need to add solar. Aside from functionality one big benefit of this solution is that I don’t need to take up cargo space for the additional battery.

I had created a new wiring circuit with a fuse box located in the rear cargo area to power the fridge and other things. I have found that the OEM wiring to the rear lighter outlet is less than ideal and that a dedicated circuit with higher gauge wiring is really needed especially if you want to do things like charging portable batteries in addition to operating the fridge.

 

[MOAK]

I too have always been an advocate of a dual battery set up under the hood. With two of my previous rigs, an 04 Rubicon and an 80 series Landcruiser I had a simple manual electrical system to isolate the starter battery when at camp. 100 amp hour battery should keep your refrigerator running for 12 or 15 hours, depending on your fridges current draw. There are bigger AH batteries out there, but will take a bit of kitting to get em under your hood. I always shopped fridges for the lowest current draws, Engle or ARB. Other high end fridges draw a little less. Good luck!

 

[lolzhax]

I use the EcoFlow Delta 2 Max (2000wh) and the EcoFlow Alternator Charger (800w charger). Runs my IceCo VL45 and Starlink Mini non-stop.

Gives me the flexibility to use the power station anywhere when I'm not using it in my vehicle, and the Alternator Charger provides basically unlimited power.

 

[NJRadioGuy]

I use the EcoFlow Delta 2 Max (2000wh) and the EcoFlow Alternator Charger (800w charger). Runs my IceCo VL45 and Starlink Mini non-stop.

Gives me the flexibility to use the power station anywhere when I'm not using it in my vehicle, and the Alternator Charger provides basically unlimited power.

I'm using the Bluetti equivalents to that combination. The only issue is how to keep everything charged when the Jeep sits for a week at a time, when I'm home working rather than out exploring. There are weeks I don't drive anywhere, but I don't want to depower the fridge if I can avoid it.

 

[lolzhax]

I'm using the Bluetti equivalents to that combination. The only issue is how to keep everything charged when the Jeep sits for a week at a time, when I'm home working rather than out exploring. There are weeks I don't drive anywhere, but I don't want to depower the fridge if I can avoid it.

Normally, I pull the fridge out of the jeep and plug it into the wall in my garage. My IceCo VL45 runs 24/7/365 between the jeep and my garage.

If I'm going out again soon, OR I'm packing a day or two early before going out, I run an extension chord to the back of the jeep (jeep is backed up to the garage and I have spooled extension chords by my garage door, already plugged in). I'll swap my power source when I'm tossing in the last few things before leaving.

I even kept spare eggs in there during the great winter egg shortage of '24.

 

[NJRadioGuy]

Yeah, I do the extension cord thing every few days to top up the power station. PITA factor is too high.

 

[lolzhax]

Yeah, I do the extension cord thing every few days to top up the power station. PITA factor is too high.

Over discharging is probably the #1 thing to kill a battery... and no reason to put unnecessary charge cycles on the power station. Just turn off the power station and plug your refrigerator into the extension cord. Switch it to MAX mode and pre-cool everything on AC power.