Portable Fridge freezers

[sandy21]

Hi all,
We are heading off for 9 days remote camping in April. Recommendations on fridge/ freezers that will keep everything cold for that time please. There are lots of 12v brands out there, just wondering what ones to avoid buying.
Thanks heaps.

[Volvo]

Have a 38 ltr Engle and a 90ltre Waeco and cant falt either . The waeco spends more time in the back of the Cruiser than the engle and always comes home full , mostly of product ive bought whilst away.
Like huge deep sea tiger Prawn or simmillar and useit on the way down south take goodies for Children n Grandchildren.
Waeco has two compartments which you can have either one or both running as fridge or freezer .
cant say how pleased we have been with it..
Pay for it once but always there when needed .
Know it can be a pain in the butt due to size at times , but space makes up for it ..

[NAGG]

What is your budget & how much fridge space do you need ?

I have an 80ltr Engel which has given 13 years of great service . I also have a 40lt Waeco - which I've used over the last couple of years (so far so good)

The one thing that I have come to the conclusion is that - Rather than 1 big fridge ( 80lt +) I would go for 2 x 40lt fridges ….. that way you can use one as a freezer & one as a fridge or both as either or . Handling 2 smaller units is much easier than a big bulky 40kg (80lt fridge)
Yes it will cost you a couple of hundred more & you'll need 2 batteries if off grid …… but the convenience is worth it IMO .

If you have the coin - Aside from Waeco & Engel ….. National Luna make a great range of fridges . Trailblaza would be the pick of the crop for a tough well made fridge …. lots of options , insulation thickness etc but you pay for the privilege www.norcoast.com.au/trailblaza1.htm

[Bremic]

If you don't have a solar setup to run the fridge/freezer, you can(or used to be able to)hire the three way fridges, they can run off gas in camp to save having to worry about keeping batteries full.

[sandy21]

Thanks all for your replies. We will most likely have a budget of about $3000 but we want to get at least 2 or 3 of them for that. As we are heading up to 1770, we hope to catch some good fish, but will also need one for general food ( meat.. milk etc ) We might like to keep one on board the boat for fish and bait. If we go a few 40L fridges, what size solar panels will we need also? We were thinking of getting the fold up mat type to save space.
Seems Waeco and Engel come out on top. Has anyone ever tried the ones Bunnings sell? (Companion)
Thanks again for your feedback

[DATCOL]

Been using Evakool From Caloundra up the coast, The factory has a seconds factory outlet, very good units i prefer the fiberglass ones they also make plastic ones

s://www.evakool.com/factory-seconds/
COL

[ranmar850]

I'd stick with the compressor type, rather than the 3-way--they draw a heap of DC power, and go through the gas .Been there, done that. The 2 smaller rather than 1 big one is a good idea--I use an 80 litre Waeco, and it's a bit to move around, tends to live in the camper full time.

As for how much solar power you will need, thats a whole other subject. From experience, if you want to run both off the same solar/battery, I'd be looking at 170w of solar power and a 120a/h deep cycle as a minimum. Because , once you have that power, you tend to start plugging other stuff in as well. Running them as a freezer obviously drags more, as they run more often. Running one on the boat is fine if the motor is running, and you have a house battery. But if it sits around all afternoon not running, you may not get through the night. A solar panel on the boat roof helps with this, but not everyone has the setup to mount one.
If you have a generator and decent battery charger( min 25 amps) , they are handy to run for a bit in the evening to top up if the solar hasn't been optimal.

[TomTom22]

Been using Evakool From Caloundra up the coast, The factory has a seconds factory outlet, very good units i prefer the fiberglass ones they also make plastic ones

s://www.evakool.com/factory-seconds/
COL

Yep agree the Evacools are good and a bit more affordable. ive got a 60L glass one that's covered in checker plate alloy, that goes in the boat.
Find out if they are going to have any displays on at any trade shows between now and your trip, they usually have good show specials
I have also got a 60L engel that's about 20yr old, gotta be careful not to turn it up past 2 setting or Im drinking beer slushies.

[shakey55]

I’m an Engel fan. I have a 40 litre that I use as a fridge and I run a 21 litre as a freezer when I travel outback. You say you hope to catch some good fish. Does this mean you want to put the whole fish into a fridge - if so you need to look at the size of the fridge.

An Engel 40 litre fridge set at 2.5 degrees on a 30 degree day will draw about 0.45 amps per hour.

When you factor in a fridge for the caught fish and solar panels, your $3000 budget is not going to stretch very far if you intend buying quality.

Good Luck


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[shakey55]

Sandy21 - I see from your profile that you are in Brisbane area.

I just had a look on the web and this may be your answer for your fishing trip in relation to fridges. They are located in Brisbane.

https://campingfridgehire.com.au

Their pricing looks very good and they appear to have a large range. You may also consider talking to them about powering the fridges


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[rtp1984]

Hey mate.

I run Waeco. They go great.
Have mate that have Engel and other with Evakool

No problems there either.

The only downside I have found in the Evakool units, is with their compressor mounted on the side, they take up a bigger footprint in your car. So if space is a premium this may be a consideration.

Thanks
rob

[NAGG]

Thanks all for your replies. We will most likely have a budget of about $3000 but we want to get at least 2 or 3 of them for that. As we are heading up to 1770, we hope to catch some good fish, but will also need one for general food ( meat.. milk etc ) We might like to keep one on board the boat for fish and bait. If we go a few 40L fridges, what size solar panels will we need also? We were thinking of getting the fold up mat type to save space.
Seems Waeco and Engel come out on top. Has anyone ever tried the ones Bunnings sell? (Companion)
Thanks again for your feedback

The plot thickens

Outside of this trip - how often will you use these fridges ? ....... ( is this just going to be your purchase or split between 2 or 3 people ?)
$3K is a lot of money - if you are not going to use them all that often ........ Hence the hire option might be worth considering.

you can buy cheap fridges - Supercheap have their ridge rider 42lt fridge/freezer on sale for $542........
I would stick to the known brands & try to buy them at the best price .

The best value right now would be Evakool travelmate 65lt which you can pick up for < $1000
Annaconda (club members) you can get the Waeco CFX 65W for $1159 or a CFX50 for $1079 ....... (steer clear of the older / cheaper CF range) ......

As you are looking at multiple fridges - 2 x 65lt would probably do the trick . Rather than take an expensive fridge on a boat - you can use 1 fridge as a dedicated freezer & make up ice blocks / freeze water bottles and put them in a traditional esky for day use. ..... Also freeze your fillets

powering these fridges will be a big consideration - 2 120amp deep cycle batteries .
. Do you have access to a generator (1Kva) & 10-15amp charger as you cannot rely on solar alone .

solar panel / blanket really needs to be 150W - 200W to be effective ...... but if the sun dont shine & at night - you have nothing.

Power draw of fridges - people will tell you all sorts of stuff from 0.5amp - 5amp ...... From my own experiences 3-4amp is closer to real world depending on ambient temp / insulation covers / how often opened ...... etc etc. So that means that in a 12 hr period a fridge will pull down a 100amp battery close to 50% ....... that means you will have to charge that battery each 12 hr period ( a 100W solar blanket / panel will keep pace with the draw down during the day) ....... but it still means that you will probably have to run a generator in the morning for a couple of hours .

So for a 2 fridge arrangement you would need the following

2 x 120amp deep cycle batteries
2 x 100W ( minimum) solar panels (150W would be better)
1 Kva generator with a 10-15 amp battery charger

If you have to buy these - that's $2K (min)
plus $2000-$2300 for 2 x fridges

Chris

[sandy21]

Thank you all heaps for your replies. I will relay all this information to my husband tonight, he understands electronics better than me . We go camping a fair bit out at Lime pocket, remote boat in only, and usually take eskys but the ice only last 2 or 3 days max, so looking to buy something so we dont have to keep doing trips in for ice,we drive home with our catch from there as it's only 40 mins from camp to home. But since this is our first big trip away, we wont have access to home and it's at least 40kms from camp to 1770 by boat. We intend on filleting fish and storing them for the 9day trip to save space. Sounds like it's going to be costly whatever we do to begin with, but at least we will have the gear for next time.
Cheers to everyone for your information

[ben475]

Check out 4wd supa centre if ur looking for a option.

[Bremic]

Thanks all for your replies. We will most likely have a budget of about $3000 but we want to get at least 2 or 3 of them for that. As we are heading up to 1770, we hope to catch some good fish, but will also need one for general food ( meat.. milk etc ) We might like to keep one on board the boat for fish and bait. If we go a few 40L fridges, what size solar panels will we need also? We were thinking of getting the fold up mat type to save space.
Seems Waeco and Engel come out on top. Has anyone ever tried the ones Bunnings sell? (Companion)
Thanks again for your feedback

We have a 40L engel and a Kings 120W foldable mat. It isn't enough to keep the system going for a week, we start looking for somewhere to plug a battery charge into 240v to top up the battery. We will be replacing it with a regular household solar panel, of at least 200W next time we go away.