12 and 240v Camping Fridges

[burgerman]

 Hi all,

Looking for a portable fridge to take on a UK 2-3 day camping (and off roading  ;) ) trip.
Only two of us in the car but need to consider space/size (as wife takes toooo many clothes). Also needs to hold 2ltr bottle of Diet Coke... again to keep swmbo happy!

Think I've got it down to these two unless you have any further suggestions under

[Range Rover Blues]

They are both coolboxs, not fridges.  Neither will be able to chill anyting that isn't already cold and will struggle to keep it cold.  If the engine isn't running yo've no chance.

You'll find that caravan fridges are mains/gas/12volt but on 12 volt will no cool unless they have been run on gas or mains first and even then they pull 8 amps out of the towcar, modern ones use so much current thye need their own earth pin in the multiplug (rated at 16 amps).

[Saffy]

My parents insist on buying those absorption "fridge" for camping - don't think they have got 6 months out of even one with

[Disco Matt]

I bought a mains/12v coolbox from Aldi a couple of months ago, seems ok. I pre-chill it on the mains overnight then it should cope with being fed from my second battery during the day. For

[BigA]

I have a Halfords one that i brought a couple of years back. It does the job when camping (has frozen milk over night) not as good as a proper 3 way fridge, but it takes up less room then our 3 way, and runs OK  from the cigy socket. As has been said, worth running on the mains overnight first to get it cool to start. I have also added lighter sockets to the boot of the disco now, form a second battery, so that it will allways be on.

Andy

[V8MoneyPit]

The 'coolers' like those tend work on an X degrees below ambient rather than a set temperature like a fridge. So they can struggle when it gets very warm. The one I had (a CampingGaz one IIRC) also had a voltage cut out of 11 volts. A complete pain when I wanted it to run off a second battery when the engine wasn't charging it. They also use a lot more power than a fridge, so they can get the battery voltage down to 11 volts remarkably quickly!

IMHO, they are OK for the odd day or two when it isn't two warm and when the engine is charging the battery for long periods. But if you want proper cooling over longer periods, you should look at a proper fridge like Engel.

I now run a fridge off a yellow top second battery. It can last for several days without having to recharge the battery. And it can freeze if I need it to.

As others have suggested. It's all down to what you need. No point in spending a fortune for a limited use.

[kevinf]

get a 40 ltr engel for camping trips,then use it as a counter top freezer at home for the rest of the time it will pay for its self very quickly

had one for over two years now used it last summer in France and Spain,running off a cheap 85amp leasure battery/split charge system no problems at all when parked up for two days and living out of the fridge,struggled when parked up for five days with the occasional visit for cold drinks,fruit and chocolate (why pay hotel/theme park prices when the cars full of the stuff!!!)

kevin