12v cooler

[tawoo]

Does anyone use a 12v cooler? We only dry camp and have to bring a cooler for our supplies. That means buying bag ice that, depending on the weather, may last a day or two. I'm interested in a 12v cooler to supplement the campers refrigerator and I'm wondering how bad they tax the batteries. I have two batteries plus a 100 watt solar panel with a Honda generator as backup. Think I will be ok?

[mike837go]

A 12V cooler is a waste of energy.


There is never enough 12VDC to go around.


If you have enough cooling capacity in the gas fridge, consider using it and freezer packs swapped in a passive cooler.

[tawoo]

Really? Ok Mike. The trouble is our freezer gets full because when we go it's sometimes for two weeks and where we go it's a drive to the nearest store. That means we have to stock up and always run out of frig and freezer space.
I was just wondering how well they worked and how much power they would eat. One thing for sure bag ice is a pain.

[North of 49°]

We have one that's semi retired, meaning it doesn't get used anywhere nearly as much as it used to. It works fine in keeping cold stuff cold, but since it uses IIRC 4 amps, it's not something that you'd be able to use for a very long time. It's okay for keeping canned drinks cold, stuff like that.

[mike837go]

Originally Posted by tawoo

Really? Ok Mike. The trouble is our freezer gets full because when we go it's sometimes for two weeks and where we go it's a drive to the nearest store. That means we have to stock up and always run out of frig and freezer space.
I was just wondering how well they worked and how much power they would eat. One thing for sure bag ice is a pain.

If you can squeeze 1 medium-sized freezer pack into the gas fridge and swap it with the one in the cooler every 12 hours (adjust to local conditions) you should be fine. Just don't keep critical items (meat, dairy) in the cooler.

[mike837go]

I was forced into doing the 120V (dorm fridge) and 1kw genset for a 3-day excursion. I don't recommend it.

[tawoo]

I can do that. Might have to eliminate one ice cub tray for my Gin and Tonic but hey, were roughing it.

[mike837go]

Originally Posted by tawoo

I can do that. Might have to eliminate one ice cub tray for my Gin and Tonic but hey, were roughing it.

SWMBO would give me too much grief if I shorted her on her gin & tonic. I bought a bigger trailer.

[bedrck46]

No ice for Gin and Tonic I agree you are roughing it

[Camper_bob]

What about something like this:

PORTA GAZ 3 Way Portable Refrigerator-pplmotorhomes.com

It's 3-way, so you could use 120V when you have shore power, 12V when you have enough of that to go around, or propane when you need to use it that way. It's a bit pricey IMHO, but if you're going to be out for a couple weeks, you might could benefit from something like this...?

Edit: It would be a shame not to have ice for the drinks...

[us71na]

On my 12V cooler they warn you not to leave the cooler running when the car is shut off. We inadvertently left it on when pheasant hunting in North Dakota and nearly had to call a tow truck because it ran the battery down so the truck didn't want to start. I think it draws over 5 amps.

The other down side is it only drops the temp about 30 degrees from ambient. So if it is 75, the coldest it will get is 45 and it takes forever to cool down room temperature items.

[denn888]

Or something like this, not sure what size you're looking for or if you need to refrigerate or freeze....uses less power than the thermoelectric coolers... they're not cheap either DCR50 & DCF50 | SunDanzer or http://www.engelcoolers.com/fridge-freezers

[Kodiakattack]

Before we had our tt we used one and I would plug it in few days before at home and on the way in truck. Worked great we would get site with power and would stay cold. Did leave it in truck while parked and forgot about it , need boost. Lol if you have power site I would say they are good. Still have ours don't know if we need it yet, still waiting for first trip in tt !!

[NVGun40]

Just throwing this out there. Check local RV dealers, Craigslist, what ever. Perhaps you can find an old RV frig set (around the 5cuft range) which runs on 120 or propane.
Years ago, I had acquired an old RV fridge from a dealer who sold it to me for $50.00. The AC heating element was faulty so it would not run on AC current. The propane side of it worked just fine. I purchased a propane line adapter which I would hook to the fridge and to a 20lb bottle with an inline regulator. I had to light the pilot manually, but once lit with the cover back in place, I was able to set it outside by the wheels. It worked great and because it had a small freezer inside, I was able to keep up with the ice demand for my scotch drinks.
Of course, I would pre run it at the house to chill it down and load it up, but it kept cold enough during transit to the camp site. We would boondock on our hunts for up to a month.
We also kept a couple of 50QT coolers and wrapped them in old sleeping bags. Using a chest freezer at home we would freeze 4 five gallon buckets of water. Two each of which would fit laying down in the cooler. At the hunt site, kept covered in a tarp and wrapped in the old sleeping bag, we had ready ice to get out deer meat off the bone and immediately on ice. With this method it was not uncommon for the coolers and ice to last for up to a month in 80 - 90 degree heat during September hunts in eastern Nevada.
All of that is past and null and void since I live in Alaska now.

[fillwa]

For week long boondocks I use a 50qt cooler with 6 bags of ice. Everything is kept cold. Somethings are tool cold, e.g. have had salads almost freeze. Lasts the week, meet, dairy, etc. (everything). Great for backyard parties and power outages too.

[PNWDriver]

Buy a couple blocks of dry ice. We camped for 4 days in 100 degree heat his summer and packed a a cooler with bags of crushed ice on one end and 3 blocks of dry ice on the other end. we kept the cooler closed except for withdrawing new ice and out of the direct sun. The bags of crushed ice were still solid on day 3 and starting to melt on day 4.

[RoyBraddy]

We only have a very small freezer compartment in our OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer fridge... We bring everything in with us in our large 5-day Extreme Cooler. We are usually good for maybe three days at most... They lie about the 5-day part...

I fill it up with several bags of ice and have a top plastic box with lid to keep things in with out sitting in the cold water below...

This works out pretty good but we end up heading to town somewhere for more ice...

I have the front deck on my off-road popup which might be a good spot for a second cabinet size fridge or perhaps just a freezer type unit... Some folks just has an ice maker to supplement things with...

I got alot of battery power so I can survive pretty long off of that along with running my 2KW generator a few hours each day keeping all starting out each day/night with 90% charge state before running off the batteries all night long...

Never tried the large blocks of ice idea... Used to do at home years back and the large ice blocks certainly last longer than crushed ice...

Of course going back to town every few days means you need to stock up on meats and things so much... Just head for a WALMART and get more of what you need...

Roy Ken