Fridges - what do you have?

Have had a Waeco 45 litre for some 16 years. Still good but useless plastic lid hinges are abominable design. Solved by putting bands from a large tyre tube around to hold lid firmly in place.
Works a treat.
Also have a much older Trailblazer 70 litre from my Land Rover days. Far too big to fit in a Forester but probably the best camping fridge of `em all.
Also an ancient, vintage 1980 or thereabouts, French Sadec but gas control is knackered but good on 12/240.
 
A little while off a purchase, but have been thinking about fridges as when we come to build our cargo area unit, a fridge is a major component.

I did some digging seeing the Evacool is highly rated here, and found this

Portable Fridge Freezers KickAss Outback Series™

Looks identical, but significantly cheaper.

Any thoughts?
 
Kevin said:
I have a 49L evakool fridge and a 60L evakool ice box. Both work really well.
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I added a 110L Evakool fridge/freezer a little while after that post
Kevin said:
May be of interest: I had reason to visit a fridge service centre last week and asked them what is the best portable fridge on the market atm - the new Waeco CFX range was highly recommended.
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@PerthCouple Yes, the Evakool has a great reputation - except at the service centre I visited in 2018, not because of quality but because Waeco were more responsive for after-sales service support including payments to the service centre. BTW I visited the service centre on behalf of a friend as my Evakool Aussie made boxes have never let me down. The friend finished up having to return an "RV 35" Chinese made Evakool fridge for a refund. So be wary of the cheaper models!

So keep in mind that to match the competition Evakool have for several years now been rebranding Chinese made fridges as a more "economical" alternative so they are not the Aussie made "Infinity" model. ;-)

You can get deals from Evakool; my 60L ice box and 49L fridge were seconds and my 110L fridge I purchased off the floor at the end of a camping / 4WD show.
Keep an eye on: Factory Specials
 
PS a feature I really like with Evakool is the removable lids which means I can leave them in the car and/or store them with the lids removed so they don't get all stinky
 
Good point.

I followed your link and see that they have drawer units, that could be interesting.
 
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I've seen these, pretty neat. Engel does one with a compressor that can be mounted remotely allowing for more efficient packing of the back of a wagon.
My thoughts are for a 1/2 person touring set-up mounting the compressor in the back seat foot well would be good (or perhaps in the spare wheel well with some sort of venting set-up)
 
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Oh, even better! Cheers @Ben Up North

We are generally 3 so would be looking at the wheel well. Plans are afoot to make a hitch swing for the spare.
 
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Agree. Has me thinking though. With a cousin that is a fridge mechanic and Engel selling conversion kits a custom unit like I have made for my boats in the past could be applicable to the Forester as well. Long term thinking.
 
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Kevin said:
PS a feature I really like with Evakool is the removable lids which means I can leave them in the car and/or store them with the lids removed so they don't get all stinky
Click to expand...

That's a good feature, I usually leave a big pack of silica gel in my fridge over the winter
 
Our 41L Engel’s lid is removable when not in use. Need to keep the plastic (interior) side of the lid out of the sun otherwise it begins to yellow.

We love our Engel and wouldn’t hesitate on another one if the need arose. It’s ten years old now and hasn’t had an issue in that time.

It’s one of those classic “Nissan/Toyota” 4wd arguments. Ultimately go with what suits you best.

Cheers

Bennie
 
I have what I believe is an unbranded Iceco, 20q fridge. Perfect size living in my now dead Sienna camper. I'm torn about putting it in the Foz. I wish it were about 25% smaller so I could fit it behind the driver's seat
 
Recently purchased a "Brass Monkey" 15 litre fridge/freezer. Never heard of them prior to seeing the ad in a Sprint Auto catalogue but took a punt. Has a 3 year warranty and at at about $220 with the optional higher lid which gives about 20 litre total capacity.
Used it on a recent two month tip to WA, Dec to March, as a freezer at -14 degrees C. Powered it continuously from a 120 amp hour deep cycle with no probs at all.
Seemed to perform very well holding indicated temp plus minus 1 degree around set point.
Good points are small size and mass, easy to clean out, tight fitting removable lid and reasonable easy to see digital read outs.
Only minor downside is the supplied 12 volt cable which is fitted with a cigarette lighter type plug. I have modified this to splice/solder an Anderson fitting as well so is very (power supply) versatile. No 240 volt power cable but a Waeco lead fits.
So far great and is used as freezer in my shed at present running from my 12 volt ancient old solar panel collection feeding 2 ancient old deep cycle batteries in parallel but time will tell in the longer term.
It will get a run in June with the Adelaide SCC Simpson trip and its lower weight should be advantageous compared with the Waeco used in the past. I shall need a new smaller deep cycle to run it though but overall this combination should save about 15 kgs in weight.
 
Have an el cheapo 35L Kings fridge - it cost 268 with the cover on special, which I thought was too good to ignore. Brother in law has the 50L version on a yacht and been beaut. Usually cool it down prior on AC, load a couple of frozen water bottles, run it on alternator with engine on and use a 40A Companion LiFePo battery to power it when camped. The Companion has an Anderson input for solar/12V, so could be charged in the car from cig lighter, or a solar panel when camped - I've never been away long enough to worry. Works well so far - I might plug it in and see how long the Companion keeps it at 2C before keeling over. 48 hours at least, I'd think.
 
Ok - the Kings 35L lasted 76 hours at 2C in the office with temps between 16-24C, which is not too challenging but still good performance. Also worth noting, I went sailing recently and took the Kings along as a freezer set to -18. It did a sterling job of freezing the lamb, pies, and maintaining ice for the G&Ts, but ate a 40A LiFePo battery every 24 hours - we had 2 on the boat and cycled them - charging one whenever the motor or generator was running. My battery was thrown across the cabin off Stockton Bight in a 35 knot westerly, bounced on the dinette table (ouch) and landed on the sea berth opposite - it showed no sign of harm and worked normally when plugged back after being put under a seat where it should have been in the first place. Note there's a 100Ah Companion battery now available that weighs only 4kg more (around 10.5kg) and it offers all the same inputs and outputs, integrated handle and robust case. That's the one I would buy if it didn't cost 1400 bucks. Worth keeping an eye on it over the next couple of years - especially around Black Friday sale times.
 
I have a 45L Kings fridge or freezer. I have only ever used it as a fridge. It fits (just) lengthwise behind the cargo barrier of my 2015 forester, II0 Ah AGM battery, Kings battery box and Ctek battery charger unit. Ran for 2.5 days without any power input whilst not overdraining battery. It might make 3 days but I've never been static for that long on a trip. I purchased a solar blanket at the same time but have have never had to use it. Have had the unit about 3 years and have had no problems or issues with it. Fridge is only in the car for trips so relatively light weight helps with loading and unloading.
 
Has not been a post here for a while so thought I`d update from my perspective with summer (hopefully) coming on soon.
Still happy with the 15/20 litre Brass Monkey. Works well. Have also recently purchased a 9 litre BM for $169 from Jaycar in their recent sale which sits between the two front seats in the "Palace on wheels". Probably only good for cold drinks and an emergency small, read tiny, freezer if required. Old 70 litre Trailblazer and 45 litre Waeco still freezing away happily and ancient absorption Sadec still working and seems indestructible, only rusting out of body will end its life.
 
I had to replace the control mechanism in my 2005 49L Evakool a couple of years ago as it wasn't maintaining temperature, but otherwise it's OK. The 110L Evakool is still OK.
 
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