cool box 12v camping fridge time?

I now have 150w of solar panels keeping a Dometic compressor fridge freezer down at domestic fridge freezer temperatures. Not cheap but very effective, except stuff falls out if opened on port tack.

But I still have my old Royal 3-way top loader (similar item) successfully running on mains as a wine & beer fridge in the 'feels like 50ºC' conservatory. We used to run it on gas when sailing/camping and turn it off overnight if people were inside sleeping, not that it ever set off the CO alarm. I would only run any fridge on 12v if the motor is running or you have some powerful solar panels. Being a top loader stuff is hard to find but the cold air and beer stay in when you open it at sea.
 
Our 115 litre original fridge unit uses a lot of power, especially in high ambient temperatures. As there are usually only two of us on board, 2 years ago we bit the bullet and on a recommendation from a friend who has a smaller one, we purchased a Waeco cool freeze 40cfx
Coolfreeze 40.jpg
We are fortunate in having plenty of spare room so I ran power lines to the spare cabin, bought and installed a good quality 12v socket, blade fuse holder, and installed the unit with insulation between it and the bulkheads, and webbing straps to secure it. Yes, it cost a lot but we can sit at anchor indefinitely and the solar panels can easily keep up. The model we have can be adjusted with an app. as well as locally, and goes down to -15deg. if you need ice.;) It is very quiet and has a useful auto cut out in case the battery voltage goes to low.
M.
 
We had a Waeco CF18 for 6 years and deeply regret selling it. Dumped on beaches, left on board the damp rib and it took it all. Sold it because we changed the coolbox into a fridge with one of those kits. Isotherm GE80 Fridge Kit. Again very good and still working fine 14 years on. So I can see why you don't want to spend £500, but is £370 less painful ?

We also have one of these as a freezer but will work as a fridge. Still on trial but worked well when we spent Christmas on board. Cost us £200 from e bay.

PIGE Car Compressor Refrigerator Car Small Mini Freezer Dormitory Fast Refrigeration Box Outdoor Anti-rain Portable Dual-use Refrigerator 12V24V220V Fridge: Amazon.co.uk: Kitchen & Home
 
michael_w said:
Fully skimmed UHT tastes better than the semi-skimmed or full fat versions.
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Indeed it does.
Just a thought, but our local chemist gives away freezer blocks, the plastic blocks that you freeze then will keep things cool in an insulated container for a few days. Apparently the blocks are used when temperature sensitive medicines are being distributed and are not recycled. They don't come into contact with medicines or whatever so are quite safe to handle. As your local chemist perhaps?
 
The Tropicool coolers made by Waco are very good and being a mini compressor system are very low on power consumption of about 0.8amps average over 24 hour in the british summer. The 25L model I have will freeze if you want, there is a digital temp setting and mgt display and controls very accurately and reliably. We have had ours 10 years and at around £300 is a good fridge/cooler compromise. I have had the coolbox Peltier type and although they work in a fashion are too power hungry to be viable on a boat even with substantial battery banks and wind and solar power charging systems.
 
Work out how much milk you are going to use. Buy it in 2pt bottles and freeze most if it before you go.

In a cool box it will stay frozen or partly frozen for 3 to 4 days. Longer if you can run the cool box on 12v when you are motoring.

You will struggle to run a 12v cool box for any length of time without a pretty big solar panel.

I got a free Halfords 12/240v one in the great lockdown empty your garage and stick the stuff you don't want outsude your house bonaza in our village in May. Was in the Solent last week and ran it for a few hours in the marina on a couple if days, plus the above. Stuff was still cold after 4 days...
 
I have an Alpicool 20 litre compressor coolbox bought from Banggood.com (which if you haven't heard of before could be forgiven for thinking is probably a pornography web site which it isn't). Current price on there for the 20L is £260 but the prices go up and down on there all the time. I got mine on special offer for £160. They work very well, about as compact as you get and come in different sizes. I've used mine as a fridge and a freezer and it's great, there are several reviews of them on Youtube. They are regularly remarketed on the likes of Amazon for significantly higher prices. I don't think there's a lot of point getting any other type of powered coolbox than a compressor one...
 
To add to the list of cheap deals and refrigeration solutions, I picked up an ex-demo Waeco CU-85 compressor (rated for 250L) and VD-01 evaporator (the "L" shaped type, rated for 100L) for £180.
 
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I have a Halfords 15 litre cool box. I thought it worth a punt at £54. I am impressed. Once cool stays reasonably cool for 6-7 hours if turned off & lid not opened..( which means I can turn it off at night) I have it positioned near a 13 amp shore power socket so i can power it through a 12 V transformer( £18-00) if on shore power. I also have a cigar socket so i can plug it into the domestic batteries . This runs through a cutout so that it cuts off if battery voltage drops below 12.8 V. It will, therefore, start up when the engine runs ( engine charges at 13.7V) But not accidentaly flatten my batteries. I could lower the cut off figure if I wanted to.
There is fan noise so i run it until I want to sleep then turn it on as soon as I wake up.( It is fitted by a bunk) It lowers temp by 18 degrees below ambient temperature, which is sufficient. I have it strapped in position & if it was very hot weather & I wanted to run it at night I could put it in the cockpit & run off shore power.I could also put it in an aft locker to block the noise of the fan. During the day it does not worry me in the least. I have purchased a number of tupperware boxes to fit neatly so i get max use from the volume.
From memory the battery monitor shows something like 2- 2.5 amps current drain, but I am not sure. The instructions say 3 amps but I do know that is less than that.
 
Andrew_Trayfoot said:
What do you use to trigger the cut off at a present voltage?
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Kemo Battery Guard type M148A maxm switching 20 amp.
Good bit of kit easy to install. Adjustable voltage cutout from 10.4 volts to 13.3 V. Wiring diag on the face of the unit. Light indicates it is live. I placed it on a piece of aluminium to disipate heat as the instructions mentions heat build up. I could have mounted it such that there was an air gap behind it but it was in an awkward place under the sink. . I have an inline fuse holder with LED just before it & it is also controlled by switch on the main panel
 
half tonner said:
Kemo Battery Guard type M148A maxm switching 20 amp.
Good bit of kit easy to install. Adjustable voltage cutout from 10.4 volts to 13.3 V. Wiring diag on the face of the unit. Light indicates it is live. I placed it on a piece of aluminium to disipate heat as the instructions mentions heat build up. I could have mounted it such that there was an air gap behind it but it was in an awkward place under the sink. . I have an inline fuse holder with LED just before it & it is also controlled by switch on the main panel
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Thanks
 
I have just come home from a 4 day visit to my boat on the Norfolk broads. I use a Mobicool (made by Waeco) pieto-type coolbox. Milk was still cold and drinkable after 4 days. However, this was running it on shore power the whole time. A good tip is to run it at home for several hours before loading. It also has an eco setting, which maintains temperature overnight but is very quiet.
 
I had some more thoughts on OP problem. As he says ice seems to be the way forward. Now the question is how big is his existing icebox is it built in to the boat or a portable type. The secret to long period of cold from ice is lots of solid ice and good insulation. On the latter you can possibly improve the insulation by adding insulation around the out side or if it is big add the insulation inside. It should be ideally around 2 inches or more thick.
What you want is a block of ice filling the bottom of the box to about half way. ie as big as possible commensurate with being able to fit and lift it in. You can use milk bottles etc filled with frozen water but one solid block will get more ice in. On the other hand by using milk bottles you can then use the water for drinking etc. What you do need is capability to freeze large containers of water at home. Perhaps a new chest freezer for home? If you are using one of those portable coller boxes and you have a freezer big enough just half fill with water and put the whole thing in the feezer. If that is what you are using then you amy be able to make a bigger polystyrene box to hold it in to add insulation. One thing for sure here in Oz the availability of a cold drink is just the best thing in summer. ol'will
 
I have a trailer yacht and over the last few years have used a 40 litre chilli bin (icebox) with ice blocks etc for the few days at a time cruising i do. Actually it worked OK but I got tired of the hassle and things dropping into the water puddle and so on.
So I closed my eyes to the cost and bought a waeco cfx 28 .
I thought i wanted a 40 litre size like the chilly bin, but it didn't fit the boat.
It turns out that with no ice and being able to store bottles in the lockers until a few hours before needed, 28 litres is quite adequate for a few days of meat cheese and milk, plus a wine bottle and a couple of cold beers and so on.

I have a 20 watt solar panel and when nothing else is running it actually keeps up with the demand from the waeco - in summer - in good sunshine- boat at home - waeco half full of wine bottles at about 2 degrees and the lid not being opened as often as if the the boat was in use. (New Deep cycle battery as well.) I checked every day for a week and during the afternoons the charge controller was turning the panel off between waeco compressor cycles as the battery was charged right up. I was impressed.
The dual mains /12 Volt is good too. Load up the night before and plug into mains to chill everything down.
I don't regret the dollars spent now.
 
The compressor fridges sound good but is a pure sine wave inverter (expensive but should last a while) needed for the motor and fan? As long as boat is dry, no corrosion to metal parts I suppose.

If the OP is PBO-like and happy to use blocks of ice and the polystyrene boxes mentioned then rigging up STACKED peltier chips (YouTube lessons) may work if increase solar panel size and battery bank.

Lots of variables.
Pure sine wave inverter expensive but useful for other equipment too as well as 'proper' non peltier fridge.

Solar panels pretty cheap and good now - especially mono crystal ones. Batteries are cheap. But peltier chips even stacked are not efficient but neither is internal combustion engine. Peltier plus ice plus insulation plus more solar and battery may be a choice?

Variables are boat size, dampness of boat, (for proper fridge electronics and metal linings to not rust) owners preference of ice blocks over other tech, length of trips and so on. Good luck and maybe if have time pass on your decision based on your variables and so forth for us to learn from?

I don't like gas on board but like lots of solar and large battery banks so I would cobble up an ice fridge with DIY peltier stacked chips and dc fan mixed with water evaporation to cool heat sink on hot side of peltier stack for short trips. Long cruising means no ice so peltier no good so go inverter plus solar and batteries and that cheap £99 proper fridge (reduced from over £200 sounds like a bargain)
 
We have a built in top loading fridge freezer that is great but wasn't big enough for us. We purchased an IndelB compressor fridge. They use the same Danfoss compressors as Dometic fridges but the fridges are considerable cheaper. They are Italian manufactured.

Our 41 litre unit cost £300. We have been running it for a year to keep our fruit and veg cool in the Caribbean and it has been excellent. It uses 161w per day in the Caribbean where it needs to work pretty hard
 
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