A Solar Question

[rderito]

Hi, my name is Ray and I am new , I am trying to set up my minivan with a little solar and wanted to ask some experts here. I just purchased a Koolatron P27 cooler because  the toughest thing I'm learning is keeping your food cold. I have four Grape Fab8 160 Watt panels and I wanted to put one of them on the roof of my minivan. I also have a tracer 10 amp mppt  and one 80 amp hour deep cycle battery. when I'm driving I can charge the battery with the solar and  run the cooler with my cigarette lighter but at night I was hoping that I can run the cooler with the battery only. for now I only need the cooler to work, I know the C.C. is only 10 amp for 160w panel but I thought  it would be OK. Does this setup sound OK and workable ?? or what would you guys do different.
Thank You

 

[highdesertranger]

ok those coolers usually consume 10-12 amps an hour so in 8 hours that is at least 80ah.

note,
1. you should only use half of the 80ah's if you want your battery to last. then the next day it should be charged back to 100%.

2. those coolers only cool 40° below ambient if you are lucky. most only cool 25-30° below that means above 75° you are in the danger zone for safe food storage.

find the specs on your Kooltron, what does it say for energy usage?

highdesertranger

 

[Trebor English]

The Koolatron P27 cooler isn't appropriate for keeping food in a van.  According to the Amazon web page:  

Keeps contents 40 degrees F cooler than outside (ambient) temperature

That means that if the van is 95 degrees the Koolatron will keep the food at 55 degrees.  That's too warm for safe food storage.  

Thermoelectric coolers use a lot of energy.
According to the user manual:  

The current
consumed is about 4.5 amps, except P9,
which consumes 3.5 amps.When your vehicle
is running and the electrical system is
operating properly, your cooler will operate
continuously without discharging the battery.
When the battery is not being charged, the
cooler should not be operated for more than 4
hours.  

4.5 amps running 24 hours is 108 amp hours.  That would finish a pair of golf cart batteries.

 

[rderito]

Oh wow, only four hours and the cooler wouldn't be cold enough, I'll have to rethink this setup. thank you guys for the reply's.

 

[DLTooley]

Running a good 12v compressor cooler off of solar only, little or no battery, is marginally doable if you can get it cold enough to hold overnight. A 95 degree van wouldn’t work.

The price value option I chose was the 40l Dometic CC at 335 from Dyers online, probably the same model that Dometic produces off brand.

So far, so good.

 

[Zil]

There is a big difference between compressor fridge and those peltier type coolers. Compressor fridge is only one for use in the van to store food.

 

[rderito]

Thanks, I just looked for that price and they don't offer it any more but good for you for finding one that cheap. I'm returning my Koolatron and will be looking for a real refrigerator like all you have. I figure I would also have to buy one more battery. I was trying my best to conserve room in my Chrysler T&C but I think I would need to have two batteries.

 

[John61CT]

The best true Deep Cycling battery value by far is Duracell (actually Deka/East Penn) FLA deep cycle golf cart batteries, 2x6V, around $200 per 200+AH pair from BatteriesPlus or Sam's Club.

Not saying return your batt, but FFR