Changes to my "cramper"

[kklowell]

As many of you know, one of the biggest hassles while traveling is keeping food cold in a cooler. The ice melts, food gets wet, and sometimes finding ice is even difficult. So, during my recent road trip I found myself wanting to figure out how to use a mini-fridge in either the "cramper" of the truck cab.
Fast forward to now. Last week I bought a well-used Haier 1.7 CF compressor fridge for $10. Yesterday I bought an Everstart 750/1500 watt inverter at Walmart for $50. Tonight I introduced them to each other and they hit it off well. Within a couple of hours, the fridge was cold and the display on the inverter was showing 3 bars (there are 4 when the battery is fully charged). I shut it off at that point and came in the house for the night. My plan is to add a second battery so I'll get longer run times before I need to start the truck in the future.
Two possible issues... that fridge is in the cramper so heat it generates might be a problem in the summer months, and that little inverter is loud! The fan on it is very noisy. I'm thinking it might take some getting used to that when I'm trying to sleep.
The other change is I've managed to fix leaky windows and a couple of minor leaks. Now I need a "visor" over the door to deal with water entering there when it rains.

 

[bullfrog]

Oh the tangled webs we weave! Lol!! My guess is you will end up spending more money than you figured to keep enough power to keep the refrigerator cold and eventually will end up with a 12 volt compressor refrigerator/freezer. Someone nicely gave me a dorm refrigerator. Another person left me a 750 watt inverter (it has a fan and gives off heat as well you know) and as I had a 305 watt solar system with a dual 100ah battery bank I gave it a try. It uses a bit of power and instead of risking loosing 2 batteries to undercharging them I am glad I didn't waste money buying a cheap refrigerator and a 750 watt inverter but I do live a lot of the year in 100 degree plus weather. It looks to me if you had a school bus with lots of solar it would probably work fine but other wise I think the 12 volt compressor refrigerator is the way to go. Results may vary, best of luck, let us know what you find.

 

[kklowell]

Oh for sure we complicate life. end with that
Also, here's a huge difference in how we live; your need is to keep things cold all the time, and you are in a place where you have 100 degree days commonly. I'm in Maine...we might see a 100-degree day every year, or we could go three years between them. I will be traveling to Texas and across the south next year... in the late fall... so even then I shouldn't see those days. I'll be driving every day so the house batteries will be fully charged when I park at night. Speaking of night, I know the inverter will also give off heat so I might need to contend with that at times when it's time for sleep.
I'll also be adding another house battery so I *think* it'll all work to keep my food cold for the few hours a day when it'll just be on the batteries. If I'm stopped for a number of days, it will be because I'm at one of my kid's houses and I'll plug in.
All that said, a 12v fridge would be great...it would save weight and space.