Got a fridge in your car?

[Sara in a Prius]

Got a fridge in your car? How big is it? Where is it?

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I've assumed it goes behind the passenger seat, but that's where my head will be and not sure I want a fridge under my head. So that leaves the passenger footwell (current fave although not stealthy at all) or the way back.[/font]

I'm also having trouble visualizing the storage capacity. Is 20-ish quarts enough or will I wish I had 30-ish?

 

[Scorpion Regent]

I'm sorry Sara.  I don't want to be Donny Downer, but a fridge in a Prius might not be feasible.  If you want to plan it out I would start on how you will power it, before you work out fitting it into your floor plan.  You will probably need a solar panel that covers your whole roof.  Bear in mind refrigerators are heat pumps.  They remove the heat from inside and put it outside.  That means you will be increasing the heat inside your car, fine during the dead of winter, but not so good in the peak of Summer.  Also the hotter it is inside the car the harder the fridge has to work.  I'm not saying it can't be done, but it won't be easy.  This is one of those things that makes people shift up to vans.  
Once again sorry to be the bearer of bad news, don't shoot the messenger.


SR

 

[mpruet]

For a while I was car camping in a Prius.  I’m diabetic so have to keep my insulin in a fridge. 

I had a Dometic CF-18 fridge.  My setup was to have my bed on the passenger side (rear seat down) and the fridge behind the rear seat on the driver side.  I had a Jackery 500 that I used to run the fridge which used a cigarette lighter plug into the Jackery.  Then I kept the Jackery plugged into my cigarette lighter to keep it charged.  My goal was to use the Jackery in pass-through mode normally when the car was in a run state and then just rely on the Jackery whenever I wanted to turn the car off - like when I went into a store.  It worked out just fine.

I initially had the fridge in the footwell beneath my head, but got tired of always having to lift the bed to get to the fridge. I instead wanted to put things that I needed, but not constantly under the bed.

While I no longer car-camp, I still use that setup when I’m driving in my car for a long distance and need to keep food/insulin refrigerated.

 

[Cammalu]

A friend of mine traveled a long time in his Prius and is a wealth of information. He will gladly answer any questions you might have.

He has a blog and started on the Prius info in 2014. You can find him here

http://macaloney.blogspot.com/2016/10/prius-house-battery-migration-from-gel.html

He always had a fridge.

 

[jacqueg]

Whether the fridge is large enough depends entirely on what you want to refrigerate!

I have an Alpicool 40. This is plenty for my needs. Now I could probably get by with a 20 qt, but it would mean not refrigerating my eggs and veggies, thus going shopping more often. I don't eat very much meat, either.

 

[Sara in a Prius]

Good points for sure, SR, but I've seen at least a couple of people on YouTube with a fridge in their Prius. At least one was a SetPower AJ30, opening on the side (not a huge fan of that but hey).

Here's the AJ30:
More from him:
He upgraded to the TC35, much larger front opening:

Someone else: (ICECO JP40, nearly identical side opening)

People who travel in a Prius power their fridges (and microwaves and instant pots...) with either an inverter or through a power pack like a Jackery or Bluetti.

I'm open to other options of course and would love to hear from people as to how they decided to handle food storage in their car.

 

[Sara in a Prius]

A friend of mine traveled a long time in his Prius and is a wealth of information. He will gladly answer any questions you might have.

Thanks, I've been reading that blog!

 

[Sara in a Prius]

My setup was to have my bed on the passenger side (rear seat down) and the fridge behind the rear seat on the driver side.  

Thanks - that's one vote for my "way back" option!

Rear left seat up or down? Just curious...

 

[Cammalu]

Thanks, I've been reading that blog!

Sara don’t hesitate to make contact with Brent. He’s an excellent teacher and can break down a task into the smallest manageable parts. He’s very, very smart and easy going.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

I don't think you would need to cover the whole roof in solar.
Newer car fridges are much more efficient than the ones from ten years ago or so.
Solar panels have gotten better too.
You should do okay with a Jackery running off the cigarette lighter/accessory port.
Supplementing that charge with a 100W fold out solar panel setup.
Of course the efficacy will vary depending on time of year and what part of the world you find yourself in.
Also car fridges range from 6 pack of soda up to family sized.
I'm no expert but it seems that the smaller ones are not very efficient, since they downsize the insulation a bit.
I like Setpower and Iceco models. Dometic is a bit pricey for what you get.

 

[Oberneldon]

Hi Sara

I’m Brent - I run an Engel 17 fridge in my Prius when in the road. It is in the back drivers side - my legs / bed on passenger side. I have had the fridge as part of my Prius travels for years .

The Engel uses less than 2 amp hours and this is an average. So at night when cooler it uses less and during the day when warm more.

Overnight i use about 12 Ah. During the day more depending on how hot it gets, windows cracked driving with AC. The key is to insulate the top and I’d you can sides to reduce heat impact but leave the vented end open.

So my 30 Ah Lifepo4 battery ran it all day and I just charged the battery in the evening from the Prius 12v battery, but never used the Prius 12v battery to run the fridge unless I’m ready mode.

Never ever risk running things on Prius 12v battery when not in ready mode.

Anyway you can do it like me and others. It’s not about space than ability to run it.

Now for solar. It’s not needed on a prius unless you can’t run your prius to charge your Lifepo4 battery each day by driving or putting prius into ready mode.

I tried solar and it’s great if you are hanging and mot driving but it’s not necessary. Be more concerned about heat build up in car as this affects the fridge from cooling as effectively as it can

I can go on hikes and leave my prius in the fun and set the car AC on 80 deg in ready mode and come back hours later.

It uses very little fuel. Say you had solar - Prius is 120 deg in the sun no fridge like that regardless of solar.

Hope this helps,

Brent

 

[Sara in a Prius]

Thanks, Cammalu!

Freeing myself from the dimensions of the passenger back seat footwell could shift things a bit. Whipping out my tape measure...

 

[Sara in a Prius]

Thanks, Brent! More to consider!

Just realized I couldn't open a side-open unit in the way back unless the hatchback was open: HAH! Glad I realized that before I tried to get at the food when it's raining!

Brent, the Engel 17 is side opening. Does the opening face the front or is the fridge right behind the driver's seat?

 

[mpruet]

Sarah - I left my driver rear seat up because I used that space as an ‘office’ and dressing spot.  The fridge was behind the rear seat.

 

[Sara in a Prius]

Cool, that's what I want to do to.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

I forgot to mention that Setpower and Iceco are basically the same company.
I agonized over buying a fridge from either copmany. Iceco has some really cool looking ones.
Bought the Setpower because of the price/features, and it was shipped from Iceco!
I went back and looked closely at both websites and it looks like almost all the same models are available from both. Maybe Setpower uses cheaper compressors. But it looks more like Iceco and Setpower are marketed to different people. With Iceco having lots of color options and cool looking designs.

 

[Sara in a Prius]

Interesting!

Iceco seems to use better compressors and have a longer warranty. Setpower's rep is "great for the money and excellent customer service." The price difference is about $200 for the lower-end ones.

Spending far too much time looking at fridges makes it clear that the same company is behind several of them...

 

[Camper]

I prefer this one:

https://www.amazon.com/F40C4TMP-Ref...ild=1&keywords=F40C4TMP&qid=1630972693&sr=8-6

Here's Bob's video on it:

 

[jacqueg]

Interesting!

Iceco seems to use better compressors and have a longer warranty. Setpower's rep is "great for the money and excellent customer service." The price difference is about $200 for the lower-end ones.

Spending far too much time looking at fridges makes it clear that the same company is behind several of them...

Yeah, I think just about all of these cheaper fridges are made by the same one or two companies in China - they're just sold under different brand names. 

If you're buying on Amazon, pay attention to what people have to say about the company's response. And buy Amazon's protection policy, it's worth it. My original Alpicool failed at about a year and a half. I had a replacement within a week because I had a 3-year plan - while Alpicool's warranty is only for a year..

 

[TDK1211]

Interesting!

Iceco seems to use better compressors and have a longer warranty. Setpower's rep is "great for the money and excellent customer service." The price difference is about $200 for the lower-end ones.

Spending far too much time looking at fridges makes it clear that the same company is behind several of them...

Iceco does a good job. I have a Iceco Jp40 so does my sister and my cousin. I also have a Dometic CFX3 55IM in my big rig. Dometic is high priced. But they are good. I've had two Dometic's. The other Dometic runs in a lady I knows big rig. It's plus 8 years old (Danfoss/Seacop 35DB) 45 quart. It has ran it's whole life as a freezer.
Indel B makes a Danfoss/Seacop compressor 12v fridge/freezer. Roughly the same thing as a Iceco.
If I was putting insulin in something. I'd want it to be the best I could afford.

Iceco, like Indel B (Company out of India) Get a lot of the parts from vendors out of the PRC. That's why a lot of the fridges look the same. Cheaper to buy ABS that's already formed and massed produced. That's why Alpicools, Joy Tutus some of the Setpowers and the like look the same. The insulation and quality of electronics differ.

I know Setpower uses a Huawei compressor. Alpicool and a few others are touting LG compressor models. And if your Google foo is strong you would know not to far back LG had a class action for compressors. A friend bought a 45 quart Alpicool with a LG. He hasn't had a issue yet. It has cold spots (sides, lid and underneath). Not bad. But you notice them. My JP40 nothing, same with my sister and cousins JP40. Better insulated. My old Dometic was the same way. My new Dometic has no cold spots.

Sikelan compressors are used a lot in off brands. Theres a few others. And not brand specific. You get what they get when company x has compressors.

Dometic is Chinese. But they are in house with their compressors. And most everything else. The VMOSO3 is a varible speed controlled copy of the Danfoss DB50.

Then there's Engel, Luna and ARB. They are expensive. I know Engel has a huge reputation. And the first truck driver I met with a 12v Freezer had a old Engel it was 20 years old 15 years ago. And it works still. Another driver I know has a few old Norcolds that are way old. It's a rebranded Engel.

Barring Iceco going down the proverbial crapper. I think they are your dollar for dollar best bet.