Fridge power drain

Dougbobbill

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I am thinking of getting a small portable fridge to use in our van, such as the Milenco Mycoolman. We have a 100ah leisure battery on a B2B charger with no solar and are rarely parked up in one place for more than a couple of nights. Apart from a couple of led lights the only power used is to charge our phones and a tablet. The power used by the Mycoolman is stated as 45W. As a complete novice on electrics can someone tell me how long this can run from my battery (assuming no other drain on it) without taking it below a level that will damage it?
Also, can anyone suggest any other similar extra small fridge?
 
Dougbobbill said:
I am thinking of getting a small portable fridge to use in our van, such as the Milenco Mycoolman. We have a 100ah leisure battery on a B2B charger with no solar and are rarely parked up in one place for more than a couple of nights. Apart from a couple of led lights the only power used is to charge our phones and a tablet. The power used by the Mycoolman is stated as 45W. As a complete novice on electrics can someone tell me how long this can run from my battery (assuming no other drain on it) without taking it below a level that will damage it?
Also, can anyone suggest any other similar extra small fridge?
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Quite simply, forget it would be my advice. That kind of fridge would take your fully charged fridge down to "I need to recharge this" overnight.
The only kind of fridge you can successful run off a Leisure Battery for any real duration is a Compressor type. Have a look out for something like the Waeco/Dometic CoolFreeze units - they are very efficient but you'll need to pay a fair bit more!
 
I don't think this is a portable fridge, I think it is a coolbox which is very different.
I've looked at various web sites and it believe it to be a product that is on all the time. (i.e. designed for use during a journey when it would be using power generated by the alternator) rather than on a battery.

45w from a 12v battery will require 4 amps.
A brand new 100ah battery will provide 100/2 = 50 amp hours before it is totally flat.
So with 50 amp hours available and using 4 amps, you will get about 12 hours.


If you buy a compression fridge you may get 2-3 days, but you will need to spend £600.

Think about getting an absorption fridge and running it on gas, don't even think about running it on 12v given your set up.
 
Yes it is a cool box about as much use as an ice pack coolbox it will flatten the battery in a few hours and will drastically shorten the battery life.look for a high efficiency cool box
 
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Dougbobbill said:
I am thinking of getting a small portable fridge to use in our van, such as the Milenco Mycoolman. We have a 100ah leisure battery on a B2B charger with no solar and are rarely parked up in one place for more than a couple of nights. Apart from a couple of led lights the only power used is to charge our phones and a tablet. The power used by the Mycoolman is stated as 45W. As a complete novice on electrics can someone tell me how long this can run from my battery (assuming no other drain on it) without taking it below a level that will damage it?
Also, can anyone suggest any other similar extra small fridge?
Click to expand...
I had the same issue as you when I converted from tent camping to having a van.
I tried an electric coolbox which runs all of the time but it drained my 105 amp battery in about 10 hrs, depending on temperature.

I bought a snomaster compressor fridge freezer which I run off the leisure battery and a 120 w solar panel and it is brilliant.

I have just had 4 nights off grid in quite warm outside temperatures and on packing away this morning to come home, my battery was still sitting at 13.6 v.

The only other items I was using was charging 2 phones and the van interior lights.

Victor
 
After 4 years of using one, I wouldn't consider anything else than a compressor fridge now.
 
Bought a halfords 12v 'fridge' when I first built my van, ran it for one day & flattened both leisure batteries plus my main battery. Took it back for refund. Now I run a small domestic fridge off a decent inverter powered by 2x110ah leisure batteries, topped up through a 40w epever solar controller, running 2x100w renogy solar panels. Bus has been parked up since fitting, & even in the stupid heat recently, the fridge has been ice cold inside the bus, even at temperatures of 104f the fridge was full of ice cold drinks!
Bonus is the solar system also keeps my starter battery topped up, as the tachograph will flatten it in a few days. All in all the whole solar system cost no more than a decent campervan type fridge, & also gives me power for my domestic hoover & 18v power tool battery charger...
 
Thanks for the input. I'm converted to the compressor versions but can't find any small enough - we don't have space for, and don't need more than 10-15litre capacity. There's only 2 of us, needing a bit of butter and milk!
 
Dougbobbill said:
Thanks for the input. I'm converted to the compressor versions but can't find any small enough - we don't have space for, and don't need more than 10-15litre capacity. There's only 2 of us, needing a bit of butter and milk!
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Check out this Amazon link for products that would suit you perfectly - https://amzn.to/3fa6cmo

(sit down before you notice the price though!)
 
wildebus said:
Check out this Amazon link for products that would suit you perfectly - https://amzn.to/3fa6cmo

(sit down before you notice the price though!)
Click to expand...
I think snomaster do a 12ltr fridge freezer. Very slim as its designed to fit between seats.
Tuff Trek are a uk stockist.

Wont be cheap but you really do get what you pay for.

Ive done a lot of 4x4 travelling with an Engel and I can honestly say in my experience Snomaster are comparable.

Victor
 
Thanks to all. The Snomaster is just to pricey for us. The shortlist is the smallest Alpicool at £220 or forget a powered unit and go for a Dometic coolbox at £95. They say the Alpicool only draws 1 amp so I figure we can run it for at least 24 hours when parked up without hurting the 100ah battery, given that in summer the only other power drain is charging a tablet and phone
 
Dougbobbill said:
They say the Alpicool only draws 1 amp so I figure we can run it for at least 24 hours when parked up without hurting the 100ah
Click to expand...

Who says it only draws 1 amp? Is that 1 amp when on 230v using the supplied adapter?

Please please verify the amperage at 12v draw before committing.
 
That link contains the meaningless statement "low power consumption averaging 1 amp/h, (12 watts on D/C)"
1 ah is very different to 1 amp.
If they mean average power consumption of 1 amp hour per hour this is 24ah per day.

The manual https://images.homedepot-static.com/catalog/pdfImages/3e/3ee20d70-ac54-4c99-ae91-4f00f1aedfb4.pdf supports this and shows power usage as "0.254 kwh per 24 hours" which is 25.4 ah per day.

Even a brand new 100 ah battery will only deliver 50 ah before it is so flat it is potentially damaged.
i.e. without any other use (e.g. lights / pump), your battery will be totally flat and maybe permanently damaged within 48 hours

Personally, I would not get one unless It was only for single night trips.
If that meets your needs then go ahead,
.

Your Moho; your battery; your call.
 
1Ah/Hr average is a very repectable consumption for an electric fridge and searching around you might find a better consumption but if you do it will be a very small improvement.

Ref the comment "Even a brand new 100 ah battery will only deliver 50 ah before it is so flat it is potentially damaged." - I would say that is extremely misleading.
A basic wet cell lead acid 100Ah battery could deliver 50Ah without damage - and wouldn't be flat either.
A better quality lead acid 100Ah battery can deliver beyond 50Ah perfectly safely.
A Lead Carbon 100Ah could deliver 50Ah time after time, day in day out for years perfectly fine and could also deliver way more than 50Ah without damage.


Now using a Compressor Fridge on a setup with just a single 100Ah battery can get a bit tricky as you are not just using a fridge, but lights, phone & tablet chargers, maybe a TV, maybe a fan, water pump, etc. It all adds up ....
If you are a summer camper, add some solar - a 100W panel over a summers day would usually put back what the fridge took out over a full day. a portable kit can be picked up fairly cheaply.
 
You will never get it right , can't have a best for you as there is lots of well thats wrong from yourself let alone others ! If you invest with little or no buget. educationalists like this site mostly started with gas. Get a second hand gas fridge short term then get more electrical, solar then compessor fridge. Everybody who has a compression fridge has both! both
Keep the lights on first.
Forward
Scrap yards sell batteries for £15 ish take a volt meter. you can sell them back afterwards. For £15 ish get wire while your there to connect yours to scrapy.

It's either ,
Your time = the most expensive , way
Or money . = a bucket with a hole in it.
Education is the cheapest
coprocessor fridges are the second most expensive thing you're put in a van 2020/ 1st is hot water I think?
 
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