Mobile Power for Car Fridge

BluebirdV on 02/02/2016 - 11:29

Hi everyone, I have just purchased a Lumik 55L fridge to use while camping in my Ford Falcon station wagon.

Here is the fridge:

http://m.ebay.com.au/itm/55L-LUMIK-Portable-Freezer-Fridge-1…

I was able to get it in a group deal for $500.

Now I am looking to find the right solar kit and deep cycle battery to power it. I don't know much about them and would like to know the following:

How long would the fridge run on a 100amp hr
battery?

How long would it take to charge the battery using solar panels? Which kit would be ideal? 130w?

I have been looking on Aussie Batteries Website:

http://www.aussiebatteries.com.au/

What are some other companies to check out? How about second hand on ebay?

I would like to be able to run the fridge on battery for at least 5 days at a time. What sort of setup would I need?

If money is no object, what is the longest you can run a fridge off a single battery?

Cheers for any advice.

Automotive

Comments

  • 2jzzzz on 02/02/2016 - 12:14

    I run mine off the 1900amp Super Cheap Auto jump starter pack. Can charge from 240v or 12v as you drive (slow as hell). Could rig up a way to do solar into that aswell.

    Managed to get mine for $104 from an ebay 20% off an already special price.

  • mskeggs on 02/02/2016 - 13:23
    +2

    100Ah-150Ah battery will run it for a couple of days, team it with approx 120-160w solar panels to keep the battery charged.
    The power figures quoted 55w and 87kwh/pa suggest it uses 55w at full tilt but averages 10w/hour over a year. Or somewhere between 240wh per day and 1320wh/day if it was running full power for 24 hours.
    A 100ha battery holds about 1.2kwh, about half of that is usable if you don't want to damage the battery. The panels will produce about 500-800wh/day so would recharge the battery a bit over half way on a sunny day.
    If you camp places where you don't get reliable sun you might want to increase the battery AH, and maybe bigger panels. Bearing in mind that if it is overcast the temp will be cooler and the fridge won't draw as much power.

    2jzzzz the 1900amp jump starters only have about a 24A/hr battery in them. This is inadequate to power a fridge in any meaningful way. The battery would be completely depleted after about 24 hours with the power usage this fridge requires.

    • BluebirdV on 03/02/2016 - 09:05

      Thanks for the info. I assume that if you run the battery down half way then its only enough power to run it for a day? So I would need at least 500amps to run for 5 days and not damage the battery?

      • mskeggs on 03/02/2016 - 09:16
        +1

        Yes, but 500Ah batteries get big and expensive, so most people go with smaller plus solar panels to recharge - more economical and allows indefinite stays.
        The other approach is to use a generator a few hours per day to recharge the battery, but then you need to carry it and fuel and it is noisy and banned in some sites.
        If it was me, I would do the figures based on their quoted average of 240wH per day and make sure I stocked it with cold/frozen items at the start so it never has to work at full rate. 150ah battery and 150w solar would allow it to keep running pretty much indefinitely, with enough head room to accommodate some cloudy days - which still allow solar charging, just not full rate.

  • [Deactivated] on 02/02/2016 - 15:59
    +1

    And buy a reflective windscreen thingy and put it over the fridge. Will do wonders for your battery life as the fridge won't work as hard. I tend to turn my fridge temp down during the day and up again at night. I do this because it needs less energy at night and the noise of the motor is less while trying to sleep.

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