Fridge and power help please!

[TyodRunner1206]

This is kinda a two part question.

Question 1: Does anyone have any experience with the Costway 70 Quart Portable Car Refrigerator? I need to know if its a good way to save money versus a bigger name brand fridge? Pros and Cons? Thanks in advance!

Question 2: I am looking at purchasing a Jackery Explorer 500 Power Station with the Jackery SolarSaga 100W Solar Panel. I want to know what our power guys think about this set up being able to keep up with running this specific fridge along with charging cell phones and a few LED lights on my Adventure Trailer. The Costway Fridge input power is 60W.


Thanks for any help I can get. We normally don't camp for more then 3-4 days with an occasional weekly trip a year. Just don't want to spend all this money and it not serve the purpose I need it to.

 

[FishinCrzy]

I have been running a CSI 52 qt. fridge/freezer for a year now and I like it. (There is a newer model now I think). It will run off 120 V or DC vehicle lighter plug. I just got the plug in power to run/charge my Goal Zero 1000 off the vehicle DC plug and now I run the fridge/freezer to the GZ and keep the GZ charging while running off the vehicle DC. That way when I turn off vehicle the fridge keeps running. I copied a couple of links: CSI Fridge/Freezer Mega Thread

CSI Accessories

I know that it's not the same equipment but it should work about the same. Also, when I am on extended road trip I use the blue ice type packs and freeze them and rotate into a rotomolded cooler. This is just an option that works fairly well for me. I can run the fridge at about 34 F for about 60 + hrs. if on the ECO setting with the Li ion Goal Zero 1000 so figure about half that with a 500 W/H battery. Hope this helps some.

 

[Graeman]

If you are only using the Jackery to power everything then I would opt for more solar charging capabilities. The 100watt will take quite a while to charge the Jackery back up to full charge. The closer you can get to 200 watts the faster it will charge and be able to keep up with the accessories that you have plugged in to it. Now, if you are using your stock vehicle battery during the days and the Jackery at night then you should have no issues at all.

 

[TyodRunner1206]

If you are only using the Jackery to power everything then I would opt for more solar charging capabilities. The 100watt will take quite a while to charge the Jackery back up to full charge. The closer you can get to 200 watts the faster it will charge and be able to keep up with the accessories that you have plugged in to it. Now, if you are using your stock vehicle battery during the days and the Jackery at night then you should have no issues at all.

So like maybe get another Jackery 100W? Or maybe a 60W and then pair them together?

 

[Graeman]

So like maybe get another Jackery 100W? Or maybe a 60W and then pair them together?

Yes, the more wattage that can be generated in to the Jackery the faster it will charge even while still running the fridge during the charging process.

 

[Graeman]

Let me look at the Jackery website to see just how fast it will charge up with what wattage.

 

[Graeman]

So Jackery says that 100watts solar charger will take 9.5 hrs of sunshine to fully charge the 500watt system. How often will you be camping with out using the vehicle to charge the solar generator? If this is a once a month go camping for 2 days and then go home I would put the extra money spent on solar panels in to a 1000 watt system. That will have plenty of power to run your fridge all weekend long, especially on eco mode. Because it looks like either way you will be spending close to $1000 for your setup - 2 each 100 watt panels and a 500 watt generator or 1 each 1000 watt generator.
Before each trip always pre chill the fridge to 32 degrees at home, have the food either frozen or fridge temp the day before so that it does not have to work as hard to get the food to the temperature that you want while out camping.
I run mine fridge at home on max setting and 33 degrees and then when I transfer the fridge to the Jeep I turn it up to max setting and 35 degrees, then once I arrive at my campsite I turn it to eco mode and set it down to 37. Also depends on what type of food you are storing inside - meats and drinks vs ice cream.

 

[TyodRunner1206]

So Jackery says that 100watts solar charger will take 9.5 hrs of sunshine to fully charge the 500watt system. How often will you be camping with out using the vehicle to charge the solar generator? If this is a once a month go camping for 2 days and then go home I would put the extra money spent on solar panels in to a 1000 watt system. That will have plenty of power to run your fridge all weekend long, especially on eco mode. Because it looks like either way you will be spending close to $1000 for your setup - 2 each 100 watt panels and a 500 watt generator or 1 each 1000 watt generator.
Before each trip always pre chill the fridge to 32 degrees at home, have the food either frozen or fridge temp the day before so that it does not have to work as hard to get the food to the temperature that you want while out camping.
I run mine fridge at home on max setting and 33 degrees and then when I transfer the fridge to the Jeep I turn it up to max setting and 35 degrees, then once I arrive at my campsite I turn it to eco mode and set it down to 37. Also depends on what type of food you are storing inside - meats and drinks vs ice cream.

So we are mainly weekend warriors lol. But we do take an occasional week long camping trip. So what do you think about a Jackery 1000 and one 100W solar panel? If I fully charge the Jackery 1000 before we leave and then just use the 100W panel to help maintain do you think it would make it through a week long trip with just charging phones, The fridge, and a couple LED lights (only ran while cooking.) And then like you said on my weekend trips the 1000 fully charged before we left should be able to make it through a weekend anyways.

 

[Graeman]

That combo would definitely work. What type of camping do you do? Hiking, I presume since you are not wanting the vehicle to charge/run the fridge. The Great Smoky Mountains are not very reliable with sunshine, but the beach sure is. The outside temperature also plays a great deal in to the whole charging/fridge usage. I live in freakin hot as the sun Arizona, so keeping my fridge at 35 degrees can be work during the day with highs of 100+ and he lows of 80's and the vehicle just sitting still at camp. We also go to Colorado for a week at a time and with the highs only in the low 80's and lows in the 40's it seems to run much less.

 

[TyodRunner1206]

That combo would definitely work. What type of camping do you do? Hiking, I presume since you are not wanting the vehicle to charge/run the fridge. The Great Smoky Mountains are not very reliable with sunshine, but the beach sure is. The outside temperature also plays a great deal in to the whole charging/fridge usage. I live in freakin hot as the sun Arizona, so keeping my fridge at 35 degrees can be work during the day with highs of 100+ and he lows of 80's and the vehicle just sitting still at camp. We also go to Colorado for a week at a time and with the highs only in the low 80's and lows in the 40's it seems to run much less.

We camp out of our homemade adventure trailer. But it doesn't have the capability to charge the Jackery set up from the vehicle battery to the trailer. The fridge would be in the trailer so the Jackery would need to be back here as well to keep it plugged in while traveling to your destination.

 

[Graeman]

4 pin setup for trailer wires, gotcha. You would have to go 7 pin and then it would provide battery power to the trailer. Nice looking trailer.

 

[TyodRunner1206]

4 pin setup for trailer wires, gotcha. You would have to go 7 pin and then it would provide battery power to the trailer. Nice looking trailer.

Thanks! But the trailer is actually 7 prong. So what would I have to do to make it charge the Jackery? I know that sounds very novice but when it comes to electricity I know very little on how it works LOL.

 

[Graeman]

Thanks! But the trailer is actually 7 prong. So what would I have to do to make it charge the Jackery? I know that sounds very novice but when it comes to electricity I know very little on how it works LOL.

you have a 7 pin? Does the trailer have electric brakes on it? Okay so on rhe trailer side of that plug will be 7 wires going to a junction box. The largest thickest wire is the constant power wire and that is the one that you will want to use to wire in a accessory plug. Then the fridge or Jackery can be plugged in to the accessory plug and you will have power.

 

[TyodRunner1206]

you have a 7 pin? Does the trailer have electric brakes on it? Okay so on rhe trailer side of that plug will be 7 wires going to a junction box. The largest thickest wire is the constant power wire and that is the one that you will want to use to wire in a accessory plug. Then the fridge or Jackery can be plugged in to the accessory plug and you will have power.

OK so the black Aux wire (connected to the car battery) will charge the Jackery? does it need a ground wire ran to it too or just the Aux? And no it doesn't have a trailer brake. I didn't run that wire out of the junction box because I didn't need it.

 

[Graeman]

OK so the black Aux wire (connected to the car battery) will charge the Jackery? does it need a ground wire ran to it too or just the Aux? And no it doesn't have a trailer brake. I didn't run that wire out of the junction box because I didn't need it.

the new accessory plug that you purchase will have 2 wires. Run the power wire to the aux trailer wire and the ground wire to anywhere on the trailer that you want to . It is best to keep both of the wires on the accessory plug as short as possible to prevent the power wire from getting hot due to small gauge power overload. Let me look up a nice accessory power port for you and I will post it up on here.

 

[Graeman]

137-0191826-9647714


Something like this will work for you.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

Thanks! But the trailer is actually 7 prong. So what would I have to do to make it charge the Jackery? I know that sounds very novice but when it comes to electricity I know very little on how it works LOL.

Just change the 4 prong on the vehicle to a 7. I bought a 7 prong harness from Amazon and my mechanic charged me $35 to put it on my rig. You'll need to install some 12 v outlets on the trailer that you can add yourself.

 

[TyodRunner1206]

the new accessory plug that you purchase will have 2 wires. Run the power wire to the aux trailer wire and the ground wire to anywhere on the trailer that you want to . It is best to keep both of the wires on the accessory plug as short as possible to prevent the power wire from getting hot due to small gauge power overload. Let me look up a nice accessory power port for you and I will post it up on here.

Gotcha. Thanks for the help I’ll let you know how it all goes and put updates on here. I ended up going with a Jackery 1000 with one 100W solar panel and switched to an ARB 50qt fridge instead of the cost way.

 

[Graeman]

So how is it working out for you?

 

[TyodRunner1206]

So how is it working out for you?

The Fridge and Jackery came in Wednesday. We are actually doing a small 3day trip today so we will see how it works. I charged everything up and loaded the fridge last night and everything seems really nice. But we will be testing it this weekend and I'll let you know how it goes. I do not have the trailer wired up yet to plug the fridge in on the way to where we stay. So I'm just gonna leave it plugged into the Jackery (only a 30 min drive). And the place were staying actually has power access but I'm going to just run off solar to see how it does and just know that I have the power hookup as a back up if needed. The ARB Fridge with the APP on your phone is nice so you can monitor temps and adjust as needed.