Reefer's

bob91yj

bob91yj

Adventurist
Founding Member
Calm down, we're talking refrigerators. Everyone has their favorite brand, thought it would be nice for those that are on the fence to have one thread where they could get reviews on the various makes and models.

I've been a believer in Edgestar brand 12v refrigerators, mostly because I'm cheap. My first one (43qt) lasted me 8 years of almost continuous use, either in a vehicle or plugged in 120v on the back porch, I opted to get another one when the first one finally died a couple of months ago.

I just noticed that my new one has a digital voltage readout in the display. I've got it plugged into a 12v jumper box right now to see how far down it actually drains a battery before the low voltage cut out shuts it off. That function never seemed to work that well on my first one. It kind of worked, once the batteries were drained completely, it shut off! That was about the only complaint I had with that unit.

I've purchased both of mine from these guys...

http://www.compactappliance.com/edgestar-portable-coolers/
 
I'm happy with my arb.. But I only have it because I got a deal on it I couldn't pass up. I've heard a lot of good about dometic.. If my arb ever dies, I'll be looking into domestic first.

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk
 
I have an Engle that replaced an edgestar. The Engle only draws about 2 amps while the edgestar drew almost 5. Both of those numbers are only while running so not constant ....
 
I have the Whynter 45qt which is pretty much identical to the edgestar. When I first installed it I kept on blowing fuses, so I ended up putting instrumentation on it and doing some testing.

The manual says it draws ~4.5A at 12v. I found that it drew more like 5-5.5A at 12V. I also found that at compressor startup it draws somewhere closer to 10A (Can't say for certain, didn't bother to hook up an oscilloscope and measure it in that much detail). I ended up with a 15A fuse on the line to prevent it from blowing at startup.

Other than that I have been very happy with it so far.
 
I have owned an Engle 45 qt. for about 7 years. I use it mainly for camping and love the low current draw. Utterly reliable. I like the simple analog temp control, although I have bumped it out of position more than once.

I also own a Whynter 45 qt. that is I have had for about 2 years, that I use constantly in my big rig. It draws more, but it doesn't matter here because the truck has an APU to keep the batteries up. A couple times, it has had something go wrong with the controller where it doesn't maintain the set temp. I thought that it had died, then I plugged it in with the AC cord into an inverter, and it cleared up. After a week or two, I tried the DC cord and it worked again. That has happened twice.

That are configured differently, and each has advantages. I like the hinges on the long side of the Whynter and the compressor under a smaller/shorter basket to one side of the box. The Engle is one deep compartment.

Each works well for their current use but if I had to buy again for a single fridge, I would go with the Engle.
 
I have had the Indel B for about 1.5 years. No issues and it does a nice job staying cool even in the hot NC summer. $535 shipped from Paul at Equipt 1. He spent a good bit of time with me on the phone as I was trying to decide and I appreciated that. I do not know about the amp draw, but I have never had an issue with it. I would prefer one that you can sit on or use as a step if needed but other than that I cannot think of anything it does not do.
 
I have a Nat. Luna Weekender 50. They are much cheaper out here with the depressed Rand, so I thought I would jump on the deal. Function is great, but I don't find myself using the freezer compartment like I thought I would.

I also have some concerns about current draw, but I am not sure how to test it. It could also be the local off-brand aux battery I am using, but I am not getting anywhere near the performance I got from an Engle on a trip to Botswana earlier this year. Not apples to apples - Botswana was much cooler, the unit was full most of the time, and I don't know what size the aux battery was, but it would run a couple days at a stretch. With the NL I am losing about 50% of the battery in about 7-8 hours, which is pretty unsat performance.

I have a multimeter that I am woefully untrained in using. How can I test the current draw on the NL?
 
I noticed that my new Edgestar has much improved performance over my old one. I also changed truck batteries from Optima yellow tops to Exide blue tops. On pour recent Baja trip the Edgestar ran for several days and did not drain my batteries. Very happy!
 
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