<<< Portable Fridge & 12V Power on the Go
Portable Power Basics
Below is a quick visual summary of what you need to setup a portable 12V power supply with a fridge, for off-grid camping in a car, ute, or van.
You can also connect other small electronic devices to the USB ports on the battery box to recharge from the portable 12V battery.
Prices listed below are ’rounded’ and are correct at the time of publishing, but Adventure Kings prices often vary quite wildly up and down with weekly and monthly specials.
Links to the various hardware suggestions and other bits and pieces are included below.
How long will my battery last?
Our 45L Brass Monkey fridge uses 1 Ah of battery capacity each hour that it is running. (Kings fridges are much the same.) So for a 120 Ah battery (which has 96 Ah usable capacity) that’s at least 4 days of running the fridge before you need a recharge.
In hot weather the fridge may use more electricity. Even if the fridge is drawing 2 amps each hour (consuming 2 Ah of stored battery capacity each hour), a 120 Ah Lithium battery (with 96 Ah usable capacity) will keep your fridge running all weekend with sensible use.
Of course, running the fridge from the car cig socket while driving will help preserve the portable battery capacity for use while you are camped.
How much 12V electricity is my fridge using?
Head for your local BCF store and buy one if these inline 12V Watt/Amp meters ($20). There also are plenty of similar meters available online for about the same price.
Use the Amps function to see how much current your fridge is drawing from the battery when the compressor is running – which is probably only for about 3 x 5 min each hour, or 15 mins an hour. Then do the maths to work out how long your battery will last…
If you fridge draws 3 amps when it is running, and it only runs for 5 mins three times each hour then your fridge is only consuming about 1 Ah of battery capacity each hour that it is running. If you have a 120 Ah battery (which had 96 Ah ‘usable’ energy) then you will have 96 hours – or 4 days – of fridge run time, before needing a recharge.
Option 1 – Long Weekender (~$800)
If all you need is to keep a fridge cold for the weekend, and maybe recharge a couple of mobile phones or tablets, you don’t need too much – a battery, a box to house the battery, and some way of recharging the battery.
The suggestions below include a 230V AC charger for charging the battery before and after trips. The Dune charger is available from Anaconda stores.
The setup below will easily last a weekend without recharging the battery. Probably 4 or 5 days if you needed to, and used the fridge sensibly.
Dune Charger | 120Ah Battery Box Combo | Escape 50 Fridge Combo
Option 2 – Weekly Wanderer (~$1200)
If you are going away for longer than a weekend, a solar panel (and regulator) will keep your battery charged while you are away. (So long as the sun is shining!)
The setup below will keep your fridge cold for at least a couple of weeks, probably longer if the sun is shining and the solar panel is producing electricity.
Kings 240W Solar Bundle | MPPT Solar Controller
Dune Charger | 120Ah Battery Box Combo | Escape 50 Fridge Combo
Option 3 – Extended Explorer (~$1300)
This option is for longer road trips.
Swap out the Battery Box in the above examples for a Kings BatBlock, which includes a 25A DC-DC charger for charging the battery from your car while driving. The BatBlock also includes a solar regulator, and a digital Battery Monitor for keeping you up-to-date with battery’s State of Charge (SoC), etc.
If you want to be able to charge your BatBlock battery from the vehicle alternator while driving you will need to install a wiring kit in the vehicle (as shown in the sketch below) to connect the BatBlock’s DC-DC charger directly to the vehicle’s alternator (optional).
But even if you don’t hookup the wiring kit, at only $100 more than Option 2, this example (with the BatBlock) would probably be the way to go if the budget could stretch a little.
Kings 240W Solar Bundle | Dune Charger
120Ah BatBlock Combo | Escape 50 Fridge Combo
Option 4 – The Power Station Option ($1000 – $2500)
All the Battery Box options above involve fitting a Lithium battery into a box with power outlets built into the box. Plus you need charging regulators to connect external charging sources to the battery.
A Power Station rationalises all of that.
An all-in-one Power Station is a simple-to-setup alternative to a Battery Box. A Power Station includes a built-in Lithium battery, charging regulators (AC, DC and solar), a battery monitor gauge, and a 230V inverter, plus all the usual USB ports, cig ports, and Anderson plugs, all ready to go, in one easy to carry package.
When comparing a Power Station with the Battery Box option, keep in mind the Ah capacity of each, and the cost differential. The ‘standard’ Battery Box houses a 100 Ah or 120 Ah battery.
Of course, the solar panel in the image below is optional, but handy to have to top up the Power Station battery when required.
Worth checking out if the budget allows…
Kings 240W Solar Bundle | Escape 50 Fridge Combo
KickAss Power Stations | iTechWorld Power Stations
But wait – there’s more…
One gadget that in recent times has been turning Camping into Glamping is an inverter – converting 12V DC from your battery into 230V AC, to run regular household appliances at your campsite. But there are limitations. And I would suggest that for use with a 120 Ah battery in a basic battery box, an inverter can only be used for low power needs, such as charging a laptop, or drone batteries, etc.
The cabling in a basic Battery Box is protected by a 30 Amp fuse. Which limits your inverter power use to around 300 Watts.
The internals in a BatBlock are a little more durable, and can supply up to 100 Amps, to power appliances drawing up to 1200 Watts. Check the power label on the appliances you want to use before connecting an inverter. Generally speaking, the use of appliances such as microwave ovens, coffee machines and sandwich presses requires at least 2 x 120 Ah batteries (connected in parallel), with some serious heavy duty cabling connecting it all together.
Most Power Stations include a built in inverter, with one or two 230V power outlets. But generally only for use with relatively low-power appliances.
Read more at the link below.