EdgeStar Fridge/Freezer 43 qt

[DaveInDenver]

It does sit in the sun and I don't have a transit bag but my rear windows are tinted pretty dark with very reflective 3m tint. How long is your commute? You might not be peaking the battery charge.

I am totally undercharging, I know that. Although once a week I do typically have a long drive to Jeffco that gets in 30 miles or more. Normally I do 14 miles and the afternoon one is slow. I do throw it on a trickle charger usually every other weekend now, but I've probably already eaten up a lot life my battery's life. Not to mention it's a Red Top, which hate trickle discharges anyway.

 

[nakman]

UB, you're going to really like the real time voltage feedback, just sayin'


short story: My garage is hot, like 85° average right now. Last week I shopped for the Ham Radio camping trip on Tuesday after work, loaded all our food into the fridge and turned it on, set to 1.5. I had 12.5 volts at that time. Wednesday morning, it was down to 12.1 volts. By Wednesday after work, 11.7 volts. Thursday morning, 11.39.. but I was still able to start the truck however it was a slow crank. Yes I could have flipped a toggle switch to jump myself but didn't want to.. was curious how the truck would start.

The 15 minute drive to work got the battery back up to right around 12 volts, but by lunch it was down to 11.73 again. Drove for about 30 minutes at lunch, and got it up to over 12, but again it was under 12 by the time I went home, then just over 12 when I got home. I then parked it outside, hooked up to the camper, so it could sit in the hot sun all day. Friday night after work I jumped in the 80 and saw about 11.5 volts, and again it was a slow crank but it started. Drove 1.5 hours to Guanella pass, and voltage was back up to 13.11 where I'm used to seeing it, in the 12.9-13.1 range just after the truck stops, and in the 12.5 range when the truck's been sitting for a while. That's how it is still today... though I unloaded all the junk from the fridge on Sunday and shut it off, since I don't drive the 80 every day I usually don't leave the fridge on.

 

[Jacket]

I think the 60+ quart is just too big and unnecessary. The 43/45/50 has served my family of 4 just fine on week-long trips, without being excessively huge and bulky. Space seems to be more and more critical with multiple kids and all the extra gear. You can't solve the top layer/bottom layer problem unless you get multiple small fridges, but a nice way to "help" is to buy/make a slide for it so that you can get into the fridge easier.

I suppose if you wanted to load the fridge with a full 24 pack of beer, a bottle of chardonnay, and juice boxes (plus food) for a week the 60 qt might be a winner, but I don't mind rotating beverages and the cool-down process is very fast.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I suppose if you wanted to load the fridge with a full 24 pack of beer, a bottle of chardonnay, and juice boxes (plus food) for a week the 60 qt might be a winner, but I don't mind rotating beverages and the cool-down process is very fast.

This was the biggest mental hurdle, that you don't need to load 2 cases of Coke and beer at a time. If you are driving a lot in particular you just need to load up enough for the next day or two. Maybe less for beer since I try not to let cold beer warm and than re-cool, that tends to skunk. But Coke, Naglenes of water, etc., I just put in a few at a time.

 

[nakman]

That's definitely my problem and it is a huge mental hurdle, coming from years of filling coolers with suitcases of cheap beer then ice & food on top. Once I get all the drinks in there there's barely enough room for a jar of 505 salsa... and yeah allowing the beer to get warm then make it cold again just doesn't sit right, and resorting to drinking a warm one, buying more in Utah, or just having less doesn't seem acceptable, I feel like I'm too old for that.. I want a bigger fridge.

 

[DaveInDenver]

That's definitely my problem and it is a huge mental hurdle, coming from years of filling coolers with suitcases of cheap beer then ice & food on top. Once I get all the drinks in there there's barely enough room for a jar of 505 salsa... and yeah allowing the beer to get warm then make it cold again just doesn't sit right, and resorting to drinking a warm one, buying more in Utah, or just having less doesn't seem acceptable, I feel like I'm too old for that.. I want a bigger fridge.

Beauty of the freeze part is that you can dial that sucker down to 5 and keep 42 quarts of ice cubes, which get transferred to your overloaded cooler...

 

[Uncle Ben]

UB, you're going to really like the real time voltage feedback, just sayin'


short story: My garage is hot, like 85° average right now. Last week I shopped for the Ham Radio camping trip on Tuesday after work, loaded all our food into the fridge and turned it on, set to 1.5. I had 12.5 volts at that time. Wednesday morning, it was down to 12.1 volts. By Wednesday after work, 11.7 volts. Thursday morning, 11.39.. but I was still able to start the truck however it was a slow crank. Yes I could have flipped a toggle switch to jump myself but didn't want to.. was curious how the truck would start.

The 15 minute drive to work got the battery back up to right around 12 volts, but by lunch it was down to 11.73 again. Drove for about 30 minutes at lunch, and got it up to over 12, but again it was under 12 by the time I went home, then just over 12 when I got home. I then parked it outside, hooked up to the camper, so it could sit in the hot sun all day. Friday night after work I jumped in the 80 and saw about 11.5 volts, and again it was a slow crank but it started. Drove 1.5 hours to Guanella pass, and voltage was back up to 13.11 where I'm used to seeing it, in the 12.9-13.1 range just after the truck stops, and in the 12.5 range when the truck's been sitting for a while. That's how it is still today... though I unloaded all the junk from the fridge on Sunday and shut it off, since I don't drive the 80 every day I usually don't leave the fridge on.

Why do I read into your post that the fridge is on your main battery? If thats the case what is your second battery for?

 

[nakman]

Why do I read into your post that the fridge is on your main battery? If thats the case what is your second battery for?

100% backup. Or switch to both during winching for more amps.. but the idea is run the main one as dead as you want, then flip the switch and always get home.

edit: it's a Hellroaring, thing, you wouldn't understand..

 

[Caribou Sandstorm]

That's it if the Ham license was not enough indication, I am a confirmed nerd.

Why? Because I specifially hopped in here, not to read epic stories of trails driven but to read every word in this thread...I find it entriguing to here all the perspectives and ponder my own refigerator experiences..

Yep I am a nerd.

I too had to change my habits of overloading sodas in the frige..They cool down so fast I can place a few in and 30 mins later they are ready to go...

Smaller is better, in this instance, IMHO...haha

 

[nakman]

Chris I just admitted to logging battery voltage over a three-day period, you're in good company man!

 

[Tch2fly]

but the idea is run the main one as dead as you want, then flip the switch and always get home.

That's like taking a shower with the door open because you have a mop
(don't get me started on "self-jumping" )



Need more fridge room occasionally? get one of these Twozone unit

 

[nakman]

That's like taking a shower with the door open because you have a mop
(don't get me started on "self-jumping" )



Need more fridge room occasionally? get one of these Twozone unit

Oooo, that is cool! If only I hadn't done the mod that made my lid open sideways..

 

[MDH33]

Sorry to hijack, but regarding dual batteries: I want to add a second battery to power the fridge, but I'm not sure what would be needed to connect a second 12volt cigarette lighter style plug. Would I be able to wire it direct to the second battery, or would it require a second fuse panel as well? How do you dual battery folks have yours wired and where did you get the parts?

Thanks

 

[DaveInDenver]

That's like taking a shower with the door open because you have a mop
(don't get me started on "self-jumping"

I've considered this approach and honestly to me it makes sense. Even proper batteries lose capacity with deep discharges, so if you beat up one battery only, over time your replacement cost should be lower. IOW, if running one battery brutally eats it up 30% faster but the secondary battery lasts 100% longer, you spend less over time. I suppose the key is how much wear and tear running deep trickle discharges has on the main and how floating the second without ever discharging will ruin it. The reasoning behind this is that the second battery is essentially a UPS battery and they can go very long before needing replacement, depending on how good your float charger is.

 

[corsair23]

Chris I just admitted to logging battery voltage over a three-day period, you're in good company man!

That seriously made me

 

[nakman]

Martin all my additional 12v plugs are wired off of additional fuse panels from Summit Racing, I've got one under the hood and one in the cargo area. So it's just one big wire to the battery of choice, a nice solid ground, then the little stuff runs off the fuse block.

As for wiring the dual setup, there are several ways to slice it, as you've already seen in this thread. Plug & Play fans like Romer & myself went for the hellroaring setup, and their basic backup system. http://www.hellroaring.com/

, OTOH, is more of a dual-battery approach, in that some stuff draws from each battery. There's still a switch involved so just one of the batteries can be isolated. I know Christo & crew have done several of these, however not sure the specifics...

For pretty comprehensive research, check out some of the options put together by the 80 collective.. http://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/104630-faq-addition-dual-battery-set-ups.html

edit: and I will admit, of all the mods I've done this one was one of the more enjoyable, and most satisfying. Not sure why other than at the end it really felt like I "did" something.

 

[Jacket]

^Same here. I've got one of those Blue Sea fuse blocks that I ran from the battery into the cab, and then the accessories all link to the fuse block. To me, it's easier and cleaner that way. That being said, you can certainly run wires off your 2nd battery, and connect them to a 12 volt receptacle - just make sure you put an in-line fuse on the power lead near the battery at something just above the power draw of the accessory (the 12 volt plug will probably have another fuse in it).

 

[Tch2fly]

I've considered this approach and honestly to me it makes sense. Even proper batteries lose capacity with deep discharges, so if you beat up one battery only, over time your replacement cost should be lower. IOW, if running one battery brutally eats it up 30% faster but the secondary battery lasts 100% longer, you spend less over time. I suppose the key is how much wear and tear running deep trickle discharges has on the main and how floating the second without ever discharging will ruin it. The reasoning behind this is that the second battery is essentially a UPS battery and they can go very long before needing replacement, depending on how good your float charger is.

I don't believe I "beat up" either of my batteries. I run the truck from the normal battery and use the aux for all accessories that I may want or need to run with the ign off. I can isolate that system from the starting system and if I did run something until the battery was "dead" the truck will start normally. I guess we can see what happens long term cost-wise but frankly that isn't a concern for me; reliability and simplicity are the driving factors in my decision.
My system is fully automatic, no switches to fuss with or leave in the wrong position.


Different methods of isolating batteries is separate from my comment about self jump capability.
I tend to pick on folks who tout the self-jump capabilities as being important in selecting a dual battery set-up. It is an interesting bit of whiz-bang, techno stuff but as I have said eslewhere .... if you have to self-jump enough to require installing that setup, then your main priority should be to figure why your main battery keeps going dead

 

[Uncle Ben]

100% backup. Or switch to both during winching for more amps.. but the idea is run the main one as dead as you want, then flip the switch and always get home.

edit: it's a Hellroaring, thing, you wouldn't understand..

Interesting concept. I'm into the "leave the main alone and it will never leave you stranded theory while watching a movie, blending frozen drinks and having cold or frozen stuff within reach of the back window and "don't worry....be happy..." school of thought." Has served me well so far....and NO, I don't have a Latte' maker in the 80! I can but it's a principal thang...

 

[DaveInDenver]

I don't believe I "beat up" either of my batteries.

You are using up battery life just using them. A charge-discharge cycle is taking a battery from fully charged to defined discharge and returning it. By 'beating up', I mean that all the partial discharges are cumulative and starting and winching are harsh on any battery and a slow discharge is not trivial to the second battery's life. So might as well not use the second battery at all since you are being hard already on one battery. The slow fridge discharge, if kept within the nominal range and you avoid running below normal discharge, will probably end up minimally effecting the main battery life of how we use our batteries.

This is my point, all batteries have some number of cycles in them. Say that cycle life is 200. If you do a partial discharge each day just starting the truck, you might use a cycle-equivalent each week, so the life in your car will be 200 weeks. If you utilize the battery for starting as well as running a fridge in a deeper discharge you do use up more life. Say that mean it will only last 150 weeks in your truck in this harsher scenario.

But let's say the second battery in float uses 1 cycle per month, it might last 200 months. But using it in a deep discharge will use a full cycle every 2 weeks, now it only lasts 100 months. So by holding the second battery in float-only I might increase the life expected from the reserve-only battery by 100% and use up the main battery only 25% faster. The replacement cost will be lower over the life term since you are replacing the main battery periodically anyway while the reserve/second battery life increases.

These are all just back of napkin theories, like I say I am still just running one battery and so it's just me working through the what-ifs. Part of this is why I have not bought a second battery, too. It is still cheaper for me to buy a new battery every 4 years instead of 5 than to spend the money on a second battery, building an isolator and dealing with installing it. It costs me about $10 per year more (so I expect $40/year instead of $30) to budget for replacing a battery sooner than spending $200 for a second battery of less utility. So I have 7 more years to worry about a second battery before I start to negatively impact my budget. Hopefully by then we are back with positive cash flow and I might be able to afford to put something other than ramen noddles in my fridge.