Advise on camping fridge.

**Andrew Leigh** · 17-12-2014, 09:17

DO NOT be persuaded to buy one of those coolers that use the Peltier device. The chomp even more battery and do not get ice cold in hot weather.

**Edwill** · 17-12-2014, 09:19

I have been lucky enough to go on a few trip to Namibia and done some dune riding. IMHO and that of the locals, nothing beats a Engel.

I personally have a SnowMaster, and it works well enough for the short trips i do. One thing to def grinds me about it however is that it is a variable temp and the temp resets every time it switches off. Not so fine when you rely on the camp site / eskom power. I now have to lug another battery and inverter to stop my damn beer from freezing!

**Andrew Leigh** · 17-12-2014, 09:41

Originally Posted by Edwill

I personally have a SnowMaster, and it works well enough for the short trips i do. One thing to def grinds me about it however is that it is a variable temp and the temp resets every time it switches off. Not so fine when you rely on the camp site / eskom power. I now have to lug another battery and inverter to stop my damn beer from freezing!

Have it checked out, mine maintains the last set temperature no matter what.

**African** · 17-12-2014, 09:57

Hi

I would suggest rent or borrow a fridge before you buy. Peltier coolers are very heavy on current drawn so not an option long term and cools ....not a real fridge. I use two 40l Engels. Few reasons but one is I can still carry a fully packed Engel around and second, I have back up.

The back up came into focus on a Richtersveld trip when my National Luna (9 months old) died on me. NL had first class service and fridge was fixed right away without charge but .....broke down 3 times during the next 4 trips gave problems. Sold it and bought two Engel 40l. After 8 years ....yet to have a problem. YMMV

Best value for money is WAECO (bought one on 3rd trip when NL failed) and worked without glitch for 3 solid weeks in Namibia. OK, NL may have been a lemon but I do expect afters a second failure that some care is taken with the repair. Don't know Snomaster so cannot give first hand experience on that one.

I would suggest rent a fridge that fits your needs. If you plan to camp without 220V, a second battery is a must. Your main battery do not want to be discharged past 50% often or it will die shortly. If just plugged into 12V when travelling to campsite and then onto 22V, no problem ...... just one battery is fine and it will happily wait for you while you have a lunch at Wimpy without running on 12V.

Guess that's 2c worth :D

Cheers

African

**Procrastinator** · 17-12-2014, 10:51

Hey SamL, I have an engel 40, bought a couple of years ago, works brilliantly, I plug into the 12v socket in the landie when am on the road and plug into 220v when at the campsite or destination, all the leads came with the fridge, never had battery issues but I don't run it off the car battery when car is not running.
i don't have dual battery systems etc.
its an expensive item but as they say "buy once, cry once!", it has been a great buy and have had a lot of use out of it.
you won't go wrong with an Engel 40, plus the size is fine for carrying around, careful buying a big unit as will take up too much space in the vehicle plus you will kak to move it especially when full of beers!

Cheers!

**Michaelrp** · 17-12-2014, 11:10

All this talk of "ice cold beers", "bitterly cold beers", "freezing beers", sheesh, I'm thirsty now. And still 6 hours till beer-'o-clock.

**Andrew Leigh** · 17-12-2014, 15:21

I try not to thing of beer as a six pack but more a s support group of friends

.

**DouwtA** · 08-01-2015, 22:28

I have a National Luna 50l (40l fridge and 10l freezer) and it is brilliant. It is probably not worth it if you are only planning on using it for weekends. If you regularly go camping for three or more nights then you can start justifying it.

I don't have a dual battery system and you don't need one if you have a 220v power supply where you are camping. If there is not a 220v power supply where you are camping and you don't have a dual battery system you will have to drive somewhere everyday.

**BansheeZA** · 08-01-2015, 23:17

Fridges and cars dont really mix. Space is already limited in a car and now you want to ruin it further by adding a fridge. But yes that is a conversation for another day.
I used to run a stainless steel 40l Campmaster and have taken it on a few very rough 4x4 routes and overlanding trips from 2008 and it is still working perfectly every time. About 2 years ago I bought a 60l ARB which I now use on the overlanding trips because the 40l was a bit too small. A thing that really bothers me is that on both I have a 2l cant stand upright. That wastes a lot of space if you have to lie it down but smaller bottles or tins works beautifully.
These things are really tough if put together correctly in the factory and I have really abused mine on the back of the bakkie for thousands of kilometers on some very bad corrugated roads and very bad 4x4 routes.

**Desert Rat** · 09-01-2015, 07:32

I have a Snomaster 80l , and it works a dream. Runs with Danfoss compressor, 12vdc or 220 ac digital adjustable temperature. runs at least days on a deep cycle battery. These I believe are a bit more cost effective than National Lunar etc. If I can advise though go for the split unit , Fridge/deepfreeze. The stanless steel Snomaster 80l split unit is about R8k and some change...IMHO worth every cent!