Cooler

[u/MurkyConnection3177]

Hi. Wondering if anyone keeps a cooler in their vehicle and if so, which?

[u/45pewpewpew556]

ARB63 qt with insulated cover on a EcoFlow River 2 pro gets me 2 days in the summer and 4 in the cooler months.

Set to 35 degrees and I’m in Southern California

[u/electromage]

Not regularly, but when I camp I bring a Dometic CFX3 35L. I built a cabinet in the back with a slide for it.

[u/myself248]

Yeah, right now I've got a 20-liter compressor-based electric fridge/freezer wired straight into my always-on 12v power. It's been keeping a selection of drinks at 51°F for the last two months, and my regular driving (5 hours mon, 35 min tue-wed-thu, 5h fri, misc sat-sun) is enough to replenish the battery, it's never shut down on me claiming low battery, and it's never left the vehicle unstartable.

One weekend a few months earlier, I didn't drive at all, and by monday morning it was faulted out, letting the contents warm up rather than further discharging the battery. Since it's just drinks, that doesn't bother me. Sometimes now if I'm not driving on the weekend, I just toss a battery charger on it (There's a conveniently placed outlet by my driveway), and that helps.

Once in a while, I'll move the drinks out into a soft-sided cooler-bag (just the old passive cooler style), and dial the electric one down to -5°F en route to the grocery store. It's cold by the time I come out of the store, so I can drop my frozen dumplings and veggies in there and they don't thaw as I go home. It's freeing to be able to run other errands after groceries and not worry about the frozen stuff. Once I transfer that into the house freezer, I set it back to 51° and move the drinks back in. (I picked 51° because it seems to be the ideal drinkability temperature, pleasingly chilled but low chance of brain-freeze even when chugging.)

I previously had a 30-liter version but it was awkwardly large in the cargo area, I gave it to a friend. As for the specific model, it doesn't matter, they all seem to come from the same factory, same controller, same bluetooth app, same power connector, etc. I modified both of mine to take a Powerpole connector instead, chopping off the proprietary junk and printing a little mount.

Oh yeah, the bluetooth app. This is honestly cool, since it also lets me see the vehicle battery voltage from the living-room while the car is out in the driveway. I can set the temperature from the driver's seat while the cooler is in the hatchback. I can dial it down a bit (set for 35° so it runs harder) when I'm taking a long drive, to "bank some cold" and then set it back up to 51° when I park, and it doesn't hit the battery so hard while parked because it has the thermal inertia.

Downside: I need to print some organizers or something to keep the drinks standing up, I hate when they roll around because sometimes there is condensation on the bottom of the chamber, and I don't always wipe it out as often as I should. In the meantime I just restock aggressively so there's never enough room for something to fall over, and this seems to work fine.

Oh also, the 20-liter model I chose has little loops on the sides so it can be strapped down. That's a bigger deal than I realized, but the 30 didn't have those and it would constantly slide around on corners, no matter how I tried to strap it in.

[u/sonicbrigade → u/myself248]

I have a similar fridge set up in my car. But instead of running it off of the starter battery, I have it hooked up to an Ecoflow Delta 3. The Ecoflow then charges off the 12v port in the hatch as well as a 12v power brick plugged into the car's inverter to get me about 200-300 watts. If I know it's going to be sitting a while I've got a solar panel I'll toss on the roof to trickle charge the battery.

I do have the same problem with stuff rolling around, I've been testing printing various mountable drink holders and using silicone tape to secure them inside the cooler. My first try was a suction cup cup holder for a boat, but the suction cup portion gave out too quick.

[u/45pewpewpew556 → u/sonicbrigade]

I use a standard basket from Daiso. Keeps capri suns upright and makes a nice divider for the other stuff