3 Best Ways To Power a Camping Fridge 

Interesting stuff, but I'm cheap. I use a small Bluetti EB3A for my fridge. I charge it up at home the night before a trip along with pre chilling the camping fridge on an AC connection. On the drive to the camping location, I plug the fridge into the car's cigarette lighter. When I'm ready to set up the camp site, I deploy the solar panels to capture whatever sunlight is still available to power up the Bluetti and plug the fridge into it. This usually lasts till the next morning until the sun makes an appearance to charge up the Bluetti again. I'm waiting for a really good sale to buy a back up Bluetti in case the sun becomes lazy.

the outtakes are always great-keep them coming. thanks for a quick and easy breakdown of the power options--its easy to get lost in the choices.

I enjoyed watching the presentation of power solutions for a DC fridge. You forgot to mention the need to install a beefy 6 to 8 gauge set of cables to the truck's starter battery to recharge the Kickass power station. #8 AWG gauge will probably do the trick, if the wire run is less than 15 feet. Also, it should be noted that their design lacks a negative shunt dependent state of charge monitor, which is better suited for a lithium battery. My current power system for my truck camper is a D.I.Y. version of the Kickass set up with a 100 amp hour LiFePO4 battery. The Kickass set up was not on my radar in the early part of 2022. My main goal was to be able to draw more than the typical 120 watts of 12 volt DC that was available in the affordable self-contained lithium battery stations. For a controller I used a pricey 25 amp dual input DC to DC charger. Dual input means it has a built-in MPPT input for my 180 watt solar panel. For my 120 volt AC "wants", I bought all-in-one lithium power station that maxes out at 800 watts. I use the word wants, because if your outdoor experience needs a lot of 120 volt appliances, you aren't really camping. If not powering up a diesel heater - then a stand alone lithium power station to power a DC fridge is more than enough for most folks . One downside on the affordable power stations is when recharging from a cigarette lighter port limited about 100 watts of input. On the plus side, LiFePO4 cells will last 1000 discharge cycles - before hitting the 80% of new capacity level.

I did the opposite, moved away from a power station to a dual battery setup. In addition to powering a fridge, i could power all the auxiliary stuff, no more worries about not having enough juice to get home.🍻

We live & camp in the high seirra, i use a Odyssey Extreme battery for our fridge, and anything else, never had a problem, but the truck is started daily and we have a emergency jump starter just in case

Informative video thanks

@7min...agree on the inverter. not only waste of space but the self consumption of inverter kills the hours. i personally don't get the move the overlanding culture is making to cramming every creature comfort into the back of a rig. if i'm gonna do that i' might as well get an airstream. i started overlanding 30 years ago for the self sufficiency and simplicity of semi spartan off grid living for a week or two at a time. if i'm gonna take my coffee maker, an a/c unit or whatever that needs an inverter i'm not achieving my original goal. anyway....dc only def the way to go. the kickass you show is great. dometic makes a super simple and user friendly version too. keep up the great vids. love the lack of hype seen on other channels.

Great information, very helpfull!

Good review friends, very informative and helpful.

Thank you,,

Good stuff, we use Goal Zero, you can replace the battery. Nothing is cheap we also have a dual battery system on our trucks for the fridge and camp lights and use a CTEK battery maintainer under the hood. Thanks good to see you guys.

I've done a dual battery system which works OK but I just recently road tested a portable power bank suck as you describe and it worked great - Totally agree not using the 110 outlets for reasons described. One challenge is charging this through the cigarette lighter.It takes way too long at about 75 watts. My solution was to get a DC/DC charger to the alternator and and anderson plug to the solar charging port. It charges at ~175 watts and takes about 4 hours to full charge the bank. Very useful if moving and solar if not. Two weeks in Canyonlands and never once ran below 30%.

In both of our overlanding units we run everything off of 12 V. Using 120 V looses about 10-15% each time you switch from 12 to 120 then back to 12 volts.

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How about a quick tutorial on how to determine how long the packs can power fridges? You have a good way of explaining the systems.

I would highly recommend people watch Tinkerers Adventure's video on how to fast charge your power station using Victron's DC to DC Converter. It won't work with every power station, but...my EcoFlow Delta 2 now charges at 400W. You're essentially using the DC to DC Converter to charge via the Solar input port. I have mine going through a relay & switch, with the trigger wire on an ignition circuit so it shuts off when I turn the vehicle off. Works great!

my new favorite way to run my fridge is off my milwaukee batteries i use a step up to go from 12v to 24v and it works great

Years ago I watched one of your videos and you both stated that you've tried many 12 volt coolers and that you felt the Snowmaster was the best due to the coil on all four sides. My question is do you still think that the Snowmaster is the best? Thanks.

Inverter efficiencies are known values, you calculated the capacity loss when running anything off AC, and size accordingly, don’t see big deal about “having to run everything on 12V DC”

110 volt inverter in the FJ

Was this video sponsored by kickass? I have to say I don’t agree with some of the point you are making against the “all in one” batteries. Sure when the battery is dead that unit is done but you never mentioned the life cycle of the battery. Also the 120v is pretty useful. The point you are making about the wasted space for it doesn’t really make sense since there are really small units (like the jackery in your video) that comes with one. That kickass battery box is huge for what it offers imho.

Nice presentation. However, I don't think you fully understand those lithium power stations. The current lifespan of a quality lithium power station is roughly 8 to 10 years far exceeding the lifespan of the lead acid battery. As for not having enough power in a lithium battery system setup your wallet is the only a limitation. There are now systems that can deliver 20,000 amp hours. Because of the lifespan of the lithium power setup versus the lead acid battery system you end up ahead of the game with lithium system.

It can’t be rocket science to replace a battery in a power station. I personally use two lithium ion batteries with 200 ah total in an old cooler with all the outlets I need.

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The batteries in the powerbank can be replaced. No reason to junk a device because batteries have died.