'Unique' Off-grid solar fridge - Unbox, Install, and Review 

We have used the ru-vid.comUgkxOTeIs0vv4_9B5hsmnLsk9r930uDQLu_Y for probably 30 hours with our camper and it’s been great! The noise level is really only noticeable when running the AC and other appliances like the microwave, hair dryer, or coffee pot. It’s not huge like other ones and it has wheels so even at 90lbs, I can move it!

Making America Great Appliances! 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

I have recently become a member of the Unique fan club. Recently purchased the propane fired chest freezer. We are on grid, but we wanted the additional freezer space and thought we'd give the absorption system a shot. No electronics, not electrical at all. It's our back up for our back up😏

LOL. What most folks would call a "crisper" drawer, is what we call a beer cooler. Neat piece of equipment.

You forgot the most important benefit of your new frig. Its solar, its quiet & most important...your ice hauling days are over. 😊 👍 stay safe.

That’s a game changer, congrats!! Coolers and ice are such a mess..

I am so happy to find your video.! We are installing our unique refrigerator and your video will make it easier as we had some questions you answered! Thank you!

Great addition for your cabin !!!

Hey Dale, Happy to see you bought into the fridge! Some time ago you responded to questions I had about the stove, and I purchased one for my camp thanks in part to your review. Well this summer I bought the 9 cu/ft Unique solar fridge. It has been a game changer! I am in NS Canada, and with temps soaring over 30C in summer, it has made life a lot easier with food preservation. Beer stays cold and ice in the freezer as well! Very happy to see you made the upgrade to a fridge and sure you will never regret it. These appliances seem well made, and I must echo your comments about the fridge being quiet.......you have to stop and pay attention to tell if the compressor is running or not. Cheers from NS, and special thanks for putting in the time and effort to make videos the rest of us enjoy watching for free. Really appreciate it. JT

Man oh man I wish I could like this video twice. We just bought the unique 10Cuft for our DPMH, we can't wait until it shows up and we install it.

Thanks for posting this review, I'm looking for a fridge for my off grid cabin also-very useful.

I know you are going to enjoy it. I bet it will help you enjoy the cold ones 🍺 🍻 cheers my friend and God Bless...

I have a thermometer in my freezer and frig sections, that way I can make sure it's dialed in perfectly. Any thought about building a box so the unit is a little taller ? You could even build one that has a door on the front for storage !

That’s really cool! Beats coolers for sure! Congrats on your purchase!

You know how to catch rabbits quietly ? Unique up on them 😋 Sorry I had to do it !!!

I contacted Unique about 3 months ago and inquired about where their appliances are manufactured and the stated designed in Canada and manufactured in China. I did purchase the Classic Range and Rangehood and I’m pleased with the quality and performance. I’m seriously considering the DC fridge so I really appreciate your video.

I have about 6 thousand miles on mine. It's in my off grid cargo trailer. : ). Absolutely LOVE this thing. My trailer inside is only 7.5 ft. X 16 ft. and this thing is WHISPER quiet.

Great to see you buying Canadian and supporting our economy eh! lol. I have two friends that live off grid and both use Unique as well. They love it. Good quality. Very little draw on their solar. Glad you like your new fridge. I am half way off grid, but still rely on Sask power for my electricity. I only pay 190$ every quarter so hard to justify the costs of changing over to solar, with power so affordable in this part of the world. I may go full off grid by next summer...you inspire me my friend. We got down to -6 Weds night/Thurs am and that killed off my garden after all my hard work this year. Been a horrible year for everyone, and up here the wild fires, then the tornado.... and my garden survived that, but the -6 was a bit much. Enjoy the weekend. Cheers

Thanks so much for posting this. I'm thinking of getting one of these for the boat. It's got a very expensive Norcold ac/dc marine frig that has never worked well so I'm looking at one of these instead. Thanks again, very helpful.

Nice review Dale! Would love one at my cabin.

that is awesome man. yeah common sense on how to use it

Really fine review. That is quite a unit. I could use one in the city. This got me thinking back to the days spent at my grandfather’s camp. He had two caches in the ground. He buried two galvanized garbage cans in the ground with enough left sticking out to be able to put the lids on. Inside he put a wooden “plug” (3/4 plywood or boards) (styrofoam would be good) cut just a bit smaller than the top of the can. This would fetch up about six inches down. Each had a “D” handle attached to pull them out of the can. We put our perishables in these, installed the wooden plugs and put the metal lids on. In the winter, we put fir boughs on top of the cans, then shoveled loose snow over top for insulation. The temperature in summer was ~ 40 deg, not bad but OK. In the dead of winter, milk would not freeze even after a week. You don’t need cold storage with that great fridge, but a cache that doesn’t freeze liquids is a nice asset. Thanks for nice video!

Dale; thanks for the frig information. I am thinking about obtaining a Unique for my cabin (camp long leaf}. I like the idea of it being made in Canada.

Nice score Dale. I’ve had the same fridge for 5 years at our Offgrid Maine cabin too. It’s a great performer. I should’ve done a review on my channel. Now I don’t have to, you’re all over it. Keep up the good work. TJ

I have heard nothing but good things about that brand! I am going to use that in my place as well.

That is a perfect size for one person. Buying ice all the time has to be a real pain.

Very Nice, good sized. We’ve Never needed more than that that w 2 children. And it’s half the price of a propane 3 Way Fueled model. 👍 lovin it. Oh and Enjoy !

Great video Dale, nice upgrade for ya 👍👍👍

Nice, gotta have cold beer, lol!!!

Good solar scheme

I have the retro style 12 volt refrigerator and a very similar solar system. You will require your generator and a charger in the winter to top up your batteries. Refrigerator uses quite a bit of power. I keep mine between 3 and 4 on the settings.

Another great review, thank you from 🇨🇦.

We have the same fridge, turn it on in the spring and shut it it down in the fall. Runs 24/7 without any worries!

That's crazy how efficent that is!

Great review! Sounds like a very good unit so I took a note. Suggestion: change out your lead/acid batteries for lithium, specifically lithium iron phosphate (LiFePo4). I built a portable 400 watt solar generator built on two Battle Born batteries wired in parallel. Nominal capacity of my system is 200 amp hours. You would actually increase your capacity, however, because BB overbuilds the batteries and you can discharge them 100% of the rated capacity. I just ran a discharge test on mine. I used 193 amp hours before the inverter went to protect mode and shut down. The batteries have a built in system that would have shut down the load on it's own but I didn't get down that far. Compared to lead/acid, you might have a rated 200 amp hours but effectively it's only 100 because you can't take it down more than 50% without killing the batteries. Also you get 3,000 - 5,000 charge cycles with lithium after which you still have 80% of the original rated capacity. Compare that to 500 - 600 cycles for lead acid before you have to replace them. Downside is the upfront cost. $$$$. Cheaper in the long run though. Cheers and thanks for the review!

That was a good purchase Dale. Glad you have that convenience now. Look forward to your next video. Take care.

Woooooo 🥶 Danfoss saw nothing but Good Reviews about them. 👍

Good unboxing video 👌🏼

Congrats. Please, I need the schematic diagram of your upgraded solar system, including fuses/breakers and earthing of the solar panels and others. Please, attach it for download. Thanks.

Have a unique frig that is gas ! Cools like crazy! My time at the cabin is coming to an end! Smoke has been bad this year with all the fires! Glad your frig is working out so well!

I have the exact same refrigerator in my RV. Love it, only issue I have is that I can not figure out how to get the shelves out! Any help would be appreciated 😊 oh, and I got mine from Home Depot.

hi Dale you forgot one important thing about the fridge and thats the cost you never said i have the unique propane version it a little bigger it works awsome but cost me about 1600 dollars Canadian

im just catching up on your backlog of videos and i wish it was august or September again lol. awesome fridge

Nice addition!

been off grid 25 years. better to use a energy star chest freezer with a external thermostat as a fridge. uses less power then his set up

You say you've never gotten your batteries below 60% but I hope you realize 60% is almost 100% depleted if you regularly deplete let acid batteries below 50% you will destroy them at a very rapid rate basically 50% is dead so 60% means you've used 80% of your battery's capacity You might want to seriously consider a battery upgrade a pair of 100 amp hour lithium-iron phosphate batteries should run you about 500 bucks they're drop in replacements for your current batteries you don't have to change anything except possibly the size of the box and they will give you more capacity than you have now that would be 200 amp hours or about 2.4 kilowatt hours and you can use 100% of that versus your 420 amp hours that you can only use 210 amp hours of On top of that they should be the last batteries you'll ever need to buy for the cabin in theory those batteries will outlive you they should last 20 or 30 years in theory and they're not a fire hazard that's lithium ion lithium iron phosphate is far far safer That fridge seems like a pretty kick butt fridge although I'm surprised by how much power consumes 52 watts is what my fridge on AC power consumes well actually 26 watts but I'm using two of them because they're only 4.4 cubic foot so two of them gets me 8.8 cubic foot at about 52 watts of power consumption I do have a couple beefs to pick with that fridge I could be wrong but that sure looked like a c13 IEC on the back of that fridge and a c13 plug to go into it that's an extremely bad idea if it's designed that way because that is an extraordinarily common 110 volt AC power cord extraordinarily common 220 volt AC power cord as well and I suspect if somebody were to plug a standard c13 power cord into that fridge it would fry it instantly if it was on 110 volt or 220 volt AC power They should not be using a plug that is AC common that just screams blow me up :-) so if you're listening unique you really should change that you should either use a proprietary cable or use a cable that is commonly used for DC applications for example a Dean's connection or a XT60 connector would be perfect for that application. With all that insulation I'm surprised to consume so much power In theory if your batteries are holding their full capacity you should be able to run that fridge for about 4 days without solar power if you don't turn anything else on so as long as you're fully recharging every day you should be okay Something I always advise people to do especially for the freezer if you're going to keep anything in there long-term I doubt you will but a wire probe temperature probe that has a min-max memory this way if the freezer ever thaws you'll know it by checking them in max temperature you can also do this with a small water bottle basically put a small amount of water in a bottle and turn it on its side and put it in the freezer so now basically you have a popsicle stick inside your water bottle if the freezer thaws that popsicle stick will melt and it will no longer be a popsicle stick it'll now be a puddle of water in the bottom of the bottle even if it refuses that will be your cue that oops this freezer thawed at some point.

Stay safe by putting a fuse between the battery and the fridge! Thanks for reviewing this, it's a Canadian company but the fridges are assembled by "international partners" ... just a heads up.

Seems 100ah battery can handle it, nice vid, complete details

Another thing that affects efficiency is frequent opening the refrigerator/freezer door. The cold air spills out and the compressor has to cool/freeze the compartments. The cooling capacity of the unit is just about 2000 BTUs/hr. As you alude to, don't expect home appliance performance form this unit. But it's a lot better than hauling ice. With it being 50" H, it will sit in my van very well. Hmmmm....

That’s very cool. Good for you, I know you had been thinking about getting one for quite awhile. I’m sure it will make life a little more enjoyable at the cabin to not have to think about getting ice. Just think...next summer when you make the cucumber salad (minus some of the garlic 😜) you can put it in your fridge and not on ice. 👍🏻

Very nice. Now you have to get a shower setup.......... Enjoy the weekend!

Always enjoy your videos Dale! Good review my friend! Hope that solar fridge works well for you! Actually I didn't think you had enough juice for it! Hope you do! Be safe!........ You need a dog my friend! LOL, I know you have heard that before! Find you a middle aged dog, not a pup. I know you said it would scare away local critters! But the two legged kind would be nice to have a heads up on! God Bless!

Great review! I got to get one of those fridges

Thanks Dale great review! 👍👍👍💯💯💯

Could you give guidance on wiring directly to battery prior to inverter? Thank you!

Better keep an eye on the c-cup and that Fred's temp because if it starts to go to the wrong way..... That c-cup compressor could fail they are by far the worst brand on my list. Sorry and danfoss probably make sure it's okay good luck.

Hay Dale thanks for all the information I will look into unique for sure.I have a larger solar system and am only running a small 110 volt electric bar fridge it's not keeping up.When the frige starts it uses 10 amps on initial start up and is killing my batteries . I've heard the 12 volt compressor is ideal ,just wondering how you feel about it now that you have had it awhile and how does it hold up on consecutive cloudy days are your batteries doing fine ,I too am tired of ice runs . Any info would be appreciated Thanks Dale, ps great name by the way

Hint from a camper with propane frig. Buy some of the gel packs they sell for coolers lunchbox etc. Bring them from home and place in refrig when you are there. Their thermo mass helps off set open and closing doors. I keep several in freezer and 2 frozen in refrig. Will last two or three days and reduce solar usage. The fuller you can keep it the less it runs. Also if you know anyone in the medical field refrigerated drugs are shipped with gel packs. Sadly FDA and safety require single use. These can be opened and disposed of anywhere but we gave them away. They are food grade and expensive so always seemed a waste. But for additional cooling they are perfect and once they find you will take them you can get a trunk load. Just saving your batteries.

Great video! Thanks for putting so much time and research into your content.

Great addition to the cabin Dale.

Great review. Keep that fridge/freezer full and the efficiency will go up. If you don’t keep that much food just put water jugs in there. Acts like a battery, storing cold energy.

It looks like a nice fridge but I checked the price on it and it is a bit pricey but I can see why it’s 12 volt not a big market for 12volt stuff compared to a AC powered fridge of the same size

Nice fridge , which dealer did you use and had you considered the Propane/DC version?

I love the smell of a new fridge !

I would have thought you would have had a cold one going cheers

At my off grid solar cabin I use a regular 10 cuft 120v frig that pulls only 140 watts. Cost only $320.

I love a good unboxing and that's an awesome fridge. Great efficiency and wonderful that you can keep your brewskis and food cold without hauling ice. Nice that the compessor is very quiet without sucking a lot of power. Nice that its not made in you know where too. 😊👍

Hey brother I got my NB88 coffee mug today. Great mug . Keep up the great videos.

Thank you for the video, Dale. I am just starting my journey to bring water and power to my off-grid property. Electric grid connection is available, but the cost to connect is $25,000+. I am thinking propane appliances and a solar well pump. How do you pump water at your cabin?

Putting a fridge next to a STOVE is never a good idea. Why did you fridge go BELOW freezing when you had it set to max? It isn't a FREEZER so it should have stayed above freezing.

I really like that the refrigerator was a good investment please more videos love it

Extremely love that thing though talking like a check over here. I got no problems buying one of those and replacing it with a different compressor when the time comes. Embraco or something.

I have to say I am glad you got an off grid fridge and I hope I don't cross the line on saying it's about time. lol

Good review Sir, I raise one to ya! 🍺

Are you still using the Unique Fridge & Stove? Any problems? ✌

Thanks for the video I might try this refrigerator.Well I think you should put a table between your stove and your refrigerator because the stove might heat up your refrigerator

Keep clenching your jaw, you're gonna have massive TMJ issues....

how dare you pull out a bottle of water instead of a PBR!!!!!...also...I didn't see any bacon inside that fridge!!!.......your getting soft!!!!!....LOL!!!

Can you leave a generator running unattended?

Did you have any shipping issues? Did it take a long time?

How much is the fridge and stove? I looked up unique company but they don't list prices

I have a much bigger system than yours and my college size fridge kills my power in a few over cast days. I'm curious to see this

The problem I have with solar panels is the many days we have rain or overcast. I love the idea of living off the grid. I am trying to learn all I can about preserving food for the time needed. Someone tell me, is raising goats for food and milk a good idea? Of course milk is used for other foods.

Please forgive typos.. play plenty of space in the back for their condenser, and have a great holiday.

Man, I hear you about hauling ice in! I'm going on 3 months off grid and keep things cool in a 77 quart Lifetime cooler. Takes around 30 to 40 pounds of ice a week. I'm seriously looking at getting one of these refrigerators!

Will it keep a 12 pack of PBR ice cold? That is what the people need to know!

Nice looking frig and will hold alot of beer and bacon lol. It should pay for itself in the first year with It having to buy ice all the time.

What size panels are you using to drive the fridge? Do you have to have a separate charge controller or is it direct plug in? Thanks

Nice! Cold beer without haulin’ ice! 🍺🍺❄️

Beautiful

Update on the Unique refrigerator ?

Thanks for this video :-) 👍👍

Why doesn't that frig have more insulation???

It's nice, great numbers on consumption. That price though ouch

12 volt refers are quite common now. No big deal.

why can't you just get a nice regular refrigerator and use an inverter from your batteries to the refrigerator.?

That's an awesome fridge. I regret not getting a freezer in mine I think. Maybe I can afford one of those later lol.

Love the fridge. I still haul coolers for camp. Maybe solar and fridge is in the future. Thanks for the info and great video. Thought the test would be a cold one not a water 🤔

How many batteries do u have and how many solar panels do u have pls

Just a heads up : You are about to hit 17,000 subscribers ! OMG , so happy for you !