Question about engel Fridges - not what you think

[Wilko76]

Hi Guys

Picked up my new engel the other day and really happy with it. Set it to 2 or 3 and works a treat. Going camping next week and missus has madw a heap of stuff and wants to use it as a freezer. so i dial it up to freeze.

My question. Since i have had it on freeze to my knowledge is has run continuously (approx 14 hours- currently on 240v until trip). How much more power will this draw from battery compared to when it is set to cold and start/stop to keep at desired temp?

[weeman]

Hi Guys

Picked up my new engel the other day and really happy with it. Set it to 2 or 3 and works a treat. Going camping next week and missus has madw a heap of stuff and wants to use it as a freezer. so i dial it up to freeze.

My question. Since i have had it on freeze to my knowledge is has run continuously (approx 14 hours- currently on 240v until trip). How much more power will this draw from battery compared to when it is set to cold and start/stop to keep at desired temp?

what is your desired temp. The more its opened the more power is used espacially if you want to keep it frozen.

A trick I have been told and works well if you want to keep your some of your food frozen however you still want to use it as a fridge.

Place all your frozen items at the bottom, then get some polly styrene from one of the fruit shops place that on top make sure its a snug fit..

Then place all your other items on top and set to a fridge temp and the items below should be kept frozen for a few days..

[HotFourOk]

Depends how much you open it as weeman said and also the ambient temp, a fridge bag also helps to insulate it.

Just take the maximum current draw for the unit, and multiply that by the amount of time you are going to be running it from your battery. As you said it has remained on the whole time while on the freeze setting, the motor cutting in and out doesn't need to be factored in. Then make sure your aux battery is large enough in amp hours to sustain the fridge.

Its hard to caclulate how much more power it will use, due to the motor not being on continuously when on the cool setting.

[RoldIT]

As a fridge, your should only need to run it on about 1 and 1/2. Much more than that and certain things will start freezing anyway.

Can't remember what the max number is (probably 5) but you will not need to have it up that high or it will run constantly and not cycle on and off and use HEAPS of battery power.

There are different levels of freezing. Icecream and bread are the 2 hardest things to freeze. They need to maintain -18c or below to stay frozen as bread has little moisture and icecream is designed not to freeze hard. Things with high moisture content will freeze or stay frozen at a few degrees below 0c. I normally freeze meat before I leave in the house freezer and with the engel set to 1.5, the meat will stay frozen or close to for 2 to 3 days, even in 30c+ weather, fridge in the back of the ute in sun (with transit bag).

Experiment and see ...

[hdn177]

dont mean to be smart but do u have anythin in the fridge while tryin to freeze it at home 1st?

if u have nothing in it, it will do wot ur saying.

but the same as others have said depneds on how much u open close etc, and the engel ususes approx 2.5amps/hr @ temp bout 30deg.

[RoldIT]

dont mean to be smart but do u have anythin in the fridge while tryin to freeze it at home 1st?

if u have nothing in it, it will do wot ur saying.

but the same as others have said depneds on how much u open close etc, and the engel ususes approx 2.5amps/hr @ temp bout 30deg.

Only when cycling, cranked right up ... who knows?

[michael a]

I have 2x 40L I use 1 as a freezer and 1 as a fridge I have 2x 80amp hour bats and they will be dead over night from running both of these.

[dirtyGQ]

I have 2x 40L I use 1 as a freezer and 1 as a fridge I have 2x 80amp hour bats and they will be dead over night from running both of these.

gee they suck a lot of juice mate ,my evakool last 2 days or more on a fully charged battery

[luxtce]

I have 2x 40L I use 1 as a freezer and 1 as a fridge I have 2x 80amp hour bats and they will be dead over night from running both of these.

gee they suck a lot of juice mate ,my evakool last 2 days or more on a fully charged battery

I was thinking the same, I guessing your batteries are a few year old.

[Wilko76]

Thanks guys

The paln i have is to have everything frozen before hand in house freezer then put em in fridge before i leave.

As stated it should be cold enough in the fridge to keepem frozen for a couple of days.

Can't wait to see how the battery goes as the old owner said it was only 12 months old.

thx all

[dibbz]

As long as all your meat is cryo'd you dont need to freeze it anyway, I go away for up to 2 weeks. Any good butcher does this for free, I even get snags cryo'd. I usually freeze a good sized roast as well and leave it in the bottom and I can get 3-4 days without driving on a full 90Ah deep cycle battery.

Set to 1 1/4 stays well under 3 degrees all the time, and usually 2 days in between drives keeps it charged up enough.

[michael a]

Both of my batteries are new century ones. I am friends with the rep so I get looked after. He tested them 1 week before I went away they both they were both fine. I think my fridges are a bit dicky. Over night down to 8 v from 4 in the arvo to 8 in the morning but getting beers out every half our or so prob doesnt help