by desertmoose » Tue Aug 19, 2014 10:13 pm
Well... based on the 60 quart Engel we just picked up and a group 24 deep cycle battery... I'd say it won't make it.
We went camping last weekend and tried it out. Filled it about half full of frozen bottles of ice, and a tub of ice cream.
Was comfortable during the day (high 70's?) and nice and cool at night. We kept the non-vented portion of the freezer covered with an old sleeping bag.
Precooled it the day before at home on 120 AC. Had the freezer plugged into the truck power outlet for the drive to camp. Everything was frozen when we hit camp Friday night and hooked it up to the standalone battery. Set the control to "3" to see how it did.
The ice cream was getting to be soft serve by Saturday night, so set the control to "5", which is the max. We swapped some partially melted ice bottles into the freezer and put solid frozen ones into the separate ice chest. Also had to swap to a different battery. The first one was down to just under 12V.
The freezer ran overnight on the second battery. The ice cream was rock hard when we got home. I didn't check the voltage on the second battery when I unhooked it and plugged the freezer into the truck power outlet for the ride home though.
So, this oversize box ran a battery down in one day at the "3" setting. We were dreaming about a 35 quart one, but when this thing came up on Craigslist for about a third of new, we grabbed it. Way bigger than we need as a freezer though.
Not as good as we hoped, but this was a worst case. Partially full. Nevada camping in August, and running it as a freezer instead of a refrigerator.
So, we had already planned on getting solar panels for our other trailer, a 30' toyhauler. The furnace in that thing drains the batteries overnight in cold weather. Crappy design for a furnace in my opinion. Have had to run the generator for hours during the evening to charge the battery to make it through the night.
Now that we have the portable freezer, I'm planning on making the solar panels/ controller swappable from the toyhauler to the rack on the truck. Use them to keep ahead of the freezer while tear camping, and to keep from running the generator while camping in the big trailer. I have two 140 watt panels on order. Hopefully one will be enough for the tear application, but if required, I have enough room on the truck rack for both panels.
Time will tell.... (was fun to have ice cream while tear camping though...)
Sam