12 volt coleman cooler how does it work?

[sagebrush]

I tore down a small one to see what made it tick. Basicly, bottom of cooler was lined with an aluminum tub. Cooler case had a square hole cut thru it with a finned aluminum heat sink( picture a Briggs& Stratton cylinder flatened out) riveted to the liner with the fins on the outside. The fan moves air across the fins one way to cool, the other way to heat. Don't know how it works, but thats what was inside that one.

[StandUpGuy]

I bought one off of Craiglist. Not the colman cooler but another brand. I think they are all basically the same. They do work but it is relative the the temperature outside.- of the cooler. If it is 70 degrees outside the cooler will get down to about 45 degrees at best. You can put ice in it to start and after the ice melts you can continue to keep things somewhat cool. But if it is 90 degrees outside the cooler will not get any cooler than say 60 degrees. My cooler is an armrest console that resides between the front seats of my minivan. I plug it into the cigarette lighter and on a long trip it keeps drinks somewhat cold but it takes a very long time to cool down. Do not expect to put warm cans of soda into it and have them cooled down. Better to have already cold things. Its actually kind of a handy thing to have in the van.

[Engineer Guy]

I've got such a Cooler as well. They keep already-chilled items ~40 F degrees below outside ambient temperature [at best]. If you were to freeze a few items, they would work over several days of Camping if Meals were planned accordingly as items thaw. They do not have the heat-carrying capacity to chill warm items, as noted above.

An enterprising person could strap several TEC Modules together, but this would increase current draw. With a Solar PV setup, however, and a little Math re: current draw, it could work...

Read all about Solid State Cooling Modules here. A fair amount of Science, but that's what it takes to explain the principle involved...

Wikipedia - Peltier TEC

TEC Module Supplier - Application Worksheet

[linuxmanxxx]

So they work running an electric current through a plate with different kinds of metals and one metal gets warm and the other gets cold. The warm plate is vented outside and the cold plate is vented inside so you have cold air circulating in the ice chest. As stated they only cool to 35 to 40 degrees below the air temp the outside plates are sitting in. So if you want it colder have it plugged in while inside an air conditioned environment and it will keep foods very cold but if outside you are looking at mostly not very cold in summer months. The units cost way too much to get ones to cool the inside of a ttt as I've already went to the vendors that build them and got that idea shut down fast. It would cost around 1k to cool a small trailer so that is just not gonna happen.

[PaulC]

Buy a fridge Slow, those things you are looking at are hopeless.
Cheers
Paul

[StandUpGuy]

I would its a thing called money and in the recesson now in america its a endangered item and in short supply and once its used up

its nearly impossible to replace. its not like you can go down the street and get a job and do any thing about it. till some politicans are removed from office and thats a long shot waiting to happen.

so.

can you fill a coleman power chill el cheapo 12 volt cooler with ice?

and not get water on the 12 volt componets and ruin stuff with a mini electrical fire?

and thanks will for the information that was a lot of what I am hunting for.

basicly I am after a way to make ice last a lot longer

kinda the genreal idea.

but if the fridges do get cheaper some way down to where a guy would not need to sale a hole cow to own one. I might conseder that option.

slow

I was thinking the same thing last year. I kept an eye on Craigslist and got one for 5 dollars. Originally it was like 40 dollars. This was my experiment. For 5 bucks I did not lose anything. My plan was to take the cooling element out and build a super insulated cooler. After experiment I realized they work fine in cool weather but not much good when the temps get over 80 degrees. People buy these and are disapointed in them and sell them for cheap on the internet.

[pmowers]

Slow,
Like they said above, the thermoelectric coolers can only drop the temp about 35-40 degrees. There is a fan inside that blows the air over the cooled fins, filling it with ice will short everything out. The instructions all say not to put ice or liquid loose inside. They work pretty good if you "prime the pump" by putting a layer of frozen water bottles inside. If it isn't frozen or cold when it goes in, the cooler is not going to be able to get it cold. My 40 quart igloo draws 5-6 amps, all of the time since they do not have a thermostat in them.

I have started using a small icemaker when we camp. It is about the size of a large bread maker and puts out about 35 pounds of ice a day. The one I bought was about $100 and runs on 110 VAC drawing about 150 watts, not too bad on an inverter. Running it for an hour gave me about a gallon ziplock bag of ice-which I kept in the coleman, I just keep adding water and emptying the basket. The coleman 12V cooler was able to keep the ice frozen without a problem when the days were in the upper 80s, nights in the 50s.

[StandUpGuy]

Slow,
Like they said above, the thermoelectric coolers can only drop the temp about 35-40 degrees. There is a fan inside that blows the air over the cooled fins, filling it with ice will short everything out. The instructions all say not to put ice or liquid loose inside. They work pretty good if you "prime the pump" by putting a layer of frozen water bottles inside. If it isn't frozen or cold when it goes in, the cooler is not going to be able to get it cold. My 40 quart igloo draws 5-6 amps, all of the time since they do not have a thermostat in them.

I have started using a small icemaker when we camp. It is about the size of a large bread maker and puts out about 35 pounds of ice a day. The one I bought was about $100 and runs on 110 VAC drawing about 150 watts, not too bad on an inverter. Running it for an hour gave me about a gallon ziplock bag of ice-which I kept in the coleman, I just keep adding water and emptying the basket. The coleman 12V cooler was able to keep the ice frozen without a problem when the days were in the upper 80s, nights in the 50s.

Icemakers are not a budget solution however.

[StandUpGuy]

hmmm so no termostate how much does your battery keep up?


do you run it with the car on and re- charging all the time or do you just draw on a battery alone with no re=charging going on as you use it.

the frozen water bottles gave me a idea.

and then there is programmable 12 volt timers.

slow just pondering folks.

Sure that would work. You live in a part of the country that does not generally see super hot temps. For you this arrangement of a timer and ice packs would probably give you several days of cooler use.

[linuxmanxxx]

I have ac in my camper and just keep the cooler in there and it status as cold as fridge then. I'm sure the ice packs would keep things a lot colder longer but then the issue is where do you replenish the ice from?

[StandUpGuy]

I have ac in my camper and just keep the cooler in there and it status as cold as fridge then. I'm sure the ice packs would keep things a lot colder longer but then the issue is where do you replenish the ice from?

Hes talking 12v power, so no AC.

[pmowers]

I have ac in my camper and just keep the cooler in there and it status as cold as fridge then. I'm sure the ice packs would keep things a lot colder longer but then the issue is where do you replenish the ice from?

I use Fiji waterbottles- I know,they are kinda expensive, but they are square, and I have been able to use them for a long time. They have stayed frozen for as long as 8 days when they are in the cooler. Meat stays frozen that long as well.

[BrwBier]

I bought one off of Craiglist. Not the colman cooler but another brand. I think they are all basically the same. They do work but it is relative the the temperature outside.- of the cooler. If it is 70 degrees outside the cooler will get down to about 45 degrees at best. You can put ice in it to start and after the ice melts you can continue to keep things somewhat cool. But if it is 90 degrees outside the cooler will not get any cooler than say 60 degrees. My cooler is an armrest console that resides between the front seats of my minivan. I plug it into the cigarette lighter and on a long trip it keeps drinks somewhat cold but it takes a very long time to cool down. Do not expect to put warm cans of soda into it and have them cooled down. Better to have already cold things. Its actually kind of a handy thing to have in the van.

if it is 70 out side the cooler will get down to the 30s, if yours does not then it is broken. I have had one for about 10 years and when it is in the 60s I prop the cover open to prevent freezing.
Brwbier

[StandUpGuy]

I bought one off of Craiglist. Not the colman cooler but another brand. I think they are all basically the same. They do work but it is relative the the temperature outside.- of the cooler. If it is 70 degrees outside the cooler will get down to about 45 degrees at best. You can put ice in it to start and after the ice melts you can continue to keep things somewhat cool. But if it is 90 degrees outside the cooler will not get any cooler than say 60 degrees. My cooler is an armrest console that resides between the front seats of my minivan. I plug it into the cigarette lighter and on a long trip it keeps drinks somewhat cold but it takes a very long time to cool down. Do not expect to put warm cans of soda into it and have them cooled down. Better to have already cold things. Its actually kind of a handy thing to have in the van.

if it is 70 out side the cooler will get down to the 30s, if yours does not then it is broken. I have had one for about 10 years and when it is in the 60s I prop the cover open to prevent freezing.
Brwbier

The performance of mine seems to be consistant with what i have heard other people's as having. What model do you have? Maybe you just have a much more poewerful cooling unit.

[pete42]

I too have the coleman 12 volt model I purchased it at a coleman outlet in TN.
we have used it coast to coast and border to border.
we usually start out with lunch meat, condiments, pop, and water bottles some frozen in freezer
before placing them in cooler all keeps well have done it this way for a couple of weeks at a time
when we stop we unplug it from the truck because it will drain your battery.
when camped or like last trip in the motel we plugged it into AC using the convertor.
Slow No you can not use it like an ice chest there is a fan motor inside the unit
and I'm sure the water would ruin the fan.
they make some very good coolers called 5 days or 7 days that are better insulated than
standard coolers
pete