It's a Coleman 12VDC cooler. Personally I like to camp where there's electric, and it has a 110VAC power brick. I'm at the point, age wise, where I just don't like to rough it that much anymore.
This cooler slides right out, so when on the road, I just stick it in back of my truck, where I have a 12v outlet. I even put 2 small clamshell vents on either side of the galley in case someone wants to use it in the tear while driving.
Another reason I didn't attach it was so I (or anyone) could replace it with one or two ice coolers, stacked up, in the case of no electric. 1 for food, 1 for dry ice.
It'll run down the battery in about 8 hours. I put a battery powered LED light in the cabin and another in the galley for times when you'd want to conserve as much electric as possible for the cooler, say an overnight stop.
Another possibility, though a little costly, is the new flexible, roll-up solar panels. Here's an exmple:
http://solarworld.com/PowerFilmRollable ... ePowerFilm
These don't put out a lot of power, but you can unroll it and drape one or two over your car or teardrop. Unfortunately solar panels only work during the day, if it's not cloudy, and you're actually camping in the sun.
I think the only way to keep it constantly running is with a generator.
As much as I like having electric, I just couldn't bring myself to using a generator, no matter how quiet.
Here's another idea: One trick I use with this cooler (I've been using these for years) is to put one of those large frozen blue blocks on the little shelf and use the electric every 30 minutes or so out of an hour.
Maybe hour on, hour off. You could put a bunch of those frozen blue blocks in another cooler with some dry ice to keep them frozen then replace each one as it warms up. I find I get roughly twice the battery time with the frozen blue block in the cooler.
I haven't tried the multiple blue block approach, but I've thought about it a lot. I'd be inclined to use the this idea myself.
This my last crazy idea:
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/ ... _200320201
Also, I tend to do a lot prep before camping and I almost always pre-cook (or at least partially cook) anything that is subject to spoilage. For example, raw bacon can spoil pretty easily but lasts far longer when pre cooked.
whaddaya think?
John in Grants Pass