I have a 40L 12v portable fridge and my power set up is a 120w Solar panel and a 100ah leisure battery, is this a reasonable setup for running the fridge ? or should I use my inverter generator?
------------- Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow
It depends very much on what type of fridge it is and how long you want to run it for. If is an absorption type fridge it won't run for very long at all with that set-up, probably no more than a few hours at most, but if it is a compressor fridge it will run for considerably longer. Also, the number of times you open and close the door will have quite an impact.
It’s a 40L car fridge I bought from Halfords after reading several good reviews about it I am trying it out this weekend so far it’s keeping everything cool but I don’t leave it switched on full time I let it run for 4 or five hours on the 12v leisure battery then leave it off for a few hours
------------- Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow
Do you mean the 40 litre cool-box currently selling at £95? If so it draws around 3.5 amps continuously, which will flatten a 100ah leisure battery quite quickly. Also, it says that it will chill to 16 degrees below ambient temperature, which is fine when the ambient temperature is around 20 degrees, but when the temperature hits 30 degrees it will only keep stuff inside it at around 14 degrees. A proper fridge should keep stuff at no more than 5 degrees whatever the ambient temperature.
I suppose it depends what you want it for. If it's to keep a few beers cool for a while it would be great, but for food stuffs for a period of time, not so good, particularly on a hot day, and even worse if you need to open and close it frequently.
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Topic: 12v portable fridge
