{"id":7696,"date":"2021-03-03T09:00:28","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T22:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.4wdsupacentre.com.au\/news\/?p=7696"},"modified":"2021-03-02T09:17:21","modified_gmt":"2021-03-01T22:17:21","slug":"4wd-winches-for-beginners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/4wd-winches-for-beginners\/","title":{"rendered":"Make your camping fridge run cooler and more efficiently"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The days of the humble ice box are getting further and further behind us \u2013 while they\u2019re still a good option, a much better option is a camping fridge<\/a><\/strong>, and particularly a compressor fridge<\/a><\/strong> that\u2019s able to be used as a fridge or freezer. Compressor fridge\/freezers<\/strong><\/a> are very efficient and if you choose one with a quality SECOP compressor like those from the range of Adventure Kings Fridge \/ Freezer<\/strong>s<\/a>. With a camping fridge you never need to worry about ice again and you can freeze right down to -18\u00b0C if you want. There are a couple of excellent tips to keep in mind though, that will help your 12V fridge run cool and stay cool without using as much battery power!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your 12V fridge<\/a><\/strong> will need to be powered from a battery while you\u2019re at camp and one simple way to ensure your fridge runs efficiently is to keep your battery charged up and keep the voltage up \u2013 the best way to do that is with a portable solar panel<\/a><\/strong>. While at camp you can take advantage of the sun and keep your auxiliary batteries<\/a><\/strong> topped up silently, without costing you a cent. The reason this is so important is because a camping fridge needs a certain amount of power to run. Let\u2019s say for example it needs 4 amps at 14V (which means your deep cycle battery<\/a><\/strong> is being charged by the solar but not fully topped up yet). If your solar is able to provide 8 amps into the battery, 4 are diverted to run the fridge, but there are still 4 amps of current able to be used to keep charging the battery up. This means that by the end of the day as the sun is going down, your solar panel<\/a> <\/strong>has not only kept charging your battery, but your 12V portable fridge<\/a><\/strong> hasn\u2019t really<\/em> been discharging any power from the battery. This maximises your battery life and means you\u2019ve got more power in reserve, meaning you can camp for longer. The next benefit is that by keeping the voltage of your battery<\/a><\/strong> up, your portable fridge<\/a><\/strong> uses less current. If your fridge requires 60W while the compressor is running, that\u2019s 5A at 12V or just over 4 amps at 14.6 volts. The fact that there is less current flowing through your wiring means there is less heat, less inefficiency in your system and less voltage drop which again helps your fridge run much more efficiently, ensuring the compressor can work to cool the fridge without struggling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another obvious way to keep your electric camp fridge<\/a><\/strong> running cooler is to ensure it\u2019s out of direct sunlight and has adequate ventilation and this applies whether you’re using a centre console fridge<\/a><\/strong> or a large 90L dual zone fridge\/freezer<\/a><\/strong>. The compressor inside requires good airflow to run efficiently and the cooler the compressor and refrigeration system is, the less work the 12V fridge<\/a><\/strong> has to do to regulate the temperature. Not to mention if you can prevent sunlight warming up the outside of the fridge box<\/strong> <\/a>you\u2019ll have much less thermal bridging and allow the insulation do its job to keep the cool air in and hot air out. Similarly make sure you\u2019re not unnecessarily opening the camp fridge<\/a> <\/strong>or leaving it open. If you do, all you\u2019re doing is letting the cool air escape and letting it be replaced by warm air which needs to brought back to the correct temperature. On the same note, ensure nothing is interfering with the fridge seals and always remember to latch your lid so that it cant accidentally open up in transit!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thermal mass refers to the material that\u2019s inside the fridge that holds its temperature. Water is one of the best materials to use as thermal mass as it can store a lot of energy and slowly releases it \u2013 you can use this as a way of regulating your 12V fridge<\/a> <\/strong>temperature! If your fridge doesn\u2019t have much in it, then try and fill it up with water bottles for some thermal mass! The important part though, is to pre-chill the bottles at home, before putting them into the Camping Fridge.<\/a> <\/strong>Once the fridge is full of cold water bottles it won\u2019t need to use nearly as much power to stay cold. That\u2019s becuause the water will retain its cold temperature without large fluctuations \u2013 then all the compressor fridge<\/strong> <\/a>has to do is cycle on and off occasionally to keep them at that temperature. Then, even if you do open and close the fridge and let warm air in, the large cold mass very quickly brings the air temperature down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another excellent way to keep your fridge running cooler is to add an insulating fridge bag<\/a><\/strong>, or fridge cover<\/a><\/strong>. Fridge bags aren\u2019t all made equal \u2013 some are just a bag \u2013 so it\u2019s important you choose one that actually offers an extra layer of insulation to the fridge. This essentially means the portable fridge<\/a><\/strong> insulation is thicker, but also separates the two layers of insulation, ideally making it harder for external heat and internal cool temperatures to seep in and out respectively. It\u2019s also very important that your fridge bag<\/a><\/strong> has vented sections to allow the compressor to \u2018breathe\u2019 or expel the hot air that\u2019s created when it\u2019s running. Using a fridge cover<\/a><\/strong> doesn\u2019t immediately mean you can forget about the other tips though! So still try and keep your fridge <\/a><\/strong>out of direct sun, with good ventilation and avoid opening and closing it when you don\u2019t have to. But by combining all these ideas you\u2019ll ensure your compressor fridge<\/strong><\/a> is running efficiently which in turn means it be much more happy to keep all the contents nice and cool and ready for that trackside lunch, or a cold drink as the sun goes down!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The days of the humble ice box are getting further and further behind us \u2013 while they\u2019re still a good option, a much better option is a camping fridge, and particularly a compressor fridge that\u2019s able to be used as a fridge or freezer. Compressor fridge\/freezers are very efficient and if you choose one with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123456,"featured_media":7700,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7696"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123456"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7696"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7701,"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7696\/revisions\/7701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}