Dometic, or another brand?

If your going to put it in the cubby in the trailer, go with the Dometic. It's the perfect size and works as good or better than anything else. No point in looking around.

If you are going to keep it in the truck, them perhaps there might be other options to consider because size wouldn't be an issue.

 

My experience with running the dometic off the vehicle, the vehicle battery has to be recharged daily. Yes, I know, twice the car had to be jump started. Love the dometic in the vehicle!

 

A portable fridge in the camper (not a thermoelectric cooler which will not work in the camper) will reduce the average battery run time from about 1 week to down around 2.5 days. This of course varies depending on what battery is installed, how hot the ambient temp is, what the temp setting of the fridge is, where the fridge is set during the day (sun exposure or not) and even how the fridge is packed inside.

There are two fridges currently on the market that will fit in the camper. One is the Dometic CF35 (based on the Waeco CF35 which will also work if you can find one). One important note on the Dometic, don't confuse the CF35 with the Dometic's lower cost import solution the CFX35 which will not fit in your galley. The Dometic has the advantage of being AC and DC both which is a great feature. The capacity is 32qt (not 35 as the name would imply).

The other fridge that will fit is the Norcold NRF30 or if you find older stock the NovaKool BCD30 which is the same unit. These are DC only units but you can purchase a AC power cube for it if you need. These are rugged simple units, I like them. They are also less costly. They are 30L which translates to 32qt. So the capacity is the same as the Dometic (people often assume the 30 in the name means qts).

We carry both the Dometic and the Norcold. Other fridges we have evaluated have odd form factors that don't lend themselves to fitting in our galley (many are long and narrow in shape instead of a more typical cooler shape) so we don't know of any others that will work. If someone knows of one that they can confirm actually fits in a Camp-Inn galley please share.

Cary

 

It's time for a solar panel.

 

we've used a dometic with our 550 for more than three years. I really like this unit. It's proved to be tough and reliable. I keep it at 35-37 degrees.

After killing a battery by discharging it too deeply too often and not frequent enough full charging, I now carry the dometic in the TV. When we get to the campsite it moves to the trailer side table and runs off that battery until we depart. I have found that this allows me to get to the campsite with a mostly-charged battery. This is important, particularly in warm/hot weather.

We also carry an 85 watt solar panel (sized to fit in the TV) and if we can get even a couple of hours per day of decent sun it really extends battery life with the dometic running. I find a way to fully charge the battery at least every five days, and have never discharged the battery below 60%, according to the trimetric monitor (a great addition if you want to do much dry camping).

We also have the insulated cover on the dometic. Even if we stop for an hour or so I find that the temp rarely goes up more than a degree or two. The dometic also restarts automatically when the TV is cranked up. This is great because I'm sure I'd forget to turn it back on.

One more thing - if you use a portable solar panel and a decent length cord (ours is 30 ft), you should definitely have the Sun Seeker app. This will show you the path of the sun at your location so you can optimize the placement of your panel. It works with the gps so it doesn't need any internet connection.

hope this helps.

R Dickson
550 #645, 165 nights and we'll break 40,000 miles this Sunday

 

Ken & Peggy,

We have the CF 35 Dometic with its insulated cover and really like it. It travels with us in the car, and we place it on the side table plugged into the 550 (using shore power) when camped. We've only dry camped a couple of days, and the Dometic was fine on the low setting with the upgraded AGM battery.
It's also nice having the Dometic when we shop at Costco as it's a 40 minute drive from where we live. Traffic sometimes makes the trip longer. Refrigerated and frozen items stay cold and frozen as intended.

Some people on the forum have removed the handles and replaced them with straps so that the Dometic will fit into the galley. We've thought about doing this but are concerned about summer heat in a closed galley.
I think traveling with the Dometic inside our TV is a better option as it's a smoother and cooler ride.

Hope this helps.
Deb

 

That's what folks on the forum have said. We haven't tried, but Kyle and I were just talking about this yesterday. We were thinking of storing the Dometic in the galley when not in use.
Hang on, and I'll go check for you. Be right back.

Nope. You definitely have to remove the handles first.
People use a type of sturdy webbing/strap similar to a seatbelt strap and bolt or screw them in.
Someone on the forum posted a description and pictures of the modification.

 

I believe you only need to remove one handle on the Dometic for it to fit in the galley.

A solar panel is your friend! It doesn't solve all the problems, of course. Refurb'd Zamp units were a good choice a few years ago (maybe 30% less than list price?), but I have not shopped since then. I bought a refurb'd unit and it was pristine. According to a Zamp engineer I spoke with, most of the returns (which are then refurb'd) are because (a) the buyer just didn't want it, or (b) one of the connections needed to be soldered/reconnected and the buyer didn't know how/didn't want to.

-Al

 

Ken,

Yes, we have both unit in stock.

I agree with Joan and the others who commented on the solar. We find the fridge and a solar panel are kind of a matched set, you really would need a panel if doing any off grid camping with a fridge.

Fernlane is very knowledgeable on fridge use, we discuss this often with him. Lot's to learn from his posts on the subject.

Carrying the fridge in the tow vehicle has two main advantages. One is the fridge will run less being in a climate controlled car interior. So, it would pull less power load from the electrical system. The other reason is the one Fernlane alluded to, that is that the fridge will not be drawing from the charging power going back to the camper when driving so that all of the charging current going back to the camper will work to charge the battery assuring that your battery will be as fully charged as possible when you get the campsite. This will be 85-90% of full typically since an automotive charging system will not "fully" charge the battery like the camper's onboard charger will when connected to shore power.

The "carrying handles" mentioned do not come attached on the Dometic. They are in an accessory box and it is an optional handle that the owner can install if they want a more positive handle than the molded in ones. The fridge will not fit in the galley with the handles attached so you would not get to use these extra handles.

One note I like to point out on the Dometic. If you use your camper on shore power with the fridge running, switch over to the AC cord. Do not run the fridge on DC with the camper connected to AC shower power. This puts a great stress load on the battery and charger unnecessarily.

Cary

 

We use our Coleman in the galley for our dry goods/food storage. Easy to load and unload and when in bear country all smell ables in one place. Dometic goes on back of tow vehicle (DC) when not in use withe CI. Only use DC when in tow vehicle or no shore power (AC). We also have a zamp 120 solar panel...

 

I also recommend the Dometic Amazon.com: Dometic CFX-35US Portable Electric Cooler Refrigerator/Freezer - 35 Liters: Automotive we have the 35 liters cooler/frizer, very happy with it, reliable, good quality, good customers reviews, 12 v. DC, 24v. DC and also 120v. AC to connect at home, we like it