12VDC Fridge/Freezer Temps

Alloy

Well-known member
How cold do the 12V (ARB, Dometic, Engle) units get? Does anyone keeps track of the fridge/freezer temps when in use.
 

luthj

Engineer In Residence
My vitrifrigo would do 33 to 42F depending on setting (thermometer verified). Freezer would vary from 25 to 10f.
 

billiebob

Well-known member
Gotta throw this in. A $10 Kooltron. Likely 40 years old. 10 day trip. This temp every day. Unplugged all night.
Day temp was in the 80s, every day.

526889
 

Bayou Boy

Adventurer
The USDA puts the food danger zone above 40F. Just FYI. That cooler isn't cold enough. And it will be in the 50s if the weather gets hotter.
 
smittybilt, arb, indel, dometic, wynter that i have ran will all stay below 30F when in the jeep regardless of outside temps. the main difference is in low temp settings, you might be able to set for -19F but depending on ambient temp it may only go to 9F or in direct sun all day only go to 25F. setting lower then what it can really perform to will drain your battery fast. Find what it can go down to running constantly then adjust up a few degrees so it will kick off now and then. Generally i never set to below 5 for keeping stuff frozen. Lowest one was -17F in insulated case in the back seat with ac on.
 

67cj5

Man On a Mission
How cold do the 12V (ARB, Dometic, Engle) units get? Does anyone keeps track of the fridge/freezer temps when in use.
Yeah I have tested the life out of one of my ARB's, forget what numbers come up on the Dial because for any fridge to get really cold they have to go colder than what it says on the dial, It's just the Laws of Physics,, A fridge that can go down to -18c / 0f actually get a heck of a lot colder and they can give you frostbite in just a couple of minutes and if your hands are damp they will stick to the inside, Some Dometic models can be set to -22c / -7.6f but in all honesty there is no need for any fridge to go that low because the Best freezing temp is -18c / 0f because any colder than that starts to have a negative effect on the food,

I took all the meat out of the House freezer and put it in the ARB and set it to maximum Low which is -18*c and I left it in there for 2 or 3 days and that meat came out as hard as Marble and it was so cold it made my hands Ache in seconds and it hurt, The cold does not bother me as a rule but picking up that meat was painful so much so I went and got my Ski gloves to remove it and put it back in the house freezer,

In answer to your question all these Fridge Freezers get colder than normal domestic freezers because the Cooling element is inside where the food is stored where as in domestic freezers the element is within the walls or on the outside at the back which is why these 12v fridges cool a lot faster than their domestic cousins,

hope that helps.
 

Bbasso

Expedition Leader
My Engle MT45 is set at 31 every day for the past 4 years with zero problems and min amount of draw on my solar system.
 

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