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Plugin refrigerator recommendation

One thing abut the Gravity AC outlets is they are not available during level 2 charging which means you cannot overnight level 2 charge at a hotel and keep your portable fridge running over night.
 
Adnillien said:
One thing abut the Gravity AC outlets is they are not available during level 2 charging which means you cannot overnight level 2 charge at a hotel and keep your portable fridge running over night.
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Gravity must be using its level 2 AC charging circuitry in a bidirectional mode to provide 120VAC power to the outlets.
 
I feel like the ultimate solution would be a fridge with an internal battery that fits in the sub-trunk, and retrofit in a little fan (like a 120mm 12V case fan) to the sub-trunk cover to circulate the air when it gets hot down there. The fan retrofit would require a little comfort with electronics, but wouldn't be hard to do.
 
I'm pretty sure most/all the fridges already have fans in them. As long as there is a bit of room on sides and the trunk cover isn't air tight, I bet it'd be fine.

I have the BougeRV 23qt fridge (no battery as I plug into a power bank--better way unless you are going to remove the fridge from car regularly) and it does the job. I put it on the rear passenger seat as I want access to it when in back OR when driving (perhaps a muscle-pull if you're old, but it is reachable).
 
Adnillien said:
One thing abut the Gravity AC outlets is they are not available during level 2 charging which means you cannot overnight level 2 charge at a hotel and keep your portable fridge running over night.
Click to expand...
The Anker ones I linked to before have batteries that solve this problem. :)
 
Adnillien said:
One thing abut the Gravity AC outlets is they are not available during level 2 charging which means you cannot overnight level 2 charge at a hotel and keep your portable fridge running over night.
Click to expand...
You can with the Anker-Solix ones. I am very happy with the 40L model...even got an extra battery for longer camping trips.
And, you can set it to 0*F and transport Ice cream!
 
I just order the BougeRV 21qt with battery (CRH20, $369 on Amazon). It's a more portable design, with a handle. Might be too tall for the frunk but that's fine because I don't plan to put it there. I wanted something inside the car for road trips, and this will fit perfectly on the 2nd row floor. When not on a Gravity road trip, it may move to the Macan for grocery runs. Since we plan to move it around, the more portable shape with handle looks easier than the other designs.

 
Got the cooler. Very impressed with it's performance.

But it is a bit bigger and heavier than I was expecting. They showed it going on the floor behind the seat and with the spacious Gravity I thought it would fit there easily, but it doesn't unless I move the seat forward about 5" from where we like it (because the lid needs room to open). And we don't want to sacrifice road trip comfort. So it'll either go on the seat or in the rear.
 
I'm still on the fence about whether to get an active cooler for ease of use and functionality but a lot to carry around, or just a better passive cooler than I have now. Our main use case is Costco runs and ~1 week road trips. The Oyster Tempo vacuum/aluminum unit is an expensive winner for passive cooling - 23 liter capacity for 12lb weight. The BougeRV CHR20 seems excellent for a small active cooler at 20 liters / 23lb or 26lb with battery.

Our good old Yeti Roadie 20 works well enough on road trips, but is too heavy and bulky for my wife to handle when filled, and not so easy for me anymore either.
 
I got a SucceBuy 45L plug-in compressor-based fridge, and straps to tie it down in the back. Working great (gets down to freezing if desired). Came in a VEVOR branded box and looks identical to their 45L fridge, so it's probably the OEM for the VEVOR fridges. No idea about longevity, I've only had it a month, but fridges are pretty simple devices...

Was debating whether to get a smaller one so it would fit in the frunk, but IMO that cuts down on capacity too much and I prefer having it secured in the rear cargo area.
 
DeaneG said:
I'm still on the fence about whether to get an active cooler for ease of use and functionality but a lot to carry around, or just a better passive cooler than I have now. Our main use case is Costco runs and ~1 week road trips. The Oyster Tempo vacuum/aluminum unit is an expensive winner for passive cooling - 23 liter capacity for 12lb weight. The BougeRV CHR20 seems excellent for a small active cooler at 20 liters / 23lb or 26lb with battery.

Our good old Yeti Roadie 20 works well enough on road trips, but is too heavy and bulky for my wife to handle when filled, and not so easy for me anymore either.
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BougeRV does make a smaller 9qt unit that would fit on the floor of the 2nd row better, and it still holds 12 cans. Still big enough for ice cream and a few other things on a grocery run. But it's almost the same price as the 21qt. Not nearly as much bang for the buck.

This 21qt does not quite fit in the frunk. Less than an inch too tall. It'll either sit on the rear seat, the rear cargo area, or the floor if I'm willing to move the front seat forward. While the floor would be nice, I would need to refill it more often, which means a cool-down period and mixing warm with cold often. I think I still like bigger better given the pros and cons. But it's not so big that's it's super hard to move around (just not super easy either).

It really comes down to where you plan to keep it. I still like the 21qt with handle, but I'd look at the 9qt and the 23qt too.
 
One thing to keep in mind: the insulation/body and the compressor take so much "fixed" space and weight that doubling the interior capacity from like 23L to 45L does not increase the overall weight or volume of the fridge itself all that much (maybe by like 25 percent in my example). So if you're going to keep it in the rear or somewhere where size is not a big constraint, you get much more bang for your buck going up a size.

Also echoing other people's recommendations to skip the thermoelectric and go compressor. We had a nice thermoelectric for many years that rarely got used because it was 1) too slow to get down to any useful temperature, 2) never got cold enough, and 3) noticeably louder than a compressor, due to the smaller higher speed fan constantly blowing across the thermoelectric element's heatsink.
 
jasonjs said:
One thing to keep in mind: the insulation/body and the compressor take so much "fixed" space and weight that doubling the interior capacity from like 23L to 45L does not increase the overall weight or volume of the fridge itself all that much (maybe by like 25 percent in my example). So if you're going to keep it in the rear or somewhere where size is not a big constraint, you get much more bang for your buck going up a size.

Also echoing other people's recommendations to skip the thermoelectric and go compressor. We had a nice thermoelectric for many years that rarely got used because it was 1) too slow to get down to any useful temperature, 2) never got cold enough, and 3) noticeably louder than a compressor, due to the smaller higher speed fan constantly blowing across the thermoelectric element's heatsink.
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Agreed. I got one of those thermoelectrics 15 years ago when we lived in the mountains and the closest large grocery store was 40 minutes ago. Complete waste of money. They're probably better now but it barely cooled down 20 degrees from ambient, and took an hour to get there.

The 21qt does fit on the floor, but I have to move the seat forward 2-3" from where we prefer in order to make it work. Still leaves decent legroom in the front, but not the luxury legroom we have with the seat most of the way back. Gotta turn it backwards with hinges toward the rear because the lid needs 2.5" to open. The 21qt is taller so opens above the rear seat, which helps. But then you need 1-2" clearance on the front side to get your fingers in there to unlatch the lid. It can be done, you just lose some front seat legroom. (Although I suppose the person in the front seat could just move forward for a minute when needing into the cooler.)

Fits fine in the seat or in the cargo area, of course.

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DeaneG said:
I'm still on the fence about whether to get an active cooler for ease of use and functionality but a lot to carry around, or just a better passive cooler than I have now. Our main use case is Costco runs and ~1 week road trips. The Oyster Tempo vacuum/aluminum unit is an expensive winner for passive cooling - 23 liter capacity for 12lb weight. The BougeRV CHR20 seems excellent for a small active cooler at 20 liters / 23lb or 26lb with battery.

Our good old Yeti Roadie 20 works well enough on road trips, but is too heavy and bulky for my wife to handle when filled, and not so easy for me anymore either.
Click to expand...
I purchased the Anker SOLIX. Works great. Used it as both a freezer and fridge on separate occasions. Held the temp very well. A bit heavy but two people can handle it when it's full.
 
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