High End Coolers vs. E-Coolers

Adding to the low tech, I keep it in the shade and drape a wet towel over it for some evaporative cooling. I tried dry ice once on a 90 degree grand ronde trip. Thought I was clever but it froze everything.
 
iveofione said:
The chargers really are amazing linked to the new fast charging power stations, mine charges at 500w at idle and a short drive fully charges the Bluetti to 100%. I too no longer need the solar which is nice because my 340w of solar is all portable and requires set up.

When buying a new fridge try to find one with the Secop type of compressor in it as they are more precise and accurate. I started with SetPower models with cheap compressors and they were just all over the map in terms of cooling. Sometimes freezing everything, other times barely cooling it at all. It turned out that the acceptable temperature range according to the factory was almost 16 degrees! That is not close enough for my purposes and I finally gave up and bought an Iceco, much better.

And with power stations stick with name brands with a good reputation. The field is changing so fast with new models showing up often and some of the real cheapos lack the engineering refinement that the better makes utilize. When I bought my first unit the cost per watt was right around $1.00 but by now that price has dropped down near $.25 per watt and the units are vastly more sophisticated. I started out with Jackery and it worked just fine although it is the old battery technology. When they came out with a new model that was faster and more powerful it wouldn't run my Iceco fridge on 12v which the old one did.They wanted me to run it through the inverter on my new Jackery which made damned little sense to me since running the inverter is an extra draw. I wanted my money back and returned the new model but they wouldn't refund and instead sent me a replacement which still won't run my refrigerator unless I plug it into the 120v circuit. Eventually I will replace the 1500w Jackery with another Bluetti product that will talk to both my DC-DC charger and my refrigerator as I have room for another 1800 watts of power in the Casa. When buying a power bank go bigger than you think you need rather than just enough to get by, more is better in this case. In the 8' bed of my pickup I have an air fryer, an electric kettle, an electric frying pan, an induction plate, an electric toaster, a 500w space heater and an electric vacuum. On the 12v side I power an electric blanket, a small but effective swamp cooler that has really been useful in hot weather plus a dozen different LED lights, some of which need recharging. Two of those are Luminaid inflatable lamps that I keep charged, one that goes under the hood at night as a flasher and the other under the rear bumper. I have 4 USB powered fans strategically staged around the interior that occasionally need charging and are perfect for distributing heat or cool around the interior. And of course, phone and computer charging. You just can't have too much power....I have 2 units on board with a total of 3,300 watts, both out of sight but easily accessible and had an abundance of power on a recent 2 week road trip.
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Amazing, thanks!
 
iveofione said:
Krusty, about 3 years ago I came home from a camping trip with a pack rat under the hood of my truck. It took about a week of trying everything I could think of to get it out of the engine compartment. Finally I took an air hose with a high pressure jet and blew it into the area where the rat was hiding. The noise and the jet of air immediately flushed the rat which ran into a shed and stood up on top of my wood splitter. A pellet pistol then ended his reign of terror.
Since then I have used LuminAID lights to discourage rodents and so far it has been very effective, no other drastic measures required. So far! LuminAID's come with a USB charging cable and also have a built in solar panel, they are about as easy a deterrent for rodents as I can imagine. Cheap insurance against the prospect of a multi-thousand dollar wiring harness replacement.
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I had a tough battle with a squirrel that took up residence in the engine bay of my truck this summer. I would clean out his nests and he would rebuild them, and he was big enough to rob the peanut butter off the traps without getting caught.

Finally after remembering Ive’s advice about lights, I went to Home Depot and bought a solar powered dusk to dawn spotlight, like we have at the end of our driveway to illuminate our address sign. It has a weatherproof quick connect from the panel/ battery to the light and a long cord.

I zip tied the light housing to the brake master cylinder lines and aimed it to light up the engine bay, then routed and zip tied the cable up and out to the cowl just below the wipers with the connector laying loose. I just plug in the panel and lay it on the windshield and each night it lights up the engine bay.

If I need to drive the truck I just pull the panel and toss it on the passenger seat, then reconnect it when I get home.

It’s working so far!
 
Cliff,

Lots of good advice. I am in the Rob Allen Camp. Lo Tech works for me.

Lifetime is a great cooler. I have a 40 year old Steelbelted Coleman Cooler that works great for me. I prechill it. I also cut a piece of 1/2 inch styrofoam insulation to fit the top portion of the cooler, under the lid. That cooler keeps ice for 4-5 days easy in the Central Oregon High Desert Summers ( up to 100 plus degrees ). Another key is i use a frozen orange juice bottle as block ice along with the usual cubed ice.

If your looking at High Tech, consult with the builder of your new camper. They should have it " wired" :) on what will work best with their build.

Have fun.

Safe Travels.
 
Draketake said:
Cliff,

Lots of good advice. I am in the Rob Allen Camp. Lo Tech works for me.

Lifetime is a great cooler. I have a 40 year old Steelbelted Coleman Cooler that works great for me. I prechill it. I also cut a piece of 1/2 inch styrofoam insulation to fit the top portion of the cooler, under the lid. That cooler keeps ice for 4-5 days easy in the Central Oregon High Desert Summers ( up to 100 plus degrees ). Another key is i use a frozen orange juice bottle as block ice along with the usual cubed ice.

If your looking at High Tech, consult with the builder of your new camper. They should have it " wired" :) on what will work best with their build.

Have fun.

Safe Travels.
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Thanks for your advice. I'm not yet completely sold on the high tech, although I'm leaning in that direction. Maybe I'll play around with some of the options you and others have mentioned. I appreciate it.
 
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