Fridge (and accessory) recommendations

[TheIcemanCometh]

A comment about powering from the cigarette lighter. They may be 12v and 10amp. But that is the max. And in my experience running at the max continuously things, e.g. the wiring get very hot, too hot.

I recently was powering my frig via the power bank which was plugged into the cigarette lighter. Power was going to both so it was pulling at the max. I reduced the max amp the power bank would pull to 6 amps. Power would go to only the frig, then when it was not running to the power bank. The kept the wiring cooler. Also it kept the voltage more constant as the frig would see low voltage faults and shut down.

I plan to install a Victron XS 12/24 50 amp system in power mod so to emulate a solar panel. I will run it at 24v and 10 amp. That will allow the power bank to charge while the frig is running.

 

[KLF]

If you saw how thin the factory wires are that power the aux power ports, you wouldn't run 10 amps thru them.

 

[Julian73]

If you saw how thin the factory wires are that power the aux power ports, you wouldn't run 10 amps thru them.

Definitely not a continuous 10 amps. However, factory wiring is deceptive, our opinions of wire size is distorted by insulation thickness because crappy insulation needs to be thick. The factory is typically running XLPE insulation and maybe even Tefzel ETFE, both the which can be very thin sheaths over a decent wire AWG.

 

[grinchy]

I agree the wire up front to the not a cig lighter is like 14 or 16g. It’s not fat conductor wise. I have cut it and teed in for power on the dash.

I don’t recall the size of the wire to the back inverter. I looked at it once a few years back . I actually dropped a T there when I ran the 4 ga back for my sub amp, but never got to installing any 12v outlets as the power bank Was happy to charge off the stock inverter, and the fridge happy to run off the power bank dc

 

[bloc]

If you saw how thin the factory wires are that power the aux power ports, you wouldn't run 10 amps thru them.

This.

Definitely not a continuous 10 amps. However, factory wiring is deceptive, our opinions of wire size is distorted by insulation thickness because crappy insulation needs to be thick. The factory is typically running XLPE insulation and maybe even Tefzel ETFE, both the which can be very thin sheaths over a decent wire AWG.

So should all the other wiring in the vehicle. Compared even to those, it is a very small wire.

I came across this as well today - but also found some info about negative impact on the alternator when the vehicle is idling… all these details push back toward a yeti with frozen water bottles for ice to avoid water in the cooler… it works in Moab for a few day but not much longer…

You can adjust the current draw easily in the app. I have mine set to 300w typically, but if I need to charge it quickly and know I’ll be doing some driving to keep the alternator spun up I can easily bump that up to 500w.

 

[MCtree]

I was curious about the food safety of my Dometic fridge so I ran a test yesterday.

Results here in the "Camping and Outdoor Gear" forum:

Thread 'Dometic Fridge Food Safety'

Mar 13, 2026

While on a road-trip, I noticed that some BBQ that I had put in my fridge was still luke-warm after being in there for 6 hours.
For food safety reasons, this troubled me since the FDA says not to store food from 40F to 140F.

And to be clear, this was BBQ left-overs. So it's not like it was hot when I put it in the fridge. I would guess it had been on the table for an hour, so it was likely mildly warm when I put in the the Dometic.

So I ran a test yesterday on my Dometic CFX3_95.

I filled both the large section and the smaller section with tupperware filled with ice water so that both...

• MCtree
• Replies: 43
• Forum: Camping & Outdoor Gear

• 

My apologies if sending a link to a post of mine is bad form. I just know that I tend to forget to look at other forums here in Ih8mud so thought it might be beneficial to you guys and gals who are fridge-curious.