Recommendations regarding 12 volt freezers for road trips?

Do you have any recommendations regarding choosing and using a portable 12 volt freezer to keep fish and game cold or frozen on back-county road trips, and to freeze water bottles for use in a cooler or fish bag on the water?

I find it a hassle to keep fish and game cold on road trips.  I'm always scrambling around getting ice and/or dry ice, neither of which may be available in backcountry locations. I'm less likely to do multi-day fishing trips because of the difficulty of keeping fish cold.  I'd like to be able to keep fish or game cold on extended trips, I'd like to be able to freeze fish and game on trips, and I'd like to be able to freeze water bottles for use in a cooler or a fish bag on the water.  The portable electric coolers made by manufacturers like Coleman and Igloo aren't satisfactory because they only cool their contents to 30 or 40 degrees below the outside temperature, which isn't adequate in the summer, and because they are too small.  One option is to buy a big heavily insulated cooler and pack it with ice and dry ice at the beginning of the trip, but that wouldn't let me freeze fish or water bottles on the road.

I'm considering buying a 12 volt freezer in the 60-80 gallon range which I can put in the back of my SUV.  Have any of you used 12 volt freezers?  How well do they work, and how much do they drain a car battery?  Do they require supplemental power, such as a generator, on multi-day back-county trips? Do you have any recommendations regarding 12-volt freezers?  Is it feasible to buy a small and less expensive 120 volt chest freezer and operate it in a vehicle with a power converter?

Look at ARB or Engel fridge/freezers.  You can research how to mount, wire, fiddle and use them on the Expedition Portal forum. http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/

Many folks there swear by them for week long trips off the highway.  Kinda spendy, but rugged and do the job really well. 

I have even considered getting one, but I would have to actually catch fish to make it worth paying for. 

From what I have read of others travels with a household freezer running off an inverter, is that they are heavy, bulky, and can get unreliable with off camber parking as they need to be relatively level when in use.  I think the power consumption was fine via the inverter, but with the inverter on all the time you would want to be driving some distances each day to keep the battery happy. 

The ARB or Engel brands are designed specifically for offroad use, and also have better system for drawing power.  They only draw power from the battery when they need to cycle, otherwise they are just sitting on low current draw to keep the electronics awake. 

I have even considered getting one, but I would have to actually catch fish to make it worth paying for.  :-

I look at the ARB fridge about once year, then I remind myself that cold drinks are for winners. 


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I look at the ARB fridge about once year, then I remind myself that cold drinks are for winners. 

Did you mean to say "winners" or "whiners?"

I don't care about cold drinks - I want cold fish!

The summer of 2001 I bought one of these for a two week, two thousand mile road trip in the same vehicle you saw me driving at Depoe Bay.   Worked great for the same reasons you mentioned.  No ice stops, keeping food from spoiling, etc.  We headed off the main highway with a six-month old baby.

About a week into the trip I left the refrigerator plugged in overnight and the dual 750amp batteries under the hood were dead in the morning.  It was inconvenient but not a crisis, though I learned to not leave it plugged in for long periods while the engine wasn't running.  The model I had wouldn't have made ice, was about 2x2x2 feet and would also run on A/C with a different wire.

You might check truck stops, or come up with a new "handle" and lurk a long-haul truckers forum for the skinny on good models.   

I look at the ARB fridge about once year, then I remind myself that cold drinks are for winners. 

Did you mean to say "winners" or "whiners?"

I don't care about cold drinks - I want cold fish!

I don't catch and keep enough fish to justify the cost. I stand by my comment, cold drinks are for winners.


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The summer of 2001 I bought one of these for a two week, two thousand mile road trip in the same vehicle you saw me driving at Depoe Bay.   Worked great for the same reasons you mentioned.  No ice stops, keeping food from spoiling, etc.  We headed off the main highway with a six-month old baby.

About a week into the trip I left the refrigerator plugged in overnight and the dual 750amp batteries under the hood were dead in the morning.  It was inconvenient but not a crisis, though I learned to not leave it plugged in for long periods while the engine wasn't running.  The model I had wouldn't have made ice, was about 2x2x2 feet and would also run on A/C with a different wire.

You might check truck stops, or come up with a new "handle" and lurk a long-haul truckers forum for the skinny on good models.   

I think you are referring to using batteries rated at 750amp for "cranking".  Those are specifically engine starting batteries and are not the same as a "deep cycle" battery, nor should they be used in this manner.

I run two Trojan Group 31 SCS225 batteries in my truck camper. These can handle all my camping needs for nearly a week in 50-70 degree weather. 
One would easily be able to handle the load of an ARB over night.  Even the smaller of deep cycle batteries could handle a ARB fridge overnight.   

I would suggest not using any brand fridge/freezer without a deep cycle battery in the system. 
Run a charge wire from the alternator to an isolator, then from there to your deep cycle.  Tap your fridge power source from the deep cycle while installed in the vehicle.  While you drive, the deep cycle will get charged as well as your starting battery at the same time.  By running an isolator, you don't have to worry about one battery draining the other.  Having a solar panel on the roof tied into the deep cycle wiring will also assist in charging when not driving, like if you are in one spot for days without driving.

The summer of 2001 I bought one of these for a two week, two thousand mile road trip in the same vehicle you saw me driving at Depoe Bay.   Worked great for the same reasons you mentioned.  No ice stops, keeping food from spoiling, etc.  We headed off the main highway with a six-month old baby.

About a week into the trip I left the refrigerator plugged in overnight and the dual 750amp batteries under the hood were dead in the morning.  It was inconvenient but not a crisis, though I learned to not leave it plugged in for long periods while the engine wasn't running.  The model I had wouldn't have made ice, was about 2x2x2 feet and would also run on A/C with a different wire.

You might check truck stops, or come up with a new "handle" and lurk a long-haul truckers forum for the skinny on good models.   

I think you are referring to using batteries rated at 750amp for "cranking".  Those are specifically engine starting batteries and are not the same as a "deep cycle" battery, nor should they be used in this manner.

I run two Trojan Group 31 SCS225 batteries in my truck camper. These can handle all my camping needs for nearly a week in 50-70 degree weather. 
One would easily be able to handle the load of an ARB over night.  Even the smaller of deep cycle batteries could handle a ARB fridge overnight.   

I would suggest not using any brand fridge/freezer without a deep cycle battery in the system. 
Run a charge wire from the alternator to an isolator, then from there to your deep cycle.  Tap your fridge power source from the deep cycle while installed in the vehicle.  While you drive, the deep cycle will get charged as well as your starting battery at the same time.  By running an isolator, you don't have to worry about one battery draining the other.  Having a solar panel on the roof tied into the deep cycle wiring will also assist in charging when not driving, like if you are in one spot for days without driving.

Yep, that'd be CCA (Cold Cranking Amps).   The diesel uses 24v to heat up the plugs hence the pair of batteries.   I'm assuming pmmpete with his four wheeler like me isn't running house batteries.   Those should definitely be deep cycle batteries and on a diode-isolated circuit from the motor, allowing charging from the motor while not draining the motor batteries.

The 12 volt refrigerator I bought wasn't rated to pull enough amps to kill a pair of large healthy batteries running on a cigar lighter plug.  But kill the batteries it did.   That refrigerator was tossed not long after that trip.   A good ammonia-cycle refrigerator should be able to run 3 to 7 days on a single modest deep cycle battery.  I suspect these travel type reefers aren't ammonia-cycle since the one I had didn't come with warnings to keep it level and upright and the price was just too darn cheap.

Think of a starting battery as a rabbit or sprinter, and the deep cycle as a turtle or distance runner.

A starting battery isn't designed to be discharged at a slow rate, let alone for long periods of time.  Just the same, a deep cycle battery isn't designed to be discharged quickly and with high current loads. 

I would venture to guess that the fridge you used would have lasted longer on a fresh deep cycle battery than on any starting battery.  Do you remember what brand/model your fridge was by chance?

Do you remember what brand/model your fridge was by chance?

Unfortunately, no.  My vague recollection isn't good enough for me to mention a brand for posterity here.   It was shaped like a refrigerator, with a front swinging door and a lifting handle on top.   Mine was not the type with the lid on top.   And I most definitely agree a deep cycle battery would have lasted longer.   That's not how these 12v reefers are marketed, and I unfortunately bit...

Perhaps this was just an early version to market, being so long ago.  My tale is entirely cautionary.  These days my recommendation would be to look at the versions with lids and use power while the vehicle is running to keep the ice longer.   

IMHO I'd lean toward a good rotomolded cooler, but that's a different thread, since pmmpete's asking about 12v freezers.

For that purpose, I'd haul a small generator and a small 120v freezer for flash freezing.  The backcountry lodges in AK are known to do this ... vacuum and flash freeze fish, running the generator for just a handful of hours every evening.   But this takes more space than pmmpete might have in his SUV.


Having had travel trailers and a motorhome set up for boondocking, as well as an off-the-grid (solar and wind power only) ranch property, I'm well aware of the nature of deep cycle vs automotive batteries, AGMs, lead precipitates, 6v vs 12v, etc.   Can't even venture a guess how many batteries this involves    My 16yo SUV alone accounts for at least 15...

The cost of a generator and a freezer would exceed the cost of a good ARB/Engel fridge/freezer. 
Yes, these two 12v units can be turned down and be used as just a freezer.  I highly doubt a small house freezer running off a generator would flash freeze any faster than that of an ARB/Engel unit. 

Excellent information, gentlemen! Particularly about the need for a deep charge battery and isolator to power the portable freezer.  I don't know nothing about electrical thingies, so I couldn't assemble one myself.  Are there off-the-shelf deep charge battery systems available which I could stick in the back of my vehicle next to the portable freezer?  And how would I attach such a system to my vehicle's charging system?

Excellent information, gentlemen! Particularly about the need for a deep charge battery and isolator to power the portable freezer.  I don't know nothing about electrical thingies, so I couldn't assemble one myself.  Are there off-the-shelf deep charge battery systems available which I could stick in the back of my vehicle next to the portable freezer?  And how would I attach such a system to my vehicle's charging system?

There really isn't a plug an play battery system available, but you could probably get reputable 4x4/Offroad shop,  RV shop, or Battery Exchange type of store to build you what you need once you get your fridge.  I would line a shop up first to know you have one ready.

This guy spells out the basic system you can put together on the cheap, and in a sort of humorous way. 

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/77503-How-to-make-a-cheap-isolated-dual-battery-setup-for-50