Rovin Fridge just listed at Jaycar - official price is $200 off, it looks the same as their Brass Monkey fridge that is $150 more.
Available in store only.
Not sure on quality or compressor though - any thoughts?
45L Rovin Portable Dual Zone Fridge and Freezer with Solar Charger Board Plus Handles + Wheels $349 (Was $549) in-Store @ Jaycar
360
LGonzo saves on 03/09/2022 - 10:40 jaycar.com.au (2096 clicks)
Last edited 05/09/2022 - 10:11 by 2 other users
Last edited 05/09/2022 - 10:11 by 2 other users
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I have read that it works fine, so long as your panels have enough power. It's just a regular Anderson plug. The only thing is you need to use their somewhat expensive click-in battery to make it function. There may be ways around this such as using a small/cheaper off board battery but I have not ever had one to look at so I don't know - others might have tried?
They sell power tool battery adaptors you can use to run the fridges off powertool batteries
Not sure if its a good idea or not….
I would like to see those. Do you remember where you saw them? Have a link?
@King Tightarse: https://www.jaycar.com.au/search?text=Fridge+adapter&CSRFTok…
On their website, found while searching "fridge adaptor" came up with these
Wasn't actually searching for this, was looking for something else
@Ahbal: Excellent. I have the 30 litre model and am interested in trying out the solar functionality but don't want to buy those dedicated batteries so this looks good
@King Tightarse: Haha, no battery adaptor for our favourites here on OzBargain, Ozito or Ryobi.
Pretty sure you could just hotwire one of these and connect to other compatible/same voltage
batteries to make that work.
@ozhunter68: Yes, I was originally worried when I saw what looked like a five pin connector, so it might have been looking for a code or various specific sensors but if it fits that many tool batteries, it is probably just wired up for positive and negative. If thats the case we could use any 18v battery. Even make your own off board and add an Anderson or whatever plug you like (I hope)
@ozhunter68: Asking a mate with a 3D printer to make one for an Ozito battery.
When he does it, I'll put a post here. A little retirement hobby for him.
@ozhunter68: You can it's just a 4s 18650 battery with a nominal voltage of 14.4V.
not sure if you can unscrew it to get access to the wiring, else just stick two metal plates into the +ve and -ve terminals and wiring it up.You would need a charge voltage of 16.8V to fully recharge the battery so the batteries will never be fully charged via solar. if your charge controller output 14.8V, at best you'll be able to recharge the battery to 50%
looking at the solar panels they sell with this, it looks like it's unregulated so they might simply be relying on the battery's over-voltage protection to stop charging.
The "100w" folding canvas solar panel Jaycar sell is sufficient to run one of these in the middle of the day. They have a barrel plug, not Andersons.
A glass panel 100w or more, or a folding canvas panel 200w should be able to run and charge at the same time for most of the day.
The fridge battery for these has to be the Jaycar one with 5 pins - the power tool adapters are only made to fit the dual-battery GH2028 fridges, and no others, as the tool batteries take up more space.
Thanks Michael that's interesting. Sounds like you know your way around these quite well?
So I understand the GH2028 fridge has more internal space for the batteries making the adapters and power tool batteries possible.
Just confirming the GH2028 fridge takes the same 5 pin batteries as the other battery type Brass Monkey fridges?
If yes and they can run on power tool batteries, is it fair to say that of the five pins only + and - are connected? Also are the Brass Monkey batteries 18V?Pretty sure the BM / Rovin batts are 11.8v, not 18v, as you have to set the fridge battery protection lower than 12v.
All the Jaycar fridges use the same Jaycar batteries. The 4.0AH tool batteries fit in the GH2028 with an adapter because the battery compartment is larger, but has molded supports to match the Jaycar batts as well. The Jaycar batts have 5 pins, I'm guessing some are for charging, the tool batts don't get charged by the fridge, from what I heard.
@MichaelV: Interesting thanks! BTW would love to know the pin-out of those five battery pins, should you ever come across that info.
Cheers. OH BTW I noticed the photos of the Jaycar power tool adapters all were shot with 18v batteries https://www.jaycar.com.au/fridge-adapter-for-dewalt-battery/… I am assuming this works because the fridges can handle 12-24v but could potentially over discharge the power tool batteries rather badly I think?
These are made by Alpicool who also make the cheap and cheerful Brass Monkey fridges.
Most feedback is positive. IE no where near Dometic or Engel quality. They are robust although a bit 'plasticky'.
They generally seem reliable enoughIt was a general Jaycar email. I got it too but though the deal was a bit average this time.
I'm sure the mods will sniff it out if there are any shenanigans bit I don't see it here. I didnt neg you BTW but other might Lol.
Just a Jaycar deal
Not sure how real the RRP is on this one. The earlier Rovin deals were excellent this one is getting a bit more meh.
Confusingly, they seem to have three different model numbers with three different prices that all look the same to me, on the Rovin site:
GH2232 $349.00 https://getrovin.com/gh2232_45l_rovin_portable_dual_zone_fri…
GH2265 $429.00 https://getrovin.com/gh2265_45l_rovin_cream_white_portable_d…
..and strangely what looks like the same thing but with the telescopic handle removed for $549
https://getrovin.com/gh2234_45l_rovin_portable_dual_zone_fri…I picked up the circa 45L for a store specific sale for 169. I didnt pay more for the solar because who wants to leave their fridge in the sun? I doubt you would get a benefit considering the heat absorption.
The reason I didn't go for the battery was because you could always just rig up an external battery, and the battery one is taller for the same capacity and wouldn't allow a sedan boot to close, so less options to take places. They did also have wheels which if course is a benefit, but I would rather it fit in both my cars than have wheels
Hey bud, the solar panel goes in the sun, the fridge remains in the shade/ under cover etc.
Isn't the solar panel attached to the lid?
@Jackson: There is just a solar panel input plug at the bottom. You can use any 12-24v solar panel on a lead and place it wherever you want.
@Jackson: Nothing really. You can buy a solar controller and battery and add it to any fridge. However, this fridge is simply already all built in. So less other bits to buy and have floating around.
I didn't buy one though, as you lose so much space internally with the two seperate preset bins.
The non solar offering has the usual removable divider between the fridge and freezer.
So when they have a built in solar/ battery fridge with a removable divider..I'm in.
I’ve got the smaller 30L rovin. Works really well. Has a slot for a battery and solar panel and everything.
Amazing how cheap these compressor fridges have gotten. I’d love to get an Engel or something but they are four-five times the price and do the same thing.I ordered that late July for that ebay $169 deal and as they stuffed up stock and/or shipping,
I did not get it and missed out, although I was refunded I really wanted that for that price as a
back-up to my now 2 years in use Campmaster from that Big W $249 deal 3 years ago.
They do the same thing but Engel compressors are way more efficient, these Chinese cheap compressors use more power and cycle for far longer in my experience.. also my Engel is 15 years old and my dad is on his third Chinese compressor fridge in a few years..
I recalled kapone posted this link to a YouTube video showing the dishonest practice by Jaycar:
https://www.reddit.com/r/arduino/comments/580qt3/australian_…These are cheap and crap.
These are cheap yes but NOT crap. They work well, by all accounts
Yeah that's such a shit story. I checked and they don't have them on the shelves any more from what I can see. Jaycar has never really don't anyone favours, everything there is overpriced
HDMI to Composite AV Converter with Power Supply $74.95 from Jarcar but from ebay the very same around $10 to $30. very over priced.
https://www.jaycar.com.au/hdmi-to-composite-av-converter-wit…
Huh! Wish DSE was still around. Dick would not do that.
I have bought a number of items from them in the past e.g. interior car LED light bulbs, they are better quality than those I got from eBay, but of course not as cheap.
it looks the same as their Brass Monkey fridge that is $150 more
Jaycar and Road Tech Marine are sister businesses, afaik. The fridges should be the same. I have a brass monkey bought from RTM and it has fared well so far. Runs off 240v in the garage and 12v in the car, no battery or solar input in mine unfortunately. They didn't give me the free cover (was part of the sales deal) either, couldn't find its stock.
The 'description' section says solar charging and backup battery is sold separately. Is this still a good deal then?
Also why is 50L only $259: https://www.roadtechmarine.com.au/50l-rovin-portable-fridge-…
The OP one is a dual zone, so both fridge and freezer at the same time. This one is either/or.
You could most probably buy two smaller ones and just have 1 freezer and 1 fridge.
The 30/40/50L single zone fridges sold out months ago.
A few reasons I didn't end up buying this (even though it is a great deal).
- Compressor efficiency, I will be keeping my fridge for a while and want to make sure I don't need a ridiculous amount of batteries
- Angle of operation. You can only run the fridge at 5degrees of tilt for 30mins, try finding a perfectly flat campground
- Cover. Still need to spend $100 on a cover when most places do deals that include a cover
- Reliability. Unknown and warranty is shorter than competing brands
Reliability. Unknown and warranty is shorter than competing brands
They are rebadged Alpicool/Brass Monkey which are a great and reliable entry level brand of camping gear. I would have no problems in saying they are reliable.
They're just rebranded alpicool fridges like brass monkey. But with a shorter warranty. Alpicool is good quality for the price.
https://www.alpicool.cc/en-au/collections/mini-car-refrigera…
I have a Rovin 45L Portable Fridge GH2230 model bought from Bing Lee @$299 back in 2021 December, it's still going strong solid, works well it does the job. Also has app that connects and control and monitor the status. $50 more for solar board and handle.. not sure but still good value.
Come on eBay store (got $50 voucher to use)..
How effective/efficient is the solar charger for these things in general?