Member only price, but it is free to join. Check website for store stock levels.
Price was $499 with last deal reported on Ozbargain, so this is considerably cheaper
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/547557
Other models also discounted:
Ridge Ryder By Evakool Fridge Freezer 62L $524.50
https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/ridge-ryder-ridge-ryder-…
Ridge Ryder By Evakool Fridge Freezer Dual Zone 73L $649.50
https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/ridge-ryder-ridge-ryder-…
Interested to know as well!
Anything is enough depends on how much you eat. I suggest get a big one run it off the 12 volt car system when driving and over night/day use one of these
Dont bother with the dual battery set up. its a thing of the past
https://itechworld.com.au/collections/lithium-power-stations…
What's makes you say a dual battery set up is a thing of the past?
I currently have a seperate battery box and AGM battery and solar blanket……
Not the lightest option, but
@Spending2Much: When i mean dual battery i mean inverter wiring the car up etc.
Troublesome when you are moving to another car in the future too.
Unless you are hard core camper off roading then yes dual battery and red arc system
but for the average person just get one from Itech world a battery system and then u can use it on blackouts
@whitelie: i think itech world from memory black friday its 800 bux off the top of the range one
Any to be honest as long its an ozbargin favourite. it wont get much use once every 6 months
@George Washington: I want to run one in the back of the ute to charge garden tool batteries so I don't need to carry a dozen batteries to get me through a day's work.
Pull it out at the end of the day and charge it back up.
This Itech World is 1254Wh for $2k where this Bluetti is 2000Wh for an extra $300. Seems better value no?
@whitelie: Do your own research about the itech world ones, there have been a lot of reports of them over stating the battery capacity on their systems.
Just be sure you know what you are comparing and buying.
@valkeris: Correct
I run a makita fridge of 40volt battery packs and 12 volt when driving 40volt overnight
@whitelie: I would rather get a 1200w (120A ) 12v lithium battery for under $300, a battery box for $100, a LiPO compatible 12v charger ($150),
an inverter 12 to 240 inverter ( $200), . Total $750.
@edfoo: For the number of cycle times this battery will be used for camping I don't think it will be a problem.
@MojoMiwo: It's not just about the number of cycles the battery will last when only used occasionally, there is also the quality of the cells and BMS used in battery in order to keep the price as low as $300.
@MojoMiwo: Where can you get a 120ah lithium battery for under $300? I only see AGM's for that price
@whitelie: Bluetti is the best…
Not best bang for buck, expensive for the amperage you end up with but a great system.
@stewface: Not sure about spending up to $2000 on a Bluetti just to power this $300 fridge. Defeat the purpose of buying this cheap fridge in the first place, might as well splash out and buy a rock-solid and expensive Engel fridge.
@edfoo: My question wasn't about powering the fridge, just jumped on the bandwagon as a portable power station was mentioned.
Wh is important in my use case, which comes at a cost.
Oh good, so just spend 2 grand on a sealed battery box instead of like 300 on a agm equivalent, plus like 50 bucks for a box
@TheRealCJ: My understanding is you can only utilize around half of an AGM's storage? So you would only be looking at something like this to compare with a 100-120ah AGM.
$300 for the battery, $50 for the box, $200 for an invertor, plus wiring/isolator. Really the Bluetti isn't far off and you can easily take it out of your car and use it in your house, shed, tent, wherever if need be.
Lol a thing of the past.
Explain how you came to that conclusion.
@creesy: I was looking at this extensively a year ago.
I'm no wiring genius. Inverters red black cables. Running cable from engine bay into the cab, working out fuses and upgrading the alternator. For this after much research i found that the itech or equivalent Bluetti or battery/240 volt system works for me. I take it out of the car and put it back in the car.
I am not a family of camping mostly more than 2 nights check in hotel/motel recharge the itech box so it works for me.
Itech battery box thing has saved my fridge at home due to a power outage that lasted for 2 whole days.
Having this portable power box has its handiness outside of the car.
Everybody has their own decision where/what use case for it. Even mates of mine campers/4wders said my itech box is better then what they are currently running red arc system
Easiest way would be using a 12v battery box setup with solar blanket if it's just for 3 nights. Cool it down before leaving home, run it off the cars 12v socket until you reach camp and then plug it into the battery box and keep the battery box running off the solar blanket with charge controller during the day.
Only you can decide if it's overkill over a traditional Esky with ice. It's a big upfront cost but not having a wet esky and having more usable space because you aren't filling with ice are both benefits.
You could run it from the cars 12v but it will likely flatten the battery and you would need to jump start the car so not reccomended. That's why it's best to use a separate battery box while camping.
Depends how much you eat and drink. We've got a 60l Brass Monkey for a family of four and generally go away for two nights at a time, we wouldn't want one which is smaller. Between a heap of soft drinks, salad stuff, burgers, snags, juice and milk, there's not much room left.
Run it off a battery box (box + deep cycle battery) with a solar blanket plugged in to it during the day and you'd be fine.
It would be perfect. You'd need to top an esky up with ice almost every day. All you need is about a 100 amp hour 12v battery. That'll easily last 3 days without recharging. AGM will be fine but very heavy. Lithium batteries are more expensive but weigh a third. Not sure about the quality. Check reviews.
A good esky doesn't need daily ice.
I used to take a marine style 60L esky camping for food storage and ice would last 5 days in cooler months. 3 days in summer. After the ice melting it was still plenty cold though.
40L marine drinks esky lasted 2-3 days since it was opened more frequently.
I do have a fridge now and it is great not having water mixing in stuff
Yea those eskys would cost more than this fridge.
@upandadam not overkill size wise, probably as small as you want.
I took my 58l Coleman esky (not powered) and used block ice that I made myself in the freezer. I packed it on Wednesday and ice remained until I got back on Monday.
Cost about $130 at Anaconda
This is a really good idea for a new camper….
why go to the expense of a fridge if you are not camping regularly… 38L is not big enough for a family for 3 days imho
Dry ice is also a worthwhile addition too.
Have to handle dry ice with care. You don't want kids to burn their skin handling dry ice in the fridge.
One thing to consider if using esky to pack 38L of food+drinks, you actually need a bigger size esky e.g. that 58L belongs to Niko123456, because you need to allow extra space for the ice. With the 38L fridge, you don't have to worry about needing ice taking up the space inside.
It might be a bit small for a family but it depends on your usage. I use a similar size Dometic fridge and it's good for 2 of us over 3 days for food and drinks.
I run mine off a simple lithium battery and battery box setup. $250 for a cheapo 100ah LiFePo4 battery + $50 for a battery box + $100 for a charger. Charge the battery at home before you go away and it'll run a fridge this size for 3 days easy. I have a solar blanket to top up the battery but so far I've never had to use it.
I run the fridge overnight before we go away to cool it down and make sure everything going in it is cold as well, it helps keep power usage down.
A fridge is one of the best upgrades you can make to your camping setup, and It's so much better than using an esky.
Would you mind sharing where/which cheap LifePo4 battery you bought? Is it legit 100AH? I'm looking for one but a lot of the listings look dodgy like they may not have the advertised capacity.
I think it might be enough for three nights if all it was doing was keeping milk and some meat and salad cool (have a good esky for the drinks covered in ice) and the cost might not be worthwhile to add on top a gel battery and panels to keep it running. I would be very nervous running it off the car battery while parked unless prepared to run the car for a while a couple of times a day.
What we used/use an older $499 version of this very size for is as a freezer on road trips, just hooked up to the car’s electrical system until we reach our destination/ each night and then put on mains. It would be OK not running for a hour or so for lunch stops etc. This means we can transport my daughter’s gluten free food, as she is coeliac. There used to be no guarantee gluten free food would be available at the destination, although these days that is less of a problem.
The other use of course, would be a spare fridge or freezer for family Christmas lunch or parties.
Just get an esky
How does this compare with the 45 lt Kings Fridge for 399. Also you can have 10% Cashback from Cashrewards on top.
https://www.4wdsupacentre.com.au/kings-45l-portable-12v-frid…
This is an oldie but a goodie YouTube tutorial setup of a budget 12V portable battery box, charged with a solar panel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW344cBQ_qY
As much as that mentioned iTechWorld lithium battery box is convenient, but I think its high price defeat the purchase of saving and buying this cheap Ridge Ryder fridge in the first place. So a budget DIY battery box is the better option.
The DIY can ones go seriously hard for the price.
I have a 300W pure sine wave inverter and a lithium jump starter that works in a very compact package that I've used in a pinch to power a stage light when I was told we wouldn't have access to the power point near the stage. It was last minute and I couldn't get a battery powered controllable rgb spotlight…
I usually use the inverter on the camper trailer that has 2 120ah deep cycle batteries and a solar panel.
You can get cheapy boxes on Amazon with a single power point and 300W output for around $200 now but they aren't pure sine wave and I wouldn't use them with a sensitive device.
Why are we talking about inverters now though? Just an added cost, and not required in this situation to run a fridge.
Yeah the fridge in question could run straight off a 12v battery which could charge from a solar kit without any conversion to 240v.
The inverter was in response to the ones suggesting thousands of dollars battery boxes
Do you know where is best to buy good value pure sine wave inverter?
I got mine from Jaycar, it was on clearance for around $50
If you do a lot of camping, sure. I would just go the 100 Ah gel battery myself for a three day trip. Less room taken up. And for long er trips you would want a bigger fridge anyway. A whole different matter.
If it is only occasionally it isn’t worth the cost on top of the fridge itself even just for the battery. Just get a good esky.
Agree too. If you have no plan to camp longer than an overnight, a good esky will do the job.
Bit small but considering the price it is ok
Freeze your drinks before you leave on camp
Depending on the outside temperature, these fridges need a big battery or a smaller battery with solar. They can drain a 100a/h lithium battery within 24 hours when it's hot. Unless you go away a lot and longer times, it's not worth it and I would take an esky.
If you drive every day (from campsite to campsite) and it's not too hot outside (even better, cold at night), you can hook it up to your car (12volt socket) and cool it down to 2ºc while driving. Get all your stuff out before turning off the car and don't open the fridge too often. If you're lucky it's still under 6ºc in the morning. I did this when in the middle of the desert my second battery stopped working so I hooked up the fridge to the starter battery.
Evacool seems to have battery protection so in case you forget to turn it off, you might still be able to start your car:
Battery Protection: The Danfoss compressor requires approximately 11.0 Volts (12 Volt System) or 23.0 Volts (24V System) to operate. If the voltage drops below this the fridge will stop running.
Your advise goes against all other posters above, they are saying a 100ah will last three days easy.
I actually just did a test on my Kings 65L last night with 45ah of Lithium battery.
Started at room temperature (23c) and filled it with 10 litres worth of water bottles at room temp. Set the temp target to -18c and let it run overnight indoors.
Battery flat in 12 hours… fridge temp at the end was around -10c. It was running the compressor non-stop at 4A as you would expect to hit the temp target.
A lot depends on how you use it, if you expect to keep things frozen at -10c+ and you continually take out cold things and replace with warm stuff, it's very possible to flatten a 100ah in 24-hours.
This matches my experience with a 60L brass monkey with insulated cover with half set to -18 and half set to 2.
Doing the Flinders ranges last June (not hot, roughly 23c.) I was flattening my 100AH HDC27 in 1.5 days. My 130w of solar into the battery wasn't quite keeping up. The compressor was running pretty frequently. I wasn't opening the fridge very often and it was a 2 week trip with everything pre-frozen.
$300 100ah lithium lasted 3 days easily for me with MYCOOLMAN 47L CEP fridge
100ah AGM battery is a big no because you should not drain the battery capacity past 50%
About 25c-28c degrees ambient temperature and opening the lid about 8 times a day. Set to 3c degrees cooling
Which lithium battery is it?
No way will it drain a 100ah lithium in 24 hours, unless you put it on freezer setting and take the lid off.
I get 3 days easy with my 10 year old 50l Waeco fridge using a 7 year old 100ah AGM battery. SOC is around 50% after 3 days. Queensland summer.
I said they can drain a battery in a day. There are a lot of variables involved. On a hot day and opening it a lot the fridge will keep on running. Cover or no cover also makes a difference.
But yeah, my bad, normal usage should easily get you 3 or more days.
I said they can drain a battery in a day.
What, with the lid open? Even then with it running 24 hours straight you'd use 1.2kWh with a 50 watt compressor. That's less than the nominal capacity of your 100Ah battery. So I'm not actually sure you could drain your battery even if you tried.
I would just go the 100 Ah battery. It would last three days easy with this dinky little fridge, and take up much less space in the boot than panels. But be aware a decent 100 Ah battery even a gel one would be about the same price as this fridge. A quality lithium battery would be even worse.
Short advice: if rare trips only just get a good, larger only justification for a portable fridge freezer is if you use it a fair bit, and then there is functions at home where you might need that additional fridge/freezer space on occasion.
Budget rewards can get about 8.7% off gift cards too
I have a huge 200 amp gel battery. Have the 73l version on older model of this fridge. Battery doesn't fit in a battery box. How can I hook the fridge up to the battery and how many days would it run? I have 360w of solar.
With even a little bit of sunshine each day, just a few hours, then I would say, basically endlessly. That's if you are actually getting 360w of solar. That might be the max your panels can produce, it may be closer to 250w or even less.
No need for battery boxes. All you need is a cigarette socket attached to terminals with a suitable inline fuse.
You have more than enough battery and solar. You could also run plenty more things as long as of doesn't rain for a week straight.
Build your own battery box, buy a plastic toolbox, cheap Kmart esky, and add ventilation, connectors/bolts with wingnuts for lugs, fasten them to the box that suits you or your own built box.
You can just use automotive battery terminals and terminate to an Anderson plug directly or whatever you wish.
Main idea of a battery box is to protect from impacts, vibration and provide connections
Can it be used off a 12V 120W/150W cigarette lighter socket?
I drive around 4 hours a day for work with several short trips and want it to run while I drive to keep the drinks cool.
I want it to turn off when I turn my car off so it doesn't drain my battery.
Is it suitable for my use case or do I need to install it with any accessories to protect the battery?
120W = 10 amp fuse that most cigarette sockets are. The start current could be three times that.
On the topic of battery power for 3 days for 12v fridge, need to realize that every time you discharge an AGM to < 50% SOC (state of charge) you reducing it's life significantly. Worse if you leave them discharged for periods of time. That's why when aggressively cycled and not recharged these batteries you may only get 2-3yrs life. LiFePo4 batteries have more useable capacity (80-90%) but the market is being hit by overpriced poor quality LiFePo4 packs on the wave of new technology. It's a great product to sell as it works when new, but consumer is left with a dud overtime. Seller will only offer limited warranty. If you are a DIYer and have found a reliable source of good quality cells then expect to pay $700AU for 105A 4S Eve LiFePO4, box, cables connectors, BMS (jk bms with 1A active balancer )and frame for cells delivered to door - paid with paypal I have purchased a number of times thru Shenzen Luyuan Technology. Delivery may take a number of months. These packs can be aggressively cycled which is likely to happen with a fridge with no other charging source over 3 days. Arrive home and then to charge you to have a digitally controlled constant voltage charger set at 14.0V. Once current drops then pack is full and you can disconnect.
I don't believe anybody should be buying a LiFePO4 12.8V pack that can't monitor each cell voltage and doesn't have an active balancer in BMS circuitry, otherwise you could just be buying a closed box of hidden poor quality bits with a limited life span.
Can this be the bar fridge replacement, just store the breast milk?
What are you storing in your bar fridge? 😹
THANK YOU Ozbargainers! Saw this post, scrolled through Supercheapauto website, found this https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/ridge-ryder-ridge-ryder-… for $99 (member price) and immediately took my receipt and this: https://www.bcf.com.au/p/wanderer-premium-series-dual-cupboa… that I purchased last weekend for $169.99 from BCFor a full refund purchased the $99 one from SCA! It's literally the exact same thing, just a different brand, I'm certain it's made by the same company!
Supercheap Auto, BCF, Rebel and Macpac is all the same retail group
SCA and BCF are owed by Super Retail Group.
Good one.
Looks similar to the Kmart one too maybe (SCA price has changed again)
https://www.kmart.com.au/product/complete-camp-kitchen-43184…
3 nights? A good esky is good enough. Fridge is overkill. But these days people can't cope without a telly, fans, 300m of LED strips and a tent with a cellar. Seriously….
If anyone knows, would these be overkill for a family tent camping for 3 nights? What is the best way to power this on an unpowered site? Thanks!