12V Cooler Boxes

Maximus · 17 July 2013, 21:20

Anyone Use them on or off their RIB?....Are they worth Buying? Halfords have an offer at the Mo...Cheers!

rossymtb · 17 July 2013, 21:33

I have this one

Halfords | Vacanza by Outwell 24L Coolbox

Keeps food cool while away camping. Have run it off a stand alone car battery for days topped up with a small solar panel, Supposed to be really energy efficient and in keeping with the new European ECO legislation coming into force next year.

GOOD POINTS

Very quiet operating unlike some of the cheap ones.

Comes already with the mains and 12v adapter so no need to buy extras

BAD POINTS

Is pretty big externally for what you can actually fit into it (just enough for a weekend camping trip)

Also when there is nothing in it. it can tip over with the heavy lid when opened un-cautiously

Into The Blue · 17 July 2013, 22:36

I'm slightly biased in that I work for a company that makes them but...

Get the right sort, some will not work on a boat - too much movement. Thermo electric is ok. If you can, think about one that runs on 240v as well as 12v, pre-cool it at home before putting it in the car and then boat.
You do get what you pay for. Aldi do a very cheap version if you want to dip you toe in.

Especially on a boat, check it doesn't run your battery flat when the engine is off - run the lighter socket from an ignition sensed output. Most are not that energy hungry but better an engine that starts than a cool beer? A good one will stop the cooling before the battery output drops too far.

Top end are more than most can justify. We sell units upto £800+, they are good but way out of my league.

Mollers · 17 July 2013, 22:49

Had a Campingaz fridge/cool box. It would eat a battery! Fine if being powered by an alternator, but forget it on battery only. It would take a car batt down in no time.

Top notch regular coolboxes here.

Ice boxes and cool boxes from the official Icey-tek & Yeti Coolers UK distributor | Coolboxes UK

Gilles · 17 July 2013, 22:52

Pay really attention to all connections. My dad had a fire start because the 12V connector was corroded after 2 weeks. all the electrical panel was on fire aboard our previous rib. today all 12V are forbidden on board, except really smal elec equipments.

Tim M · 18 July 2013, 00:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gilles

Pay really attention to all connections. My dad had a fire start because the 12V connector was corroded after 2 weeks. all the electrical panel was on fire aboard our previous rib. today all 12V are forbidden on board, except really smal elec equipments.

Sound advice but I wouldn't say that was particularly related to cool boxes!

My parents have a cheap and cheerful one and it works really well. I got them a 12v / 240v adaptor off ebay so they can get it going at home first. Add a couple of ice packs that you'd normally use in a cool box and you have a cheap and effective solution. Not sure I'd want to take an expensive one on a RIB....

Gilles · 18 July 2013, 00:35

my parents had a really good one and quiet expensive, but they daily used it during 3 weeks on a small tornado between south of france to Tunisia and ... i really never advise to use it on board ! expect for a small journey under a nice weather

C-NUMB · 18 July 2013, 07:05

Don't know how long one would last in a open rib. One thing to consider with various designs is the power consumption and temperature adjustment. The expensive compressor ones will use surprisingly little amps and and you can set/ adjust wanted temperature.

The cheap ones based on peltier elment's usually have a huge power consumption and typically regulate the temperature only based on X degrees less than ambient.
The compressor ones are much more expensive, but You get what you pay for.

willk · 18 July 2013, 07:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by C-NUMB

The cheap ones based on peltier elment's usually have a huge power consumption and typically regulate the temperature only based on X degrees less than ambient.

I have one of these - it runs at about 50watts, basically a headlight! So very sore on batteries. All the advice above seems correct. I used mine when travelling in the L-rover - fine on the road. It doesn't look very splash proof so have never tried it on a RIB.

Portholme · 18 July 2013, 08:03

i got one thrown on for free when i bought a mercedes. all i can say is that I now know why they were so happy to throw it in for free. Nowhere near as good as an Igloo with ice/icepacks in. they are amazing

Pikey Dave · 18 July 2013, 08:29

I use a couple of Campingaz Extreme cool boxes on the boat & a 3 way fridge for camping. The Campigaz boxes are the dogs danglies, they are bomb proof & keep stuff cool/frozen for a couple of days even in hot weather. I use 1.5l bottles of frozen water as ice packs, that way you can drink the water as it thaws. We used to have a Coleman 12v cool box prior to the 3 way & it ate batteries, & didn't get that cool. The 3 way (240v, gas, 12v) that we have now is spot on, it was a cheapy from GoOutdoors & we've had it for about 5 years.

Pikey Dave · 11 August 2013, 08:08

Just found these on Amazon, bargain, half the price I paid & I thought I'd done well.

Maximus · 11 August 2013, 08:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

Just found these on Amazon, bargain, half the price I paid & I thought I'd done well.

Nos4r2 · 11 August 2013, 10:27

I've got one of these (non-powered) I use for keeping the catch cool when I'm fishing. Works really well with a handful of icepacks, and it's low and wide so it's easy to lash down.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fitness-Cole...+party+stacker

I paid very little for mine on Ebay,but it's definitely worth the normal price. It was still cold inside during the heatwave.

lakelandterrier · 11 August 2013, 12:37

I'd be worried about drain on battery. I'd prefer a decent cool box with good ice packs in it with.
I suppose the question is how long to you need to keep stuff cool for? Pre-chilling always helps

ppenman · 11 August 2013, 17:22

I have a waveco model which seems fine. It also works on 240v so I tend to pack it the night before. I stick some ice packs in in the morning and connect it to 12v on the car journey to the boat. If it's going to be bumpy I take an insulated box instead but otherwise it has been great. However I do chicken out when I stop the boat and disconnect the power until I restart the engine.

tehguy · 15 August 2013, 01:51

I have one of the small electric cool boxes from Halfords in the boot of my car. It's fantastic when going camping or on trips in the car for keeping a small amount of food/drink cool. Thanks to the big diesel engine in my car the battery is also pretty beefy and I can leave the cooler running for a few hours without the engine on with no worries. I've left it on for 5 hours once in the winter and the car started fine after.

As said the cheaper models use a thermoelectric cooler (peltier effect) for cooling - it's purely electric and very inefficient and uses a great deal of power (mine uses 40W for a 14L box!) and also they will only be able to cool to about 15-20 celcius below the ambient temperature. That sounds good but on a 30 degree day it will struggle to get below 15c! Also a lot of them don't have any temperature regulation so it just runs flat out all the time it's plugged in. Providing the ambient temperature is not too high, if you leave a drink in there for 24 hours you will probably freeze the surface (I have done it before).

Dometic Waeco make some absolutely amazing electric coolboxes, with proper mechanical compressor refrigeration (like your fridge at home) which are thermostatically controlled and will have no problem maintaining a temperature. A lot can even act as freezers down to -25c. The compressors are VERY efficient and cool the box very quickly and they also shut off when the temperature is achieve and have a soft start function. However they are about 10 times the price of the cheaper thermoelectric ones.