Dometic or ARB fridge?

[TennesseePA]

I have a friend who owns a trucking company and he is converting all of his trucks to use rooftop air conditioning while parked so the don’t have to idle. Long story short is he is going to have several LiFePO4 100Ah batteries left over after the retrofit is complete. He found it was actually cheaper to buy many more batteries than he actually needed to take advantage of the bulk discount. I think they are going to work out to about $600-$625 each plus shipping if you can’t pick them up in TN. It will be 2-3 weeks before I can get my hands on them.

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[cbl1]

So I ended up going with the Dometic CFF 35 version. Very similar to the CFX3 35 but without the Bluetooth and wifi (which I didn't see a need for). A good bit cheaper (on sale for $585 right now on their site).

I already have a Goal Zero 400 - sounds like it can power the Dometic for a little over 24 hours. I think I will have the Goal Zero plugged into the A/C outlet in bed and then run the D/C from Goal Zero to the Dometic. I also have a 50W solar panel that came with the Goal Zero. So between the Solar panel and running the Gladiator power outlet a few hours a day I would think that would keep the fridge running continuously.

 

[TennesseePA]

I would hope that your Goal Zero would power you for more than a day. The PLB40 is about the same size and lasts 2-3 days. Also not that Goal Zero has had some problems delivering stable voltage making the Dometic shut off while there is still plenty of power. They have some sort of adapter to smooth out the power delivery. If it is a newer model it has probably been resolved.

 

[cbl1]

I have the older Lead-Acid version not the Lithium.

Do yo know if the issue was via AC or DC output from the Goal Zero (any link).

It has 33 amp hours (so a little less then the 40 amp hours of the PLB40) - so tecnically I should get about a day and a half without any recharge I would assume (if its pretty warm outside).

 

[cbl1]

actually your right - if I keep temp close to 40 degree range it should be only .67 ah/hr which would give me a max 49 hours (so I could push close to 2 days) … and would make the PLB40 close to 60 hours.

Amazingly efficient.

 

[TennesseePA]

It was the lithium causing trouble. I’ll see if I can find the info again. I’m pretty sure it was o. The Goal Zero website.

 

[JT_Jeff]

I don't need the bluetooth or wifi features either. If anyone is interested, the CFF 35 is $500 at backcountry.com (https://www.backcountry.com/dometic-dometic-cf-35-electric-cooler?s=a)

 

[cbl1]

Just to avoid any confusion … the Backcountry one on sale is the CF 35. The one I purchased was the new CFF 35.

 

[cbl1]

Your right regarding the Lithium - they had to come out with a cable to regulate the power supply on that version. Looks like a case of good thing I have the older model.

https://www.goalzero.com/shop/yeti-accessories/yeti-lithium-12v-regulated-cable/

Sounds like the new 500X lithium they fixed the issue on - - that one looks to be the one to buy if someone were in the market new.

 

[cbl1]

Received the new CFF 35 version already that I ordered earlier this week. Very impressed with this version. It may not be as fancy with the wifi etc. of the CFX3 - but I really like the way the top opens from both sides. Cools very quick and very silent. For the cost savings over the CFX3 I think it is well worth it. Highly recommend.

https://www.dometic.com/en-us/us/pr...lers/electric-coolers/dometic-cff-35-_-208005

 

[steffen707]

I have a friend who owns a trucking company and he is converting all of his trucks to use rooftop air conditioning while parked so the don’t have to idle. Long story short is he is going to have several LiFePO4 100Ah batteries left over after the retrofit is complete. He found it was actually cheaper to buy many more batteries than he actually needed to take advantage of the bulk discount. I think they are going to work out to about $600-$625 each plus shipping if you can’t pick them up in TN. It will be 2-3 weeks before I can get my hands on them.

any more news on this?

 

[TennesseePA]

any more news on this?

he has his first shipment of batteries in and is working through installation into his trucks. Since I am only getting leftovers I have to wait until they use the whole batch and I get the ones they don’t use. He is using three batteries per truck and it takes a while to plan and get a truck off the road for a couple days to do the work. Hopefully he will work through his inventory and have some for us to test soon. If it works out and we need a bunch of them we can add some to his next order. He has in excess of 400 trucks so they are going to be at this for a while.

 

[TennesseePA]

Back to the original intent of the thread for a minute. My Dometic CFX95DZW has been running in my basement on AC power for two days now keeping my beautiful wife’s Baskin Robbins ice cream cake frozen and concealed. I have the other side filled with Coke Zero and Diet Mt Dew. My kids either don’t know I have a stash down in the basement or they are too lazy to go raid it. Either way the Dometic is taking care of Business this week.
On Friday morning at 9:00 AM I loaded the cooler in the back of my Gladiator with my Champion generator for a test. We were going to have an illegal gathering at a friends farm Friday night and I wanted to take some stuff. I put 35 cans in each side of the cooler that had not been pre-chilled and turned it on 33 degrees on both sides. When I got home I added my two little battery powered fans to circulate the air inside the cooler. At 2:00 PM my wife told me we had to take brownies and ice cream so I put all of the drinks in one side and adjusted the empty side to as cold as it would go. We got to the farm about 5:30 and the ice cream was nice and solis and all 70 of the drinks were perfectly cold. Adding a small battery powered fan to your setup will help your cooler cool much more rapidly. Efficiency will not be affected since it still has to eject the same amount of heat from the contents, it just does it faster because the air is moving.
The Champion inverter generator ran from 8:00 AM until we got home at 12:30 that night. I also had the string of LED lights plugged in once it got dark. When I got home I plugged the cooler in the deep cycle battery because it was supposed to rain and didn’t want the generator out in the rain. The next day I took the generator back out and powered the cooler and charged the battery for several more hours until I could get help unloading the loaded cooler out of my truck. The generator is STILL on the same one gallon tank of gas it started with Friday morning.

https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Personal-Handheld-Operated-Enhanced/dp/B07MV1LS35 these are the fans. I only run them on the cool side if I have the temp below freezing I don’t run them.

 

[steffen707]

Back to the original intent of the thread for a minute. My Dometic CFX95DZW has been running in my basement on AC power for two days now keeping my beautiful wife’s Baskin Robbins ice cream cake frozen and concealed. I have the other side filled with Coke Zero and Diet Mt Dew. My kids either don’t know I have a stash down in the basement or they are too lazy to go raid it. Either way the Dometic is taking care of Business this week.
On Friday morning at 9:00 AM I loaded the cooler in the back of my Gladiator with my Champion generator for a test. We were going to have an illegal gathering at a friends farm Friday night and I wanted to take some stuff. I put 35 cans in each side of the cooler that had not been pre-chilled and turned it on 33 degrees on both sides. When I got home I added my two little battery powered fans to circulate the air inside the cooler. At 2:00 PM my wife told me we had to take brownies and ice cream so I put all of the drinks in one side and adjusted the empty side to as cold as it would go. We got to the farm about 5:30 and the ice cream was nice and solis and all 70 of the drinks were perfectly cold. Adding a small battery powered fan to your setup will help your cooler cool much more rapidly. Efficiency will not be affected since it still has to eject the same amount of heat from the contents, it just does it faster because the air is moving.
The Champion inverter generator ran from 8:00 AM until we got home at 12:30 that night. I also had the string of LED lights plugged in once it got dark. When I got home I plugged the cooler in the deep cycle battery because it was supposed to rain and didn’t want the generator out in the rain. The next day I took the generator back out and powered the cooler and charged the battery for several more hours until I could get help unloading the loaded cooler out of my truck. The generator is STILL on the same one gallon tank of gas it started with Friday morning.

https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Personal-Handheld-Operated-Enhanced/dp/B07MV1LS35 these are the fans. I only run them on the cool side if I have the temp below freezing I don’t run them.

woah, thats a big cooler!, is that the smallest dual compartment dometic makes?

 

[TennesseePA]

woah, thats a big cooler!, is that the smallest dual compartment dometic makes?

It is the largest cooler Dometic makes. They have the CFX 100 single zone but it it the same chassis without the center divider making two zones.

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