Hey there-
I have been working on this for a while and I finally feel like I have a decent setup for extended camping or even daily use.
Here is my setup-
There are 3 ways to power the fridge. One is through the Passport's battery- I ran 8 ga power into a fusebox in the cargo area to a plug. Also a USB source(more on that in a sec.). This plug is hot all the time so it'll drain the battery if I run the fridge while the truck isn't running- although it'll take a few days to run down too low to start.
Second way is the Jackery 1500. I modified the cigarette lighter plug to this twist lock (trolling motor) connector for the fridge power. No more worrying about the plug coming loose! This was kinda scary because taking an $800 power box apart and desoldering things and drilling holes could have been an expensive mistake, lol.
The Jackery is also connected - via the solar charging port- to an ignition sourced power. This way it'll charge the box anytime the Passport is running. The ignition switches a relay directly to the 8 ga power source. This only provides about 100w of charging but so far I have been able to get about 10 days of run time at 45 degrees fridge temp. The Jackery will also charge on 110v AC in 2 hrs on normal or one hour emergency charge.
The fridge itself will also run on AC power if available.
The USB is to power the temp display on the back of the fridge. My ARB Fridge is old and doesn't have Bluetooth monitoring like the new ones. This is better than nothing for a quick temp check from the driver's seat.
The entire setup removes in about 3 minutes with one cargo strap If I need to get to the spare or just need more room.
I'm pretty happy with it so far- probably going to camp in October!
I have been working on this for a while and I finally feel like I have a decent setup for extended camping or even daily use.
Here is my setup-
There are 3 ways to power the fridge. One is through the Passport's battery- I ran 8 ga power into a fusebox in the cargo area to a plug. Also a USB source(more on that in a sec.). This plug is hot all the time so it'll drain the battery if I run the fridge while the truck isn't running- although it'll take a few days to run down too low to start.
Second way is the Jackery 1500. I modified the cigarette lighter plug to this twist lock (trolling motor) connector for the fridge power. No more worrying about the plug coming loose! This was kinda scary because taking an $800 power box apart and desoldering things and drilling holes could have been an expensive mistake, lol.
The Jackery is also connected - via the solar charging port- to an ignition sourced power. This way it'll charge the box anytime the Passport is running. The ignition switches a relay directly to the 8 ga power source. This only provides about 100w of charging but so far I have been able to get about 10 days of run time at 45 degrees fridge temp. The Jackery will also charge on 110v AC in 2 hrs on normal or one hour emergency charge.
The fridge itself will also run on AC power if available.
The USB is to power the temp display on the back of the fridge. My ARB Fridge is old and doesn't have Bluetooth monitoring like the new ones. This is better than nothing for a quick temp check from the driver's seat.
The entire setup removes in about 3 minutes with one cargo strap If I need to get to the spare or just need more room.
I'm pretty happy with it so far- probably going to camp in October!
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