Snowmaster 42 Fridge/Freezer Help!!

[Soneill]

A friend is letting me borrow a Snowmaster 42 for a camping trip this weekend to see how we like it. I plugged it in (truck Off) to let it cool down to temp but after about 2hrs or so at about 45 degrees it shuts off for low voltage, I set it at 10volts. Do I need to plug it in to AC until it is cold then hook it up to 12v always on. Or, does it need to have cold products in it to help keep it colder when its just running of 12v always on? Sorry for the naive questions just never used on of these before and I don't want to lug it out with us if I'm going to have to keep running the truck to keep the fridge cold. Also I'm sorry if this is the wrong section.

 

[N.Alvarez]

Two things. (1). I usually pack my fridge and leave it plugged into my wall socket at home until I'm ready to hit the road. (2). and the main issue here - the reason it keeps shutting off due to low-voltage is your 4Runner's starting batter is NOT made to handle constant draw. It's designed for quick & short bursts of voltage to turn the car over, then get subsequently recharged via the alternator once the car is running.

You can get away with running the fridge for a weekend w/ the stock battery, to test it out to see if you like it/want to buy one. But know that if you do, you are risking damaging your battery. I'd be sure to bring along a jump pack to jump-start your battery if you kill it while camping. If you end up getting a fridge, you really should either (a) swap out your starter battery for an AGM marine battery that can handle constant draw or (b) have a dedicated (i.e 2nd) agm battery to power all your accessories.

Enjoy eating ice cream while camping! perks of the fridge/freezer :thumb:

 

[(none)]

I went through this when i got my Dometic 40L.

The stock 12v outlet in the back cannot handle the load, you'll get low voltage warnings/drop offs. What i did is just ran a dedicated (fused) line straight from the battery to the back to plug in the fridge. I'm still running the stock battery, i can let the 4runnner sit for a day or so with the fridge on without an issue, but i haven't pushed it.

Also, yes, the fridge will maintain much better temperature once you add food/drink to it.

 

[SSDuck8]

^^^What he said!

 

[Soneill]

Two things. (1). I usually pack my fridge and leave it plugged into my wall socket at home until I'm ready to hit the road. (2). and the main issue here - the reason it keeps shutting off due to low-voltage is your 4Runner's starting batter is NOT made to handle constant draw. It's designed for quick & short bursts of voltage to turn the car over, then get subsequently recharged via the alternator once the car is running.

You can get away with running the fridge for a weekend w/ the stock battery, to test it out to see if you like it/want to buy one. But know that if you do, you are risking damaging your battery. I'd be sure to bring along a jump pack to jump-start your battery if you kill it while camping. If you end up getting a fridge, you really should either (a) swap out your starter battery for an AGM marine battery that can handle constant draw or (b) have a dedicated (i.e 2nd) agm battery to power all your accessories.

Enjoy eating ice cream while camping! perks of the fridge/freezer :thumb:

Thanks for the input. I was kinda wondering about the battery.

I went through this when i got my Dometic 40L.

The stock 12v outlet in the back cannot handle the load, you'll get low voltage warnings/drop offs. What i did is just ran a dedicated (fused) line straight from the battery to the back to plug in the fridge. I'm still running the stock battery, i can let the 4runnner sit for a day or so with the fridge on without an issue, but i haven't pushed it.

Also, yes, the fridge will maintain much better temperature once you add food/drink to it.

So I think I got it. I moved the power from the rear cigarette lighter socket and hard wired it to my battery. Now its working just fine. No voltage cutoffs yet and it is running at 36° for a few hours now.

Thank you all for your help!!

 

[e60ral]

fridges for the win

my dometic fridge is my favorite "mod" for day to day use. I always have drinks and snacks/lunch stuff in the fridge so at work I just grab some food from the 4runner for lunch and i've always got plenty of water and diet dr. pepper.

it's also awesome being able to do your grocery shopping at lunch to avoid the after work rush

 

[Lucian]

I had this issue as well (56 dual door fridge) when running off the stock lighter socket in the rear. I can definitely say that a big part of it is that the stock system its seemingly not meant to handle that kind of draw. After swapping to a direct wire off from the battery (through a SwitchPros), it is much better.

Some tips I can share, after talking with Todd at SnoMaster (who's awesome, btw):


Definitely pre-cool the fridge on AC power first. When under full load, the compressor is drawing up to 60watts as it is trying to drop the internal temperature of the fridge down. Once its at temp, it just cycles as needed, and you should see the voltage go back up to 12v in-between cooling cycles.

Also - the fridge is not meant to cool an empty compartment. It uses more power to maintain temperature in an empty space vs one that has already-cooled product in it.

And lastly, he recommended the fridge be set at 0 degrees for the frozen side, and 36 for the refrigerated side as a good mix between temp vs power consumption.

 

[mrblah]

If you find that you need a fridge in your life, my arb fridge/freezer has no problem running off a cigarette plug. Just keep in mind, as others have said, it isn't ideal because it isn't constant/hot). So you might want to look into arb fridges if you want something that is great for road trips and your not needing a fridge at night when the vehicle is off.

Now if you want to jump into a fridge setup fulltime, you have 3 setups.

1. dual battery setup. Most expensive, and good idea if you plan on using your vehicle as a base camp.

2. big starter battery, and a cheap jump box for insurance. Makes the most sense for most people. A good AGM battery is a great insurance for any vehicle).

3. battery box (trawler box)...really cheap to make, but premade ones can get pricey. Pros: great for powering everything not vehicle related. Cons: it takes up space in your cargo area.

I went with a battery box. Mainly because I can use it as a backup power generator at home, or primary generator around camp. I might still upgrade to a big battery also (option 2), just because a battery box can get really heavy to lug around, and it takes up a lot of space in the cargo bay.

 

[mrblah]

If you find that you need a fridge in your life, my arb fridge/freezer has no problem running off a cigarette plug. Just keep in mind, as others have said, it isn't ideal because it isn't constant/hot). So you might want to look into arb fridges if you want something that is great for road trips and your not needing a fridge at night when the vehicle is off.

I also precool my fridge, and I tend to put frozen water bottles in the bottom to keep the fridge cooler when I don't lug around a extra battery.

Now if you want to jump into a fridge setup fulltime, you have 3 setups.

1. dual battery setup. Most expensive, but is good idea if you plan on using your vehicle as a base camp, and it doesn't take up any space in your cargo bay.

2. big starter battery, and a cheap jump box for insurance. Makes the most sense for most people. A good AGM battery is a great insurance for any vehicle).

3. battery box (trawler box)...really cheap to make, but premade ones can get pricey. Pros: great for powering everything not vehicle related. Cons: it takes up space in your cargo area.

I went with a battery box. Mainly because I can use it as a backup power generator at home, or primary generator around camp. I might still upgrade to a big battery also (option 2), just because a battery box can get really heavy to lug around, and it takes up a lot of space in the cargo bay.

 

[Soneill]

I had this issue as well (56 dual door fridge) when running off the stock lighter socket in the rear. I can definitely say that a big part of it is that the stock system its seemingly not meant to handle that kind of draw. After swapping to a direct wire off from the battery (through a SwitchPros), it is much better.

Some tips I can share, after talking with Todd at SnoMaster (who's awesome, btw):


Definitely pre-cool the fridge on AC power first. When under full load, the compressor is drawing up to 60watts as it is trying to drop the internal temperature of the fridge down. Once its at temp, it just cycles as needed, and you should see the voltage go back up to 12v in-between cooling cycles.

Also - the fridge is not meant to cool an empty compartment. It uses more power to maintain temperature in an empty space vs one that has already-cooled product in it.

And lastly, he recommended the fridge be set at 0 degrees for the frozen side, and 36 for the refrigerated side as a good mix between temp vs power consumption.

I let it run(empty) last night for about 12 hours and the truck barely started. Got to work and it sat from 9:00-3:30 and the truck wouldn't start. Going to try what you said and fill it up tonight with stuff from the house fridge and see what that does. The one i have only has one zone. My battery is only a year old, so I don't thinks that's it. My wife was talking with Todd and he said pretty much the same thing you did just with less words LOL! Thank you again.

 

[e60ral]

I set it at 10volts

I let it run(empty) last night for about 12 hours and the truck barely started. Got to work and it sat from 9:00-3:30 and the truck wouldn't start. Going to try what you said and fill it up tonight with stuff from the house fridge and see what that does. The one i have only has one zone. My battery is only a year old, so I don't thinks that's it. My wife was talking with Todd and he said pretty much the same thing you did just with less words LOL! Thank you again

you can't drain your stock battery down to 10V, if you are using a stock battery you need to have the fridge on the highest voltage shutoff

your truck isn't starting because you are killing the battery, filling it up won't fix that, 10V means your battery is dead.

 

[Soneill]

you can't drain your stock battery down to 10V, if you are using a stock battery you need to have the fridge on the highest voltage shutoff

your truck isn't starting because you are killing the battery, filling it up won't fix that, 10V means your battery is dead.

Very true. I will change that too. I set it to the highest cutoff when I was having issues with the cigarette lighter but it doesn't come back on until the voltage hit 12.6v. I guess what I meant by filling it up it would cycle on and off less. I would think it would take more than 6hrs to kill the battery if it wasn't running as often(full). If the truck battery dies while I sleep then whats the point of the fridge right?

 

[xj4play]

I run a dedicated circuit for my fridge and accessories in the rear with an inline 50 amp ANL fuse under the hood. Used 8 awg wire to run from the battery to a multi output (3 cigarette sockets and 4 USB) My old superduty and jeep factory outlets had too much voltage drop due to undersized wiring, so I went straight to custom wiring without even trying the factory outlets.

 

[e60ral]

Very true. I will change that too. I set it to the highest cutoff when I was having issues with the cigarette lighter but it doesn't come back on until the voltage hit 12.6v. I guess what I meant by filling it up it would cycle on and off less. I would think it would take more than 6hrs to kill the battery if it wasn't running as often(full). If the truck battery dies while I sleep then whats the point of the fridge right?

I always got at least over night with my factory battery, usually like 18+ hours.

However it did not like cycling even to the highest shutoff and after about 6 months it was barely lasting over night.

You'll want to upgrade the battery if you plan on keeping this

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Lucian]

I let it run(empty) last night for about 12 hours and the truck barely started. Got to work and it sat from 9:00-3:30 and the truck wouldn't start. Going to try what you said and fill it up tonight with stuff from the house fridge and see what that does. The one i have only has one zone. My battery is only a year old, so I don't thinks that's it. My wife was talking with Todd and he said pretty much the same thing you did just with less words LOL! Thank you again.

Yeah, I'm about to have the fun with that this weekend. Going to be out in Big Bend with a couple of other rigs, so thankfully...will have somebody to jump if the battery goes dead. The stock batteries are only meant to have a high draw for short periods of time (starting), but not running constant draw.

It'll be a bit, but I'm aiming to replace the stock battery with a Group 31 Marine battery and a Pelfreybilt battery cage. That, plus a small solar panel & a charge controller should be enough to keep the truck up and running for extended periods of time.

#Goals

Though, if you get the itch for a new battery, [MENTION=122940]ramonortiz55[/MENTION] has a group buy right now for NorthStar batteries:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/group-buys/246262-**northstar-battery-group-buy-5-0**.html

 

[e60ral]

the draw is fine (a few amps max, for this fridge probably <1A average over time), it just won't like being discharged that much on a regular basis

 

[Soneill]

Yeah, I'm about to have the fun with that this weekend. Going to be out in Big Bend with a couple of other rigs, so thankfully...will have somebody to jump if the battery goes dead. The stock batteries are only meant to have a high draw for short periods of time (starting), but not running constant draw.

It'll be a bit, but I'm aiming to replace the stock battery with a Group 31 Marine battery and a Pelfreybilt battery cage. That, plus a small solar panel & a charge controller should be enough to keep the truck up and running for extended periods of time.

#Goals

Though, if you get the itch for a new battery, [MENTION=122940]ramonortiz55[/MENTION] has a group buy right now for NorthStar batteries:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/group-buys/246262-**northstar-battery-group-buy-5-0**.html

Do you know anything about Autocraft AGM batteries? I have one in an 09'Taco I have on the lot, thinking about trying that.

 

[e60ral]

some are made by Johnson Controls


I went with a Duracell Ultra Platinum that is made by East Penn, i'm happy with mine. i couldn't justify spending twice as much for a northstar or odyssey