Truck Fridge

joelm

New member
I have a 1995 Hallmark Cuchara that had a Dometic 3.0 cu ft refer in it. Finally got tired of fighting it. Was never quite right in the couple of years since I've owned the camper. Had to be perfectly level, never kept up if temp was above about 80 deg. Researched some and decided to get a TF130 from Truckfridge. Same dimensions but has capacity of 4.2 cu ft, a huge advantage to me. Had to trim the woodwork about 1/4 inch to slide it in but only took a bit to do. Hooked it up to the 12v wires that went to the old Dometic, JB Welded a bracket to the back which then got screwed into the plywood floor of the refer compartment, and was done. Also put a WattsUp meter in so would know what it was doing. Started it up Friday night to precool before leaving Saturday morning. It was about 110 outside. Refrigerator thermometer I placed inside the unit topped out at 80 and was pegged. In 3 hours it was 40 inside, outside temp had cooled to 103.

Saturday morning we loaded it up, almost everything that went in came from the house fridge so was cool, about 12 sodas and waters were room temp. Unfortunately I somehow deleted the Wattsup info, so it was at all 0's when we left about 8 am, 95 deg outside, fridge at 36, freezer at -10 with ice cream inside. Headed up to the Mogollon Rim, Had to stop to get AC on truck fixed so in 100+ degree temps until about 1pm. Got to the Rim where it was around 78 deg. Cooled to about 50 overnight. At 8am the fridge was 36, the freezer -12 and the WattsUp said 26.52 Amp hours used. Headed home late in the day, made a couple of stops in Phoenix before getting to the house - 110+ degrees. Got home about 7pm , the refer was 38, freezer was -10. WattsUp read 31.27 amp hrs used so over 35 hours in temps from 50 -110+ averaged .89 per hour.

Overall impression from first short trip is awesome. Wish I had done this a couple of years ago. 40% more room will come in handy on longer trips. Should be fine on Power with 220 ampH of batteries should be fine. Will probably put a 100W solar panel on top. Have all LED light so don't use a lot of power.
 
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MichGoBlue

New member
Ordered a TF65 last week for my old Four Seasons pop-up to replace an icebox - should arrive on Wednesday. I looked at a lot of different options but the Truckfridges seemed to be such a good deal compared to similar Engel and Norcold models. I am really excited to see what mine does after hearing your power consumption numbers!
 

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