Engel 45 User Experiences...

HongerVenture

Adventurer
I've had my Engel for several years now, but have never used it under these type of circumstances. I live in the desert now and every day is over 100-deg. F. I would imagine the internal temp in the truck is easily reaching 130-degrees. The exterior of the fridge gets hot to the touch inside the car during the day. It's an all black interior and I have no tinting on the windows. I don't have the transit bag (though I am strongly considering it).

I installed it awhile back and had good luck with it. I'd leave it in the car and since one of us uses it most every day, there didn't seem to be a problem. Never noticed a bogged-down battery or any other problems. The standard, lead-acid battery died last week so I bought an Optima. Standard batteries not really meant for deep-cycle use, I figured I'd just worn it down. Well the Optima is in but won't last a day. Not to mention it seems like the fridge runs a lot more often (the heat probably).

Given that it was working fine, I'm puzzled as to why it isn't now. I've come up with 3 ideas:
  1. Something got damaged in the fridge and is making it cycle more. It has gotten shaken around quite a bit in the back of the vehicle.
  2. The new battery hasn't been fully charged and the use of the fridge/freeze is preventing that from happening.
  3. The heat has just gotten so bad that there is no hope for continuous use.

I'm looking for first-hand accounts of the use of your Engel 45 (or other Fridge/Freeze) in extreme heat with one battery. Any thoughts? Suggestions? How much does the transit-bag help?
 

Life_in_4Lo

Explorer
maybe you have a bad optima

engel is pretty darn tough. i don't think it would get damaged just being in the truck. i've done more than that and its fine. if it's cycling, than it is working fine.

get a new battery and try some insulation for the fridge to keep the cold in.

i use my engel w/ one regular battery and no transit bag in the desert climate and it's been fine.
 

66LV

Observer
I have a yellow top optima dedicated to my engel 45. I have always had it in a transit bag also in some real heat. It works fine. But in high temps I would only count on one full day before chargeing the battery back up. Equipt has a battery voltage moniter that I'm thinking about getting to keep the guess work out of it.
P.S. I have also I had it connected to my odessey 1700 with the same results
 

HongerVenture

Adventurer
Battery choice...

I'm a big fan of odyssey batteries, it's what I have in my truck back in the states. However, you can't find them here... I had a hard enough time sourcing an Optima.

I'm fairly confident the new Optima is okay. If I leave the fridge unplugged the battery starts the truck promptly each time. I've been measuring the voltage and it holds its charge... though I think the small amount of daily driving we do doesn't fully charge the battery.

66LV,
So high temps cause you to only get one day out of the battery the fridge is on?

Life In 4 Lo,
You have single battery, an MT45, no bag, desert heat, and no problems. How often do you drive and how far? Is it your daily driver?

Thanks for the input guys...
 

UK4X4

Expedition Leader
I'm next door in Oman so similar conditions....

the sweat filled trade winds from the west coast of India have arrived here and lowered temperatures somewhat.

I found with my engel 45 in a closed RJ77 white in colour It would last three days, just doing a 15 min comute twice a day, not being opened very often
and with the transit cover

That was on the biggest battery I could fit in the tray, not a standard size one.

Its a balance of heat in the truck V's how much your driving to recharge the battery, the size of the battery, and the condition of the alternator.

There's no real one answer, in tests one of the guy's did on here his fridge cycled about 1/2 the time in a hot car.

If the fridge is empty it will cycle more as there's no thermal mass,
if you insulate it it will cycle less
If you lower the ambient temperature the fridge will cycle less.

there are loads of variables and no real straight answer,

Run the truck without the fridge for a few days, to insure battery is full charged.

Cover the fridge with one of the silver bubble windscreen covers
and try again.

Any of your local Indian seat cover guy's can easily convert two windscreen covers and some canvas into a transit cover you.
 

66LV

Observer
On the second day during high heat is when I noticed the drop in voltage after 30 + hours.
On one camping trip the temperature was in the 90+ degrees. On third day is when the temp in the fridge shot up. So now I know I can go one full day during most in any condtion. On the second day I now run my vehicle. I have an on board shower system so I charge up the batteries, and take a shower. It doesn't take long to recharge the batteries and warm up the water.
 

go4aryd

Adventurer
A couple other things to watch out for:
1) make sure your cable is in good shape, and not shorting to any metail parts in the vehicle or experiencing any "hot spots"
2) if you are pulling a trailer (or anything else that uses a plug in), be sure that the bat is getting enough to fully recharge. My PU trailer battery was weakening, and pulling down my primary enough that after 5-6 days, my secondary was barely able to start the rig.
3) fridge compressor ventilation is key for efficient operation. Be sure it isn't limited by the install or your makeshift transit case, or the Engle case is properly installed (it is possible to slip the case over the legs during installation, and partially block the vents with fabric, not mesh.

:)
 

HongerVenture

Adventurer
Well, I'm picking up the transit cover and the Engel wireless thermometer from Sierra Expeditions (Wil and Wendy have always done good by me). Time to control the heat and track the temperatures. Having it shipped to my mom-in-laws and then shipped to me... so it might be awhile.

Over the last week I've tried a few things... but have mostly left it unplugged so I don't get stranded.

I do notice it runs a lot... I've not caught it turned off yet. Tempted to check in the middle of the night to see if it calms down then.

Ventilation is a good point. I folded the seat away from it so it had lots of ventilation and it didn't make a difference. I've kept it as well ventilated as it was in my former vehicle so I'm confident I haven't suffocated it.

I have it plugged in tonight and I'm confident the battery is topped off... we'll see what tomorrow brings.
 
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JIMBO

Expedition Leader
:sombrero: My ENGEL MF040f, cycles (on average) every 20 minutes for about 3 minutes, in 90/102 degrees (Nevada desert)

Thats with a normal lead-acid KIRKLAND battery, (solar charging)

The transit bag doesn't really help that much at vehicle rest and with cooler sheltered from sun, over a period of hours, ambient temperature decreases the transit cover protection, so the added insulation/protection of the transit bag is mainly protection, for travel/wind/sun/exterior touch-

The cooler NEEDS: ventilation/sun shelter/minimum free interior space/BASKET FOR INTERIOR ITEMS/cover open MINIMUM TIME

Not much more to do, although, every time you take something out of the cooler, you should replace it, to maintain the interior load !!

:victory::safari-rig::safari-rig: JIMBO
 

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