David wrote:How does this all work when you don't have room for a second battery. Whey they are "at temp" do they not run enough to kill the battery overnight. Do you unplug them. I agree, every one I know that has one of these would never do without it. Please comment on battery/fridge management. Lastly, do you use the freeezer for an ice supply. Cant do an adult beverage without ice.
thanks
David
You could unplug overnight if you aren't sure about your battery. It would be good to test at a non-critical time before a trip to see how that drain affects the battery. I left it plugged in all the time, but I do have dual batteries and a high output alternator, so I have a self-jump start if necessary, and recharge is quick. We also drove every day, so the drain wasn't extensive. If I didn't have any other power draw overnight, there was no noticable slowdown in the starter. I left the laptop plugged in, in sleep mode, one night and the starter was a little slow, but it started without having to go dual battery. The Yaesu 857D radio has a voltmeter on the display, so I always had a voltage readout on the main battery, which is nice.
We had two fridges on the trip in two vehicles, for 4 people for one week. We discussed having one as a freezer and one as a fridge, but decided to go dual fridge mode, since the only thing we wanted frozen was ice. We opted for beer only, no mixed drinks. I have since decided that we could have put some ice (in a ziplock) in the bottom, with a horizontal divider and the temp set to near freezing. The ice would melt so slowly as to be negligible, I think. I will have to test that out.
This past weekend, I went on a club run to Corral canyon and filled the fridge with Drumsticks, ice cream sandwiches and popsicles. They were a big hit on the hot trail after lunch. I was an ice cream hero.
That was how to win friends and influence people. The unIt runs frequently in freezer mode. Temp inside was down to about 2 deg F.
