OAUSA Net - 5/04//17 – Coolers, Fridges, & Batteries

[Voodoo Blue 57]

Quote: "KK6CTT

We have 65 & 35 QT Pelican coolers. We freeze as much food as possible (usually in marinade) other than the 1st 24-36 hours worth of food. Pre-cool the ice chest and anything going in it and call it good with a top off when available.

Who has experience with dry ice? Where to buy? How to deploy? Worth messing with?"

I've camped with someone who uses dry ice. He gets it at Smart and Final (front of store). He places the dry ice at the bottom of his chest, places a towel on top of the dry ice, places a layer of regular ice on top of the towel, and then he places all frozen food on top of the ice layer. Next he puts his food in and tops off the the ice chest with ice. You have to be careful not to place anything you do not want frozen near the bottom or it will freeze ( we had frozen milk one time). We've had ice last 4 days in 90 degree weather.

[Hmfigueroa]

dual display logging alarm

tenpmonitor.PNG (149.74 KiB) Viewed 606 times

Totally not ready to post but I will try

I use and Engel refridgerator and an ARB fridge like Dave posted so I wont go into that.

I keep air movement to a minimum by keeping water or lightweight sealed empty containers to help keep the temperature stable. I use a dual display temperature monitor from thermoworks http://www.thermoworks.com/RT8100MAT that has alarms and a low and high temp monitor so you know if there has been a problem when you are away.

To keep batteries charged, I use a ramsond solar panel to keep batteries topped off. This will allow me a few days of cooling without having to run the vehicle. The vehicle uses a Dirtyparts.com dual battery setup that works flawlessly.

[KK6DYO]

Link to tri-fuel (gas, propane, natural gas) generators: http://www.motorsnorkel.com

[Jeff-OAUSA]

Here's a good source of ice, including dry ice, located in Ontario. The will use a really scary band saw to cut the dry ice to the dimensions you request (within reason).
Dry ice is CO2, so keep the cooler in a well ventilated area.

Ontario Ice and Cold Storage
541 E Emporia St
Ontario, CA 91761

[KK6DYO]

I don't recall anyone mentioning this during the net, but one significant disadvantage of generators when compared to solar panels is the noise.

[ki6kui]

Net recording available at Coolers, Fridges, & Batteries.