Budget dual battery system fridge/cooler

[stufrowin]

I was looking into a DBS and Fridge as we do some longer trips and would be nice to have that option. The traxide battery system looks great and the ARB fridges look good too, as described in several other posts. But it can easily add up to well over $1000.
This is my alternative for around $200

I know it's pretty basic and ghetto, not a real fridge just a cooler etc,etc but so far it's been working pretty nicely. Obviously it's not a direct comparison, but for our 2 trips/year I think it will work nicely.

I'm using the back/cargo 12v plug to charge my pack while the car is running and when the car is off it will pull from the battery pack. No alterations to the car necessary.

Psx3 jumper pack- Costco ~$100
Noco 3 way- amazon ~$9
Thermoelectric cooler ~$90-120

 

[umbertob]

Nothing at all wrong with that setup, I had an inexpensive thermoelectric cooler for years before finally splurging for a real fridge / freezer (and eventually an auxiliary battery and battery isolator setup), and that Coleman worked just fine, it was nearly as compact and as light as a non-powered cooler and very quiet. The main issue with thermoelectric coolers (besides the uneven cooling, which is affected by ambient temperature) is that they are power hogs, they can draw nearly as much juice as your headlights and run all the time, so they could easily **** a car battery overnight if you left them plugged in with the engine off. Your power pack should feed that puppy for several hours, so that's a perfectly acceptable compromise for the occasional trip, especially in mild / cool climates. I like it! And a jumper pack is always a good idea anyway, with or without a cooler attached to it, when going off the beaten path for overnight trips.