12V Cooler

[Dave1899]

Here's a good video to mod (yes there's even a mod for a fridge ) a separate fridge 12v plug. I haven't had any issues with mine just yet but I hear it's a common problem that the 12v comes unplugged from the power station very easy. Buying another cable and adding a 5521 connector to run from the power station is a cheap easy fix.

Here's an 8' 12v cable from Setpower for $15.99 and Jason has links to the 5521 adaptors in his description below his video.

https://www.setpowerusa.com/collections/accessories/products/12v-car-cigarette-lighter

Great video. Thanks!

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[seanellaz]

Looking for recommendations on a 12V cooler,fridge. Any help on a good unit would be greatly appreciated.

ZOKOP 60L freezer. Got one for $300 on Ebay last year. Holds GOBS. Will keep frozen things solid when in 105 degree air. Power draw less then 80watts and it only runs some of the time. I am not super gentle with it and it has never skipped a beat. You can easily spend 4 times that much. What you get will not be 4 times as good.

 

[Blmpkn]

I plugged my setpower tc20 in for a couple hours the other night to give it a test.


Within 20-30 minutes of being plugged in, the inside of the cooler dropped from 79 degrees to 28, according to the display. Good time, I was happy with that.

The cooler seems to cool to its set temp and then shut off, turning back on again when it reaches 5 or 6 degrees higher than the set temp. I don't believe it's 'operating procedure' is laid out anywhere in the manual they send along with it, perhaps there's some better explanation on their website.

However, after a couple hours of being plugged in and claiming it's temp was below freezing.. I opened it up and checked the temperature of the inside surface with an I.R thermometer. The thermometer was telling me it's temp was a little above 40 degrees.

Mabey the AIR inside the cooler was 28? But the plastic that got read by my thermometer hadn't fully cooled off yet? I'm not sure. I'll have to plug it in before work and then check it when I get home one day this week.

 

[AzScorpion]

I plugged my setpower tc20 in for a couple hours the other night to give it a test.


Within 20-30 minutes of being plugged in, the inside of the cooler dropped from 79 degrees to 28, according to the display. Good time, I was happy with that.

The cooler seems to cool to its set temp and then shut off, turning back on again when it reaches 5 or 6 degrees higher than the set temp. I don't believe it's 'operating procedure' is laid out anywhere in the manual they send along with it, perhaps there's some better explanation on their website.

However, after a couple hours of being plugged in and claiming it's temp was below freezing.. I opened it up and checked the temperature of the inside surface with an I.R thermometer. The thermometer was telling me it's temp was a little above 40 degrees.

Mabey the AIR inside the cooler was 28? But the plastic that got read by my thermometer hadn't fully cooled off yet? I'm not sure. I'll have to plug it in before work and then check it when I get home one day this week.

I just plugged in my TC35 last night after letting it sit for 24 hours. Mine cooled as fast as yours, it went from 79 to 36 in 30 minutes. I left a digital thermometer in there overnight too and my temps are off by about 4 degrees, the cooler needs adjusting. There is a way to set the temp compensation in the video below.

 

[Dave1899]

Got a new house refrig/freezer so I used my Dometic CFX 27 and my SetPower CT35 to store the food during the change out. They both were set to 34 degrees. Dometic reached temp in 25 minutes while the SetPower did it in 30 minutes. Two great coolers with one half the price of the other.

 

[Danager]

Had a bit of a setback this week. I really like the Iceco fridge. The issue is with the battery/solar generator I had purchased earlier.
I noticed the Bluetti AC50S was only lasting a day, and would be dead after arriving home from a day at the lake. The odd thing about this is that the Bluetti is plugged into a 12volt outlet in the bed of the truck. I have come to find that the Bluetti is no longer charging when connected to 12volt.
No problem, it’s only 8-9 months old. I reached out to the seller through Amazon. After some troubleshooting, they determine there is an issue and they offered me a 30% refund. I declined, stating the unit has a 24 month warranty and is only 9 months old. They then inform me the unit is discontinued and parts are no longer available. I asked for a full refund, with the full intention of purchasing a replacement, and possibly upgrading. I just got the email approving that.

So, back to the drawing board. I liked the price vs capacity of the AC50S @ 500wh. The next step is the EB55 @ 537wh. The price jumps by $250. While a couple AC outputs would be nice, I really don’t need all the USBs and wireless charging.

 

[AzScorpion]

Had a bit of a setback this week. I really like the Iceco fridge. The issue is with the battery/solar generator I had purchased earlier.
I noticed the Bluetti AC50S was only lasting a day, and would be dead after arriving home from a day at the lake. The odd thing about this is that the Bluetti is plugged into a 12volt outlet in the bed of the truck. I have come to find that the Bluetti is no longer charging when connected to 12volt.
No problem, it’s only 8-9 months old. I reached out to the seller through Amazon. After some troubleshooting, they determine there is an issue and they offered me a 30% refund. I declined, stating the unit has a 24 month warranty and is only 9 months old. They then inform me the unit is discontinued and parts are no longer available. I asked for a full refund, with the full intention of purchasing a replacement, and possibly upgrading. I just got the email approving that.

So, back to the drawing board. I liked the price vs capacity of the AC50S @ 500wh. The next step is the EB55 @ 537wh. The price jumps by $250. While a couple AC outputs would be nice, I really don’t need all the USBs and wireless charging.

Glad to see they refunded your money but I think Bluetti would've took care of you if they hadn't. I have the EB55 and while there's way more outlet than I'll ever need the longer run time is great. I had it connected to my Setpower RV45 in the truck all day with temps in the mid 90's while in Moab and it only used 40%.

I got mine on Amazon when they had a $100 off coupon which they have every once in a while so you can keep eye it on their website. Also, if you can hold out a couple months you might find a really good deal on Black Friday.

 

[Danager]

Glad to see they refunded your money but I think Bluetti would've took care of you if they hadn't. I have the EB55 and while there's way more outlet than I'll ever need the longer run time is great. I had it connected to my Setpower RV45 in the truck all day with temps in the mid 90's while in Moab and it only used 40%.

I got mine on Amazon when they had a $100 off coupon which they have every once in a while so you can keep eye it on their website. Also, if you can hold out a couple months you might find a really good deal on Black Friday.

I think that’s the one I will keep an eye on. The price really went up - $639CAD. I am okay waiting for Black Friday or Boxing Day.

 

[pbethel]

I think that’s the one I will keep an eye on. The price really went up - $639CAD. I am okay waiting for Black Friday or Boxing Day.

https://www.mining.com/web/lithium-price-resumes-insane-gains-to-add-pressure-on-automakers/
The way the price of lithium is going up...

 

[NTXTremor]

After a couple of road trips, I have some results to share regarding the Bluetti EB55 and ICECO G

For both of my road trip tests, I started with the EB55 fully charged at home and the GO20 cooler completely cold and full.

For the first 5 hour road trip, I tried using pass-through charging with the EB55 plugged into the rear seat power outlet and the cooler in the back seat plugged into EB55.

EPIC FAIL on my part. I thought that the 150W outlet could support the 110 AC converter for the Bluetti since it is supposed to pull 96W, but it did not work. Perhaps it spikes, or perhaps the combined pass-through was too much, but the outlet failed and went into "yellow flashing mode." The epic failure was further exacerbated by the fact that I forgot to bring the 12V adapter for the Bluetti. Nevertheless, the ICECO GO20 ran off of the EB55 which was getting no extra charging whatsoever for over 48 hours, so I did not lose any frozen food.

Since it was clear that I was not going to be able to use the 110 outlet in the back seat, I bought a WolfHaus Split Advanced 12V Bed Power Harness Kit. This kit kicks A$$. I cannot recommend it enough. Easy to install, and give you 12V power in your bed without drilling any holes.
https://whor.us/store/p/split-advanced-kit

This past weekend, I had road trip #2 with another test. This time, I had the fully charged EB55 plugged into the WolfHaus bed power, and the GO20 cooler in fridge-only mode plugged into the EB55. I had also bought the thermal cover for the GO20 which works well, too.

I had a similar 5 hour drive, and upon reaching my destination, the EB55 was still at 100% charge. I checked it again the following morning, and the charge had dropped between 80 and 100% (the EB55 doesn't give you exact numbers.) I drove the truck on a few short trips throughout the day, and after another overnight stay, the EB55 was somewhere between 60 and 80% charged.

Later on the second day, I drove home, and after the 5 hours of driving, the EB55 was back at 100% charge, confirming that the math works! The demands of the ICECO GO20 are less than the charging capacity of the WolfHaus 12V outlet, so the EB55 is able to top itself off while the truck is running and power the cooler when it is not.

I have absolutely no reservations about this setup now, and I am confident it will fit my needs on any upcoming multi-day roadtrips.

Thanks to all of you on the advice which led me to this setup.

 

[Danager]

The price of the Bluetti EB55 dropped a couple days ago. Checked out through Amazon last night. Should be here in a couple days. Looks to be a worthy upgrade from the AC50S. I almost purchased the Bluetti storage case for it. Then read somebody found a lunch brag that was a perfect fit and significantly cheaper. I ordered that as well. now I have to order the parts for the cigarette charger/cord upgrade from the video posted earlier as I had some issues with this previously.
Should be a nice setup for summer 2023!

 

[AzScorpion]

The price of the Bluetti EB55 dropped a couple days ago. Checked out through Amazon last night. Should be here in a couple days. Looks to be a worthy upgrade from the AC50S. I almost purchased the Bluetti storage case for it. Then read somebody found a lunch brag that was a perfect fit and significantly cheaper. I ordered that as well. now I have to order the parts for the cigarette charger/cord upgrade from the video posted earlier as I had some issues with this previously.
Should be a nice setup for summer 2023!

I was going to do the same upgrade (IIRC it's the ARB cord) and so far mine has worked fine with the stock cord.

Bluetti is having an early Black Friday sale through their website now. The EB55 is $399 and the EB70 is $499 with free shipping and an additional $10 off with the discount code MECHANIC5. I love my EB55 and got it on sale on Amazon back in the spring for $399. I really would've liked the EB70 for the added run times but that wasn't on sale at the time and I needed it for our trip. The EB55 still ran my Setpower RV45 cooler all day in my truck while only using 40%.

Here's all of the Bluetti's on sale here.

 

[halligan1201]

After a couple of road trips, I have some results to share regarding the Bluetti EB55 and ICECO G

For both of my road trip tests, I started with the EB55 fully charged at home and the GO20 cooler completely cold and full.

For the first 5 hour road trip, I tried using pass-through charging with the EB55 plugged into the rear seat power outlet and the cooler in the back seat plugged into EB55.

EPIC FAIL on my part. I thought that the 150W outlet could support the 110 AC converter for the Bluetti since it is supposed to pull 96W, but it did not work. Perhaps it spikes, or perhaps the combined pass-through was too much, but the outlet failed and went into "yellow flashing mode." The epic failure was further exacerbated by the fact that I forgot to bring the 12V adapter for the Bluetti. Nevertheless, the ICECO GO20 ran off of the EB55 which was getting no extra charging whatsoever for over 48 hours, so I did not lose any frozen food.

Since it was clear that I was not going to be able to use the 110 outlet in the back seat, I bought a WolfHaus Split Advanced 12V Bed Power Harness Kit. This kit kicks A$$. I cannot recommend it enough. Easy to install, and give you 12V power in your bed without drilling any holes.
https://whor.us/store/p/split-advanced-kit

This past weekend, I had road trip #2 with another test. This time, I had the fully charged EB55 plugged into the WolfHaus bed power, and the GO20 cooler in fridge-only mode plugged into the EB55. I had also bought the thermal cover for the GO20 which works well, too.

I had a similar 5 hour drive, and upon reaching my destination, the EB55 was still at 100% charge. I checked it again the following morning, and the charge had dropped between 80 and 100% (the EB55 doesn't give you exact numbers.) I drove the truck on a few short trips throughout the day, and after another overnight stay, the EB55 was somewhere between 60 and 80% charged.

Later on the second day, I drove home, and after the 5 hours of driving, the EB55 was back at 100% charge, confirming that the math works! The demands of the ICECO GO20 are less than the charging capacity of the WolfHaus 12V outlet, so the EB55 is able to top itself off while the truck is running and power the cooler when it is not.

I have absolutely no reservations about this setup now, and I am confident it will fit my needs on any upcoming multi-day roadtrips.

Thanks to all of you on the advice which led me to this setup.

I did the same thing with my Ecoflow River Pro and the Wolf Haus for a week in Wyoming in July. Never an issue.

 

[Danager]

I was going to do the same upgrade (IIRC it's the ARB cord) and so far mine has worked fine with the stock cord.

Bluetti is having an early Black Friday sale through their website now. The EB55 is $399 and the EB70 is $499 with free shipping and an additional $10 off with the discount code MECHANIC5. I love my EB55 and got it on sale on Amazon back in the spring for $399. I really would've liked the EB70 for the added run times but that wasn't on sale at the time and I needed it for our trip. The EB55 still ran my Setpower RV45 cooler all day in my truck while only using 40%.

Here's all of the Bluetti's on sale here.

I’m waiting on the cord, as I’m more interested in a low-profile or a 90degree bend. I really considered the EB70. I didn’t want something physically that large. Maybe in the future. And boy, are the prices different in Canada ?

 

[AzScorpion]

I’m waiting on the cord, as I’m more interested in a low-profile or a 90degree bend. I really considered the EB70. I didn’t want something physically that large. Maybe in the future. And boy, are the prices different in Canada ?

Wow that's a big difference for sure. I do agree the EB55 is the perfect size. I put the cooler on the rear drivers side and the power station fits perfectly on the floor with room for other stuff next to it. I like this setup because it's out of sight for those prying eyes of those looking into the backseat.

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