Running A Fridge

Chris .

As long as your alternator is working correctly it will easily keep your battery charged while driving .

Cheers

I used to do something similar in my previous car before installing a dual battery system, ie. I ran the fridge off the single battery during the day, then in the evening (short evenings) I would turn off the fridge before going to bed. Whilst not ideal, I did several long trips like this without a problem. If I were travelling solo then I would also consider a Thumper as the others have suggested, just in case.

Hi Chris, in regard to keeping the fridge going and the battery charged, I have a very power hungry 90 litre fridge and have two batteries in parallel. I have to drive every day to keep the battery charged and the fridge running. Because I use a roof top tent it makes it difficult to drive daily so i run the Patrol for 20 minutes just above idle speed in the afternoon and we take advantage of our onboard shower while the engine is hot. You should be ok with a small modern fridge and one battery, if needed you can take the vehicle for a short run in the afternoon or idle the engine as I do. Try to buy a fridge that is fitted with an adjustable low voltage cutout so you can't run the battery so flat that you can't start the vehicle. Regards, Michael.

Have a look at the Engel Smart Battery Box Series 2. Exxy but has some highly useful features like inbuilt charging (240 v AC & 12 v DC).

Chris
If you are restricting the fridge from a main stream brand around 40-50L your battery will not go flat even running it on freezer provided you are driving. I've had NP, NS and NW Pajeros and a 50L Waeco fridge for 15 years. If you don't want to go down the 2nd battery/ Thumper/ Ark Box type of thing, just make sure you carry some decent Jumper leads.
If you plan on doing any type of camping away from mains power overnight in summer, you will need a 2nd battery/power supply and upgrade the wiring to the rear of the Pajero as the standard wiring is too thin. If you are restricting yourself to what you suggested, you will be fine.

Mark

Hi Chris
Reading your first post again you state that you will run the fridge off the alternator whilst driving and then plug into mains when you camp in powered sites.

This will be fine and is what a lot of people do. No need for 2nd batteries, thumpers or panels.

If you decide to cut loose from powered camps then you need to go down the avenue of extra capacity batteries and ways to charge them.
This can easily add up very quickly but needs to be done properly if you want to go this way.
A $700 fridge can soon become $1500 just depends on your needs.

Cheers
Mike

Your Pajero starting battery will run a 38L Engel ovrnight no worries. And you will still be able to crank it in the morning. Try it at home if you like.
Especially if you are in a cool climate - compressor fridges use very little power on cold nights.