Hi all,

as per a previous post where I asked everyone how I was going to fit a fridge out the door that was too large, I decided to tackle the job head on and find out for myself.

I might preface this by saying I know there are varying opinions on the different types of fridges and some quite strong opinions at that.

With that in mind, the video covers a quick look at what has been my experience to date. Yours may vary and I'm happy to hear about others experiences.

For me I've had several compressor fridges in the back of my 4wd for a few years now and I gotta say, after puting that first fridge in the car, I've never been without one.

I have a 130ah battery fed by a projecta dcdc charger taking input form the alternator and the 2x120w panels on my roof. Depending on the situation and cartage requirements for the roof cage, this sometimes is only a single 120 panel and it works well.

I can get several days with just the 120  but the odd drive to top it up every 3-4 days helps.

With the 240 on top, I don't need to drive the car at all and can be confident the fridge will run 24/7 as has been the case since the first one went in.

I'm of the mind that leaving them running is better for them and the battery longevity.

Before I went with the compressor fridge, I had been trying out one of those campanion 3 way fridges.

I got it off gumtree for about 100 bucks because the gas side wasn't working.

Not being shy of a challenge, I took it home and opened it up.

I confirmed it ran on the gas if lit manually , so I figured it was the ignition that was at fault.

It was as simple as giving the piezo ignition rod a quick rub with some sand paper and sit it more in line with the gas feed and away she went.

It worked well enough but I couldn't leave this in the car running on 12v, nor could it be run on gas within the car.

So it was moved on to a mate who liked it and I picked up a compressor fridge like I'd seen in other 4wds .

I felt like I was playing with the big boys now. Anyone who came within range of the car was offered a cold one, just so I could go to my fridge and get one out for them.

Warning though, don't do this too often , as they make a habbit of it.

So a few years down the line, I'm now a caravaner and it came with the usual 3way fridge.

To my pleasant surprise, it worked and worked pretty well.

Heck, it was the original equipment in my 25ish year old van. Colour me impressed.

For me that excitement was a little short lived as it all came crashing down after I picked myself up a wireless fridge thermometer.

I noticed that the fridge kept good temps over night but would get a little higher than I'd like during a warm day or in less than ideal weather conditions.

Of course opening the fridge under such conditions, saw the tempt rocket up and take some time to come down.

Again, my food was hitting temps I didn't want to see.

Add in a recent few days at over 40c and the temps in the fridge sitting around 6-8c. My dislike for the old fridge was waning.

I altered my approach and kept regular accessed items in the car fridge and only keeping lesser needed items in the 3way to leave it closed as much as possible.

Yes, I read all the options for fans inside and outside or packing the cabinet out properly or not opening the fridge when the weather was hot.

Getting sick of going to the car all the time and now having my mods to move to all 12v well under way, I decided it was time to look for a 12v compressor fridge.

They'd kept me happy in the car, so why not in the van ?

With the decision made, I checked the usual websites and took a step back when seeing the prices.

Some were in excess of what I would have expected for an equivalent sized box type fridge I had in the car.

It's here I started to consider my options.

Ebay cheapies were reviewed but considered a bit of a crap shoot from a quality and power usage perspective ( they seemed very hungry) and reviews went from great to crap depending on who you believed. No dice there.

I also considered pulling out the 3way and modifying the cabinet to fit in on of my car fridges. That would mean losing the flat top area on top of the current fridge cabinet. As my van is only small, flat top food prep space is at a premium and I wasn't willing to sacrifice that for the change.

a 240v on an inverter

keep the 3way, try all the mods and hope for the best

locate a tropical model and hope for the best.

Keeping an eye on gumtree , I spotted a local 12/24v only vitrifrigo 100L compressor fridge.

Frantically checking measurements of my current unit and the ones provided by the seller, suggested a straight fit.

Local, working, exact size and ok price? surely not.

After heading out , I confirmed all was working and took her home.

On to a 12v feed she went inside the house for several days to be sure it worked, before pulling my beloved van apart .  Just in case.

With everything working and  thinking I would need to pull a window to get the old one out and the new one in, I booked a mate for a lift and waited for the weekend to arrive.

Idle hands and the devil and all that, arriving home from work one day, I decided to get a start and pull the 3way in preparation for its replacement.

Whilst there I figured I'd try and check if I could get it out the van door.

The cursing and tears were quickly followed by hooping and hollering as I managed to extract it from the van.

Seriously, I get kidney stones, so I know what it's like to squeeze things out of holes not made for the job at hand.

As with the stones though, I've found it's all about patience, trying to relax and let it happen.

1 down 1 to go.

With my confidence buoyed by my recent success, I hoisted the 12v up and headed to the door.

Again, met with a slightly wider facia on this one, I considered my options, removed the door lock and PUSHED.

Like a revers birth, in she went and with heavy huffing and puffing I declared victory.

This lasted until I tried to fit it into the cabinet.

Sooooooooooo close. No amount of pushing or praying was going to make it fit.

A jigsaw did just the trick.

A little here and a little there, got the prize seated into position.

All wired up and running, I left it for a day with the 240 charger on the battery just to be sure.

Keeping an eye on it, i decided it was probably a little more load on my single 130ah battery than I was comfortable with.

Plus, I like to charge my camera gear and run the van of that same battery, so another was required.

My usual supplier is aussie batteries and within a few days a second 130ah arrived and was slotted in beside the first.

Knocking up some straps/cables it was in place and under test.

All working well, it was again time to see how the system performed.

I had a 185w panel on the roof and it was struggling a little. The fridge is cycling a little more than expected and we'd had some overcast/rainy days (nice for a change but no help)

So another 185 was chucked up top and now we're up and running. Even with the still overcast days, when I head out to check on the setup on the way to work at 8am I'm seeing over 13v on the battery.

So it's charging up even at that early hour of the morning.

Coming home after 530 when its getting dimmer, I'm still seeing a small charge current and about 12.9 on the battery. Ready for the night ahead.

I've made a few adjustments to the fridge to reduce the load and am looking to add a vent fan and a new door seal soon enough.

So I'll be back to handing out cold cans again for just a little while until the  shine wears off.

I have a few trips coming up in the next few weeks, so need to get the panels installed permanently on the roof (this weekends job) .

I'm still tossing up if to go 2 x 235s or the 2 x 185w. Weight is on my mind.

Plus as part of the install I have some new heavier duty struts on their way.  Big weekend indeed.

 I'm still in testing mode and its a work in progress but I'm very close to having my van how I want it, so much so, that I can almost taste it.

So that's it. Why I went from the 3way to the compressor fridge and my journey to date.

I plan on doing the usual vids of the panel and strut install but for now, you'll find the video of what is outlined above, below .

Thanks for reading and watching.

cheers Brett

Enjoy your frig and travels.

Iam keeping my three way fridge it works well,theres no way Iam going through that ordeal 

cheers Radar, I'm enjoying them journey myself.

Ron, the lifting was the hard part, but the cold bevvies will make up for that 

Walter, That is exactly where I was at until this one popped up on gumtree. I seriously considered just ripping out the cabinet and sticking a standard chest type compressor fridge in there. 

I can't tell you how many times I came close to doing that. 

I reckon I got very lucky with the direct fit without having to spend an arm and a leg for it. 

I think if you have a compressor fridge in there of that size, you'd definitely need a good solar and battery set up to keep it going. 

Add it to the wish list or right it down for when you win lotto. 

cheers Brett