If you’re going outdoors for a weekend camping trip and have a portable 12V fridge or freezer with you or perhaps you’re considering using a mini fridge in your remote cabin then you’d want to know what options are available to power the 12V fridge running.
You may also want to know what size of battery, indicative runtime for the fridge using a battery type and capacity, and what size of solar panel (watts) to keep the batteries charged.
Read on for battery capacity (Ah), indicative runtimes on battery for a 12V fridge, and what size of solar panel to use.
Table of Contents
What Size of Battery to Run 12V Fridge
This depends on the power consumption of a 12V fridge.
A 54 quart/50 liter with an estimated power consumption of 40-60 watts can be connected to a 100 Ah AGM deep cycle battery and run for over 15 hours or 1.5 days, enough to power it over a weekend on a single charge.
Some 12V fridges have internal lithium batteries to keep them running when not plugged into a wall outlet.
How Many Batteries to Run a 12 Volt Fridge or Freezer?
Note: The 12V fridge may support either a connection to a 12V or 24V battery bank.
Confirm with your fridge or freezer owner manual and make sure that the fridge is connected to the recommended battery voltage to protect it from damage.
There are several battery configurations available and what is presented here is only a guide and by no means exhaustive.
You can use a single 100Ah LiFePO4 battery bank or 2 x 100Ah AGM batteries connected in parallel.
A 100 Ah LiFEPO4 can also provide about 3 days of continuous power to a 12V fridge when fully charged.
With a 200 Ah, AGM battery bank, you can use 1 x 200Ah AGM battery or 2 x 100Ah AGM batteries connected in parallel.
As a rough guide, a 200 Ah AGM battery bank can provide about 3 days of continuous power to a 12V fridge with an estimated power consumption of 40-60 watts without recharging.
Should you require longer runtime for the fridge before recharging then you can increase the number of batteries accordingly.
To maximize the runtime when connected to a battery, you can:
- Set the cooling mode to ECO. Some have a maximum and an eco mode that uses less power.
- Connect the fridge to a battery directly instead of powering it using AC with an inverter connected to a battery. You can lose as much as 15% of the power during the conversion process by the inverter.
- Precooling food and drinks before putting them in the fridge to lower its energy consumption
- Also, keep the fridge in a shade to keep its power consumption at a minimum
The Power Consumption of a 12V Compressor Fridge
This depends on the capacity (quart/liters), and design. As an example, a 54 quart/50-liter 12V compressor fridge consumes about 40-60 watts of power.
In general, larger capacity ( quart/liter) or less efficient fridges consume more power than the smaller capacity and more efficient designs.
Always refer to the owner manual of the fridge for its actual power consumption (watts).
How Many Amps a 12V Fridge Draws?
This varies from fridge to fridge. Therefore always refer to the owner manual for your specific fridge model.
As a guide though, a 54 quart/50l draws about 5 amps (60W) at 12V at startup and about 3.3 amps (40 watts) when running continuously from a 12V battery.
3 Ways to Power a Camping Fridge
A camping fridge can be powered using either AC power – 90V or 240V or battery power – 12V/24V. Confirm the voltage requirements for your specific fridge model.
To supply the required power, you may connect the fridge to a:
- 12V/24V battery bank directly using the DC power cord provided
- a suitably sized portable solar generator, Or
- an inverter generator.
Whenever possible, Connect the fridge to a battery instead of powering it using AC with an inverter connected to a battery.
You can lose as much as 15% of the power during the conversion process by the inverter.
Related Questions
1. Can You Power a 12V Fridge or Freezer with a 100Ah Battery?
Yes, you can connect a 12V Fridge or freezer to a 100Ah, 12V AGM, or a LiFeP04 battery using DC cables.
If the fridge has the option to use DC or AC power, use the DC option to avoid the loss of power through the inverter.
2. How Long Will a 100Ah Battery Run a Fridge?
AGM Battery
This depends on the power consumption of the fridge. Assuming a full-size fridge with an estimated power consumption of 150 watts, you can get approximately 3 hours of runtime only from a fully charged 100 Ah AGM battery before its discharged to its maximum depth of discharge of 50%.
LiFeP04 Battery
With the smaller 12V fridge that has an estimated power consumption of 40-60 watts, the estimated runtime is about 10 hours.
Assuming a full-size fridge with an estimated power consumption of 150 watts, you can get approximately 5.5 hours from a fully charged 100 Ah LiFeP04 battery.
3. Can you Power a Fridge Using a Car Battery?
You can power a 12V mini or car fridge from a car battery for a short duration and even then you should keep the car engine running to avoid the car battery from being drained flat. To keep the fridge running on a single charge, you’ll need a larger-capacity battery.
4. How Long Will a Car Battery Run a 12V Fridge?
A 50-watt, 12V fridge will drain a 50Ah, 12V car battery to 50% of its capacity (maximum recommended) in about 6 hours.
5. What Size of Solar Panel to Run a 12V Fridge or Freezer?
This depends on how long you plan to run the 12V fridge or freezer on a single charge and the power consumption of the fridge.
Assuming an estimated power draw of about 50 watts, using a 100 Ah AGM battery that should provide an estimated 1.5 days of runtime on a single charge, consider using a 200-watt solar panel.
You can of course use a lower-capacity panel instead but you risk not being able to fully charge the battery.
Note, this assumes a location that receives an average of 4 hours of sunshine and that the fridge or freezer runs for about 10 hours a day.
Closing Thoughts
You can get about 1.5 days of runtime using a 100 Ah AGM battery from a 50 liter/54-quart fridge assuming it has an estimated power consumption of 50 watts.
You may connect to a 100Ah leisure battery. to use a car battery, keep the engine running to avoid the battery from being drained flat.
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