I'm looking at a Koolatron krusader thermoelectric 12 volt cooler and was looking for any feedback from anyone that has used one.
- Status
Maintain temp
Used on on our first boat and found it kept cool things cool in moderate ambient temperature of 80 deg. F but don't expect it to lower temp of anything warm. They have very little heat transfer capacity. Don
Used on on our first boat and found it kept cool things cool in moderate ambient temperature of 80 deg. F but don't expect it to lower temp of anything warm. They have very little heat transfer capacity. Don
Don is correct, max. theoretical cooling
for thermoelectric cooling devices is 40 degrees below the ambient temperature. I tried a small portable one and found it inefficient and power hungry, up to 7 amps I believe. Keep thinking I might want to try adapting it into my onboard ice chest but it's not really even worth that. I have a long experience with RV refers in fourwheel drives in desert conditions with 3 way power and have found that a full cold refer running on the 12 volt TE unit will suck a battery dry unbelievable quick and start to warm immediately.
for thermoelectric cooling devices is 40 degrees below the ambient temperature. I tried a small portable one and found it inefficient and power hungry, up to 7 amps I believe. Keep thinking I might want to try adapting it into my onboard ice chest but it's not really even worth that. I have a long experience with RV refers in fourwheel drives in desert conditions with 3 way power and have found that a full cold refer running on the 12 volt TE unit will suck a battery dry unbelievable quick and start to warm immediately.
12v Kooler
We've had a Igloo brand 12v cooler for about 10 years and we use it a lot. Pretty tough - its taken a lot of abuse. Stays in our van and we use it to haul frozen and perishables from the market. However, you have to give it a head start by cooling it down first. You can't let water get into the fan so we put a tray filled with ice or some of those freeze packs to cool it down overnight. Also useful for keeping stuff cold when traveling. Has a AC converter so we move it into the motel with us or just leave it running overnight in the van. Can't comment on how many amps it draws, but it can run all night on a 12v car battery and still allow us to start the car in the morning. Don't expect too much; it's not magic, is a little noisy, but better than chasing ice all the time.
We've had a Igloo brand 12v cooler for about 10 years and we use it a lot. Pretty tough - its taken a lot of abuse. Stays in our van and we use it to haul frozen and perishables from the market. However, you have to give it a head start by cooling it down first. You can't let water get into the fan so we put a tray filled with ice or some of those freeze packs to cool it down overnight. Also useful for keeping stuff cold when traveling. Has a AC converter so we move it into the motel with us or just leave it running overnight in the van. Can't comment on how many amps it draws, but it can run all night on a 12v car battery and still allow us to start the car in the morning. Don't expect too much; it's not magic, is a little noisy, but better than chasing ice all the time.
They work, but they're a power hog...
I've got a TE cooler on my boat and it does an 'okay' job, but it pulls nearly 8 amps when it's on so we try not to use it too much. What I've found works well is to cool everything that's going into the cooler at home first (including 1 or 2 one gallon milk jugs full of drinking water that have been previously frozen) before I load it into the cooler. Another trick that seems to work pretty good is to get a piece of dry ice and wrap it in a bunch of layers of newspaper or an old towel and use that for keeping things cold for the first 3-4 days and then once that's gone plug the thing in and let it do its thing. Saves a lot of amps! Now, here's a question for those in the know: I understand the basic idea of the TE (Peltier Effect) system and that it is limited in its ability to cool by the outside ambient air temperature and all that, but couldn't the 'hot side' of the module be cooled with water taken from the lake or ocean? I know it might sound goofy, but what if instead of using 90 degree air to cool the module, you were using 70 degree water? I realize you'd need a small circ pump to move the water, but I wonder what the net gain (if any) in efficiency would be? Just another of my goofball ideas! Jeff
I've got a TE cooler on my boat and it does an 'okay' job, but it pulls nearly 8 amps when it's on so we try not to use it too much. What I've found works well is to cool everything that's going into the cooler at home first (including 1 or 2 one gallon milk jugs full of drinking water that have been previously frozen) before I load it into the cooler. Another trick that seems to work pretty good is to get a piece of dry ice and wrap it in a bunch of layers of newspaper or an old towel and use that for keeping things cold for the first 3-4 days and then once that's gone plug the thing in and let it do its thing. Saves a lot of amps! Now, here's a question for those in the know: I understand the basic idea of the TE (Peltier Effect) system and that it is limited in its ability to cool by the outside ambient air temperature and all that, but couldn't the 'hot side' of the module be cooled with water taken from the lake or ocean? I know it might sound goofy, but what if instead of using 90 degree air to cool the module, you were using 70 degree water? I realize you'd need a small circ pump to move the water, but I wonder what the net gain (if any) in efficiency would be? Just another of my goofball ideas! Jeff
Use a Dometic instead
I had one of those 12 V coolers and (tried to) use it on an ocean voyage. After no longer wanting to carry ice back to the boat, I bought a Dometic (made in Australia?) fridge/ice maker. It is thermosiphon device and so can be powered by shorepower (as it is now in the marina), 12 Volt, or (for being anchored out) by propane. I am now in the midst of a project to make it "built in" just under the companionway stairs. There are NO mechanical working parts (except for the sparker for the gas flame and you can always use a long match). I bought mine at Down Wind Marine in San Diego and have been using it for about ten years. It gets colo enough to form ice in the ice tray. One downside...it has to be kept level (yeah I know how monohulls heel) and I have tried in vain to invent some gimbel for it. However, I have used it during day sails by propping it up to make up for the heeling and it did stay cool. Obviously a perfect solution for cataramarans. During the drive from San Diego to SF I had it plugged into the cig lighter on my car and it did stay cool even through all the twists and turns. Except for the matter of having to be kept upright I think that propane power would make the thing perfect for long voyages... Anyone else used one?
I had one of those 12 V coolers and (tried to) use it on an ocean voyage. After no longer wanting to carry ice back to the boat, I bought a Dometic (made in Australia?) fridge/ice maker. It is thermosiphon device and so can be powered by shorepower (as it is now in the marina), 12 Volt, or (for being anchored out) by propane. I am now in the midst of a project to make it "built in" just under the companionway stairs. There are NO mechanical working parts (except for the sparker for the gas flame and you can always use a long match). I bought mine at Down Wind Marine in San Diego and have been using it for about ten years. It gets colo enough to form ice in the ice tray. One downside...it has to be kept level (yeah I know how monohulls heel) and I have tried in vain to invent some gimbel for it. However, I have used it during day sails by propping it up to make up for the heeling and it did stay cool. Obviously a perfect solution for cataramarans. During the drive from San Diego to SF I had it plugged into the cig lighter on my car and it did stay cool even through all the twists and turns. Except for the matter of having to be kept upright I think that propane power would make the thing perfect for long voyages... Anyone else used one?
TE and heat output
Do the TE cooler put out much heat into the cabin? Just got electric at our dock and was thinking about a mini refrig. But though in a O-23 cabin the heat build up would be terrible. So was leaning toward a TE to keep onboard.
Do the TE cooler put out much heat into the cabin? Just got electric at our dock and was thinking about a mini refrig. But though in a O-23 cabin the heat build up would be terrible. So was leaning toward a TE to keep onboard.
Check out the specs
Koolatron has a site somewhere on the net that lists specifications incl. electrical power consumption. I think it's somewhere in the vicinity of 4 - 4.5 amps, continuously. That might be acceptable in an automotive application but in a sailboat.........you'd have to run the engine an awful lot just to keep the batteries up.
Koolatron has a site somewhere on the net that lists specifications incl. electrical power consumption. I think it's somewhere in the vicinity of 4 - 4.5 amps, continuously. That might be acceptable in an automotive application but in a sailboat.........you'd have to run the engine an awful lot just to keep the batteries up.
- Status