After our first couple of 2022 nights in the teardrop, my wife and I decided it was worth trading the Orca cooler for a portable fridge. We were able to sell the Orca for $50 less than we paid for it last year, so I was pretty happy. We replaced it with an Iceco VL45.
Unfortunately, this forced me to rebuild the cooler tray since the Iceco was slightly taller and longer than the Orca. In order to maximize space efficiency and provide as much clearance as possible, I welded up a new tray using 1.5” steel angle and attached it to the locking drawer slides using machine screws and lock nuts. This allows for maximum ventilation on all six sides of the fridge when it is tucked away in the galley.
Since we were now eating up additional electricity with the fridge (and my wife got a 12V heated mattress pad for Christmas) we also decided to take the plunge into the world of solar. Based on my calcs, we could only get away with being away from a charger for about two days if both the fridge and the mattress pad were drawing from our 100AH battery, so I opted to get the Renogy 200 watt suitcase solar kit. 200 watts seemed like it might be overkill but I would rather lug around the extra weight in panels than run out of juice.
Rather than leaving the charge controller attached to the panels, I mounted it in the galley to get it closer to the battery and installed a zamp wall connector per the recommendations of others on this forum. It killed me to take a hole saw to a perfectly good section of our wall, but oh well. I made sure the exposed wood within the hole was coated in epoxy and then installed the zamp connector with butyl tape, stainless screws, and proflex sealant.
For wiring, I used 10AWG throughout, both inside the camper from the connector, to the controller, to the battery, as well as outside the camper for the extension. The extension cable outside the camper is around 12’ long, which allows us to have the panels sitting on the tonneau cover of the truck while it is attached to the trailer when we are parked places.
We spent the weekend testing out both of our new gadgets at Leelanau State Park and couldn’t have been happier with our investment. It was great not dealing with ice and having the ability to take twice the amount of refrigerated goods with roughly the same amount of internal volume as the regular cooler. It was a lot more energy efficient than I anticipated as well. It averaged around 0.6 amps per hour over the course of the weekend. On the second morning, despite the heavily wooded site, we managed to completely recharge the battery within 3 hours of hooking up the panels and even managed to reach their maximum rated output.
If anyone has any recommendations for a good wire loom/sleeve to house our extension cables in, I’d greatly appreciate the input. I’m considering giving the PET expandable braided sleeving a try so that it won’t trap moisture if the wires get rained on.
The only other major addition that our ‘Drop has gotten since finishing the build last fall has been an 85 pound, 9 month old furry friend named Scout. His favorite camping hobbies are digging holes to nap in under the galley end of the trailer, getting marshmallows stuck in his tail, and waking us up in the mornings by growling at squirrels that he can see out the windows. So far the deal we’ve brokered with him is that he gets half the bed and my wife and I get the other half. I’m still scratching my head wondering if he might ever be willing to renegotiate.