Quote Originally Posted by polarcrafter View Post
This is not a fishing question, but with the knowledge of electronics on the board I hope someone could help me out.

I want to get a small refrigator to use on a pontoon or in my truck camper shell for over night or longer trips. I have looked at the 12v models but have found that 110v models offer more space and are less in cost. I know that the larger the unit the more power it will take to cool. I would like to know if the 110v unit running off an inverter will take more power from the battery to operate than a 12v assuming both units are equal in size and cooling capacity. Has anyone tried using an inverter for this type of power source???Any experiences or information will be appreciated.
I thought I answered this earlier, but I guess I lost it. After being at wal-mart today and looking at refrig. I could carry around for $69, I say go for it. You will get enough time out of one before it quits, when it does go get another one. I had it figured that you need at least 2000 watt inverter to run a ref pulling 6amp and 12amp on start up. I try to figure on the high side so you might use a 1500watt and get buy and save some money. No matter what you get, use #12 wire, #14 would probably get you by depending on distance from inverter to ref. Can't be to far on a boat. My experence,ref. don't like inverters. The ref. are cheap, might even save some by finding one in a garage sale. RV ref. are charged with ammonia and have to use steel tubing for the condenser and steel don't like water, they will rust out and leak. Hope this helps.
EJL