dentedr Report post Posted August 2 There was a topic recently about running a freezer in camp with a generator with what seemed as successful results. It got me thinking about operating a smaller fridge with solar panels for early in the season hunts while the days are still long and highs are above 90. My concern is the nights are not cool enough to keep the fridge cold enough without power. I don’t want to have to make this a large process of having batteries. Thinking I just put the fridge in the shade of a tree, put the panels in the best sun and off and running. Has anyone run a setup like this or have knowledge of it will be successful or not? I’m on the fence with my knowledge and need to get pushed on way or the other. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hucker Report post Posted August 2 I am not sure if this would work or not. We need an electrical guy to come into the convo. Here is my thought...to hook a panel directly to a freezer would require a bunch of different connections, not to mention the DC to AC part. Then the problem is, what happens to the electric current the panel would push to the freezer when the freezer is not running. Would it overload and fry wires? On most solar systems, you have the panel push current thru a charger/controller. That goes to a battery for storage. From the battery, you would convert DC to AC with an inverter. You would plug the freezer into the inverter (unless you have a DC freezer). Just throwing ideas out there for you to ponder. I responded to the other thread. I use a genset/freezer combo. Running the genset for a couple of hours gets the meat cold enough to keep (and start to crystalize), but not freeze. I just run it as needed during the day. Don't open the lid and you don't lose much... My $0.02. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Curtis Reed Report post Posted August 2 you would need a battery bank, solar panels, a charge controller and an inverter. You would need to figure out how much power the fridge draws and then size the battery bank accordingly on watt hours. For solar, you’re really running your power from batteries/inverter The solar then charges the batteries. Honestly just so much easier to buy a $350 2kw small gas generator. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yotebuster Report post Posted August 2 Gasssssoooooliiine. I use a cheap chest freezer. Run it about 2-3 hours a day depending on how hot it is. Keeps things nice and cold. Then when I kill, I can run it longer if needed. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dentedr Report post Posted August 3 Thanks for the responses. They answered my questions, it’s going to me more a hassle than it’s worth for me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
