...what do I need to run a small 12 volt refrigerator?

We are removing the solar off my sons jeep. He is heading up to UC Santa Barbara and besides not needing it, we don't think it would last long parked in the dorm/school parking lots. The pictures are what we have taken off, and they have successfully kept his Dometic refrigerator powered for 10 of 12 months in Southern Ca since 2019. This was with the panel flat mounted on his roof. If we chased the sun I could had gotten it to power up all year long.

This was our solution using a LiFeP04 lithium battery. I realize there are many other ways to do this, but we kept it as simple/light and small as possible.  

Panel. Basic Renogy 100 watt

Solar controller. Powerwerx Mppt that is designed to work with Bioenno LiFeP04 lithium batteries.   https://powerwerx.com/mppt-150w-solar-charge-controller

Battery - Bioenno 20 Ah/12 VDC LiFeP04 battery. This battery has two leads. I used one for charging and the other to power the fridge. https://powerwerx.com/bioenno-blf-1220a-12v-20ah-lithium-iron-pvc

Refrigerator. Dometic CFX 28

Connections were all standardized with Anderson Power Pole from Powerwerx

Panel:



Solar controller. Simple MPPT from Powerwerx

 

Battery


Connected and powered up

2 weeks ago I installed the same 100w panel on my truck. I ran it to a Jackery battery box then plug my reefer into it. When I get to the cabin I plug the box & reefer to another panel at the cabin. So far so good.

Curious what's the AH rating of your battery? How was the panel mounted to avoid theft and how did you run the cables? Congrats on UCSB, beautiful place.

It is a 20 AH battery. On its own with a full charge it could power the Dometic between 24 and 36 hours depending on weather so it needed the panel to keep up.

The panel was mounted between the cross members on his roof rack. Pretty secure and cables ran under the watch and inside the rim molding. When I get to my computer I will upload a picture.

Very clean and efficient setup. Nice to have cold drinks available on demand, and wherever you are.

Thanks. He was diagnosed as a Type 1 diabete in his senior year of HS. He is a competitive swimmer so the fridge was handy for healthy meals, insulin and Gatorade in case his levels dropped.