Karl, This looks identical to the "Isotherm CR65" unit I bought a few months ago. I first saw one of these in Eric Abercrombie's Syncro at Syncro de Mayo a few years ago. It's a little shorter than the Dometic but volume is much better due to extra depth. 2.3 cu ft. I believe. I think you may be a little optimistic about how long it will run on a given battery charge though....unless you've had it in long enough to test it in actual use. "4 days" seems very optimistic. The Danfoss compress draws a max of 2.7 amps. I "bench tested" mine with some food inside and based on how often it cycled I estimated it would use somewhere between 18-22 amp hrs daily. It ran a used but charged, starting battery we had around to "dead" in about a day and a half. I estimate that the popular 55ah Optima...if drawn down to 50% of its capacity (to preserve life), or 27.5 amp hrs useable, would only last about a day and a half. Seems we will need more deep cyle battery capacity...or supplemental solar charging for a weekend camp out. A few months ago Mark Drillock and I were discussing use of several 22ah wheelchair batteries linked in series. Only 2.9" wide and 6.8" tall, four would fit under the driver's seat for 88hrs, enough for 2+ camping days. Mark plans a bank of six in a tray under the van near the sliding door. I'm considering 4 more in the engine bay....I want to avoid the expense and hassles of solar charging. Some of these wheel chair batteries can be drawn down to 80% of capacity instead of 50% and recharging life will be reduced, but the reduction ...to something like 225 re charges...instead of 500...seems like something I can live with..(at the number of trips I take annually)....for the benefit of the extra useable amp hours. What's your real world experience been like? Warren C. |
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