Solid-state micro-fridges; Don't bother.
1One class of item I’ve never seen here on Meh is the solid-state micro-fridge. You’ve probably seen them advertised often enough, and they can seem like a really great idea. “No moving parts” except the fan that they can’t work without. (And if they leave out that fan…just no.)
Anyway, here’s a video which does a stunning job of explaining just why those things are close to worthless, and incidentally provides a lot of clues why the large battery/inverter packs like the 991Wh Eveready power station plus a regular fridge can actually work as a viable way to keep your food safe for hours during a power failure.
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Agree not great at all! Originally had a big one (cooler-chest size) used in a motorhome in the 1990s. In 90-degree weather will keep things at about 70 degrees. In 40 degree weather will freeze the S$%# out of whatever is in it. The technology was developed in the space program in the 1960s and serves a useful purpose but not great for small refrigeration/freezing needs. (called Peltier effect if I recall). Also these are not efficient in terms of power use compared to how effective the cooling is. One “plus” if you can call it that is if you reverse the power, it can “heat” things, but again it’s only 20-40 degrees above where you are so it’s not going to “cook” food but might keep it warm.
At that time when I used that thermo cooler, 1990s, there were compact freezer chests with compressor technology (still the only good way to cool effectively), but they cost $600-$1000 and up. Now there are lots of low-cost compressor technology systems available from around $200. Note that the cooling system does add quite a bit of weight and takes up space, so people often complain about not having enough space inside the cooler because a chunk of it is taken up by the cooling system.
Depending on your needs I have to say getting a super-good quality heavily-insulated cooler chest (without refrigeration) is an alternative if you are only looking for a few days of cooling. This is like the Yeti or Otter brands which will not be cheap (some will be as much as a new import no-name compressor cooler). But if you are doing something like a 4WD trip or hunting or fishing for a few days, might be better.
@pmarin Peltier actually discovered the effect in 1834, but the electronic hardware to make it a “practical” method didn’t exist until the '60s. And as noted in the video, it is far less efficient than the usual compressor-refrigerant systems.
Another crazy idea is like the mini-icemakers that now go on sale for <$100. They don’t make a lot of ice at once but can keep running (just need to take out the ice and keep adding water). They run on 120V but could use an inverter or AC inverter powerbank. But kind-of a pain to make enough ice to keep something big cool. But yeah ice is ice and put it in a plastic bag in a cooler and it will cool things.
I was “working-around” my failed RV refrigerator last year using a compressor-cooler chest, plus tried the icemaker. Decided the icemaker was fun but a bit too much work (would run it at night when in RV parks with power).
I need to replace the refrig in the camper. Too big/heavy for me to try swapping it myself. New ones now use 12V compressor technology – old ones used propane and/or 120V power for an “ammonia cycle” system which tends to fail and was not efficient. Though it still seems crazy that making a flame with propane would result in a refrigerator/freezer that basically worked, and the technology for that is like 100 years old.