Looking to put a fridge in my Prius

So, I'm looking to put a fridge in my Prius and I'm having trouble figuring out which option is better or what the Prius can actually handle. I haven't pulled the plug and bought a fridge yet, but I don't know much about the electic side of things and am struggling to figure out what would be better for both me and the Prius, overall. The first thing that needs to be understood is that this is for a car camping setup, and I eat a lot of frozen food, so much that I would need more freezer space than fridge space. I mean, I would use the fridge too, but only just often enough to need both, and the dual zone models I'm looking at are either really small or really big. I'm talking, 20L vs 75L at the next size up. So, I was thinking of using the 75L version in my prius (I have a place in mind for it, so it actually fitting isn't an issue), as it runs on a 12V system with the normal car charger plugs you see everywhere, but it also pulls about 800 watts of power, and I'm not sure whether or not the Prius could handle that kind of constant draw. My alternative idea was just getting two smaller ones that would draw about a maximum of 60 watts each and using one as a fridge and one as a freezer. The thing is, I'm not sure which version (if any) is better for the car, itself. What's worse, drawing 800 watts on one unit or drawing 60 watts each on two separate units? And can the prius actually handle that kind of draw, anyway?

 

So, I did more research, and the product info on the bigger 75L model says that it draws 800 watts per hour, not 800 watts as a constant draw. Just watched a youtube video about the product, and the powerstation (about the size of a 500 watt Jackery, but a different brand) it was plugged into was saying that it was drawing less than 50 watts. Said that it would probably draw more power getting down to temp initially than it would draw to keep it cold once it was already down to temp. Don't know anything else for sure but that, but it's already looking better to me, as an option. Would still like to hear some opinions on all this though, as I am by no means an expert when it comes to electronics and power and all that.

 

Yeah, solar is an option I've been looking into, but rather than an inverter, I'm leaning more towards a good quality portable powerstation I can tap into and charge up as needed to avoid the risk of messing something up with wiring because I don't know what I'm doing. Unfortuantely, I can't feasibly run a fridge and everything else I'll need all on the same powerstation on a constant basis without needing to unplug to charge it all back up again. Still an option but it's something I'll have to look into more before I decide for certain which is better. It helps that the fridge comes with the correct wires for plugging into both a car and a traditional outlet, so I'm not worried about that side of things, at least. I've just been worried if the bigger fridge would be too much for the car even while it's in ready mode because of the 12V system. (Thinking back on it, something made for 12V systems shouldn't overwhelm a 12V system, so maybe I'm worried for nothing, but we'll see.)

But this is really a long-term setup as once I have everything I need, I'll be basically living out of the prius while I travel and work and such, so that's why I'm considering the bigger model so seriously, at all, rather than using something tiny/ a regular cooler for smaller trips. Based on my research, the product description on the fridge must have had things written out in a confusing manner (at least for folks like me who don't fully understand the electrics), because while the fridge apparently draws about 800 watts per hour, power tests shown on youtube videos I've seen show it drawing less than 50 watts at any one time. Which confuses me. Is there a difference between 800 watts and 800 watts per hour?

 

Well, it's just me and I'm basically going to be living in it, so I'm removing the back seats (and maybe the passenger seat as well, if necessary), so I'll be finding one place to put it so it doesn't have to be moved around any with my setup. I like your ideas with the second battery but I also don't trust myself to do that kind of thing without issue, right now, so my power alternative is a good quality portable powerstation (like Jackery or the ones Light Harvest Solar sells) with high enough wattage to handle anything I throw at it and a good solar charge method to go along with that. Also, yes, I love the low voltage setting; these fridges are all made in really cool ways for car camping. I'm super excited for getting one. I just need to be sure I get the right one for my Prius setup.

 

For anyone else looking at this thread, I am clearly a total newb with this kind of stuff. Turns out, I was probably reading the product page wrong on the power consumption rating, and it looks like it only pulls 800 watts on the max mode over the course of 24 hours (0.805kw/24h), maybe. I checked online how to find the wattage rating (Volts X Amps, apparently), and based on all that, it only actually pulls at max a range somewhere between 80-100 watts, depending on the other factors involved. That's way better than I was first thinking. And since it has an edo mode, it will probably pull about half that at the lower power setting. I think I was actually worried for nothing, all things considered (even if I'll still have to be careful to unplug it when the prius isn't in ready mode, just to be safe). Now, I just need to save up to buy the fridge and then figure out how I'm going to set it up and lock it in so it doesn't go sliding around everywhere while I'm driving. Any advice or tips on that side of things would be amazing, even if it isn't what my original question really was.

 

Yeah, as I did more research, I realized that I'd read the product info wrong because I know nothing about the electric side of things. It actually draws about 80-100 watts on max and probably also as it cools down and runs about half that on eco mode. Of course, it didn't help that the page only listed how many kilowatts it uses over a 24 hour period on max at the lowest temp setting, and in trying to figure out what it actually draws, I did the math wrong. Because of course I did.

 

Yeah, as accurate as I'm sure the reading is, it does sound like a really weird way to list it out to potential buyers when you don't also list out the wattage and such, especially for those buyers who don't understand the readings well enough to know what it's all referring to.

But at least it's all worked out now, and I know it won't hurt the car, if I'm careful, so it's just down to saving up to buy everything, figuring out where it will all go, and deciding what kind of solar I can actually put into a prius.

 

For some reason, this particular listing didn't actually show what it consumes while running, just how many kilowatts per 24 hours, which didn't really help me any when I was looking everything up.

 

While that may be true, I've got my eye on a specific company to buy from because they cater specifically to people who build out solar systems into their vehicles and they run good quality parts, as well. On top of that, while I'm starting off in a Prius, I do plan to eventually upgrade to a van, and purchasing the same kind of products I'll be using when that happens just makes more sense to me, in the longterm. Another bonus to using a portable powerstation rather than using an inverter setup is that I can take my power with me when I'm not in my car; I won't be tied down to the prius for all my electrical needs if I don't want to be. Also, the roof on a prius doesn't exactly lend very well to mounting solar panels, so it leaves me with few options on that front, something I'm still trying to work out, honestly.

 

It took me a minute to get through all that, but you're totally not wrong. That's pretty similar to what I was worried about, if the fridge would be too much for the prius to handle, either immediately or over time. I'd prefer some kind of solar charging method, but as a Prius really isn't that capable of handling a solar mount the same way bigger cars with flatter roofs are, it's been a challenge to figure out what method I'll be using. It's really unfortunate that the panels I'll be using when I upgrade to a Sprinter later on won't also fit on the prius because that would be helpful overall, but it honestly seems like I'm stuck between flexible panels and some kind of folding panel setup. Whichever turns out to be better for my setup, in the end.

An alternative I've considered is just buying a second portable powerstation so I have 2 of them and then cycle back and forth to use one while I'm charging the other (assuming the fridge is plugged up into it constantly and I can't get enough sunlight to charge faster than the fridge draws), but that would cost a lot more up front than I'm sure I'm really going to have access to. At the very least, if the prius can handle the fridge in ready mode, it should be okay, as I'm planning to unplug the fridge when the car is off and won't be plugging anything else into it at the same time. All my other electric will be taken from the powerstation once I've got it. A major downside to using the prius like this to power the fridge is, as you said, how fast it will end up draining the gas, but if I can't find a good solar setup to go with it, I might be stuck to using what I can get from the other methods.

I think it might help that the fridge has an eco mode that's rated to 3.7A (rather than the 7.5A rating on max), which is right in the middle of what the max/ eco modes display on the smaller fridges that I'm fairly sure the car actually can handle in ready mode, at least. I mean, I'm by no means an expert, but it looks like the fridge will draw a lot less power staying at temp than it will just getting down to temp initially, except in really hot environments where the fridge might struggle to keep up, and there's nothing that says I can't plug into my powerstation when that happens to prevent overwhelming the Prius, right?