Off Grid Fridge wiring/battery setup

Hey all,

New to the forum, and relatively new 4runner owner. Have a stock 2018 SR5 that im looking to turn into an Overlander for a 3 weeks road-trip honeymoon with my Fiance late August/ Early september of next year.

Long story short, in all my searching i stumbled upon 12v fridges. this seems to me to be almost a necessity when it comes to trips like were planning, and i'm thinking of probably a Dometic CFX55 or the ARB equivalent.

My question to you all is, do you really need an extra battery? We plan on staying at camping spots at most 2 nights in a row during the trip, and im just having trouble finding info on how quickly it would drain the stock battery, or of i should get a second/upgraded battery to be able to handle it. I know alot of how quickly it drains it depends on ambient temperature too.

Also, is there anyone in the Seattle area that would be willing to help out with the overlander mods? Specifically electrical? I have a decent electrical knowledge (work in electrical distribution) but not much in regards to vehicle wiring and such, so could use some help there is possible. At most, it would be a dedicated line for the freezer/cooler and some additional auxiliary lights.

 

There’s to many variables to accurately state how much power it will draw. Ambient temp, vehicle interior temp, solar gain affecting surface temps, what’s temp your trying to keep the fridge, how much stuff is in it, the efficiency of the fridge itself is a big one. A 55 is a pretty good size fridge, that’s probably a bit much for 2 nights/3 days in one location. If you want to split on a single battery I’d either add solar or set a time for every 12 hours and let it run a bit. You could even use a remote start to kick the engine on, that will let it run for 15 minutes then turn itself off. But it’s a waste of fuel, and that could be problematic depending on where you’re going. You’ll definitely want to carry an Audew lithium jump starter, or something similar. Depending on your route, don’t be afraid to just run a cooler and grab ice.

you can also look into renting Overland prepped vehicles, that’s more cost effective than building it for 1 trip.

 

Well the plan is this will ultimately also be a weekend camping rig for whenever we want to get away, this honeymoon is just a full longer trip. We camp as often as possible so this would be used for that as well!

 

I'm currently running a dual battery system w/ a 63QT ARB fridge. We've got it setup where the auxiliary Northstar AGM battery is charged by the alternator and connected to an isolator. It's a pretty simple setup. The battery will last 2-3 days without starting the vehicle. If the battery runs low, the fridge will alert/beep. We'll start the truck and let it run for 30 minutes and the battery is fine.

Adding a fridge/freezer to the truck is game changer. It's easily our favorite mod. If you get one, you'll soon be wondering why all cars didn't have some level of refrigeration in the first place.

 

Do you have pictures of your install? I would love to see your setup! Also, do you just have the wiring spliced from your alternator into your second battery?

 

Here’s the setup I went with

https://youtu.be/ha4L7yUlTdk