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Old 03-05-2018, 07:19 PM   #1
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1966 24' Tradewind
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Dometic CFX65DZ Portable Fridge Review

I decided that I wanted to get a portable fridge that was cooled by a 12v compressor so I no longer had do deal with finding and buying ice. I did this for two reasons. First is that my Dometic RV ammonia fridge does not cool very well in hot weather and just seems to have a mind of its own sometimes. Nothing worse than being out camping and you just can’t keep your food cold. Secondly, I do a lot of tent/car camping by myself during the school year while my wife is teaching. I wanted to take the compressor fridge with me in the car so I could always have ice, cold beer and refrigerated food. I typically boondock and ice is not always readily available where I am camping.

I had heard good things about the Engel portable fridges as they use a Danfoss compressor. I figured I would get this brand since they have a good reputation and my last name is Engel. However when I got seriously looking at them they were about $200 more than the Dometic brand and did not have all the features that I wanted.

So I settled on the Dometic CFX series. This one starts at 28 quarts and goes to 65 quarts.They also have a 95 quart model but this was too large for my needs. What I learned was that the smaller ones could be used as a refrigerator or a freezer, but not both. I settled on the CFX65DZ, dual zone, since one third of it can be used as a freezer and the other two thirds can be used as a fridge. As an alternative you can also use all the space as a fridge or a freezer. This model also gives you the most bang for your buck. For example the CFX35 model is about $600 and the CFX65DZ is about $750.

Now that I have it installed and have taken one trip with it I love it. It is very quiet and uses very little power. I had no battery problems with my one trip although I have purchased an 80 watt solar panel to use just in case I need it. The temperature readout is for the freezer section only. I use a remote temperature readout in the fridge section to monitor the fridge temperature. Generally when the freezer is about 0 degrees the fridge will be about 35 degrees.

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Old 03-06-2018, 08:51 PM   #2
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I should add that when the compressor is operating the fridge draws about 3 amps. I believe that it will run less than 50% of the time so I expect that it will use not more than 36 AH of energy from the battery each day. For my first camping trip with my car the battery voltage never dropped below 12.1 volts.

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Old 03-06-2018, 11:51 PM   #3
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Good review, Dan. I have a Dometic CFX-050 in my truck (and before that, had a CF-040 in my car), and I love it! It means I have cold drinks and food available anytime I want, I can bring home ice cream even if the supermarket is an hour away, and when it comes time to defrost my Airstream's fridge, I just move everything to the truck fridge for as long as it takes.

The truck fridge setup runs 24/7, thanks to a 100 W solar panel on the roof that charges a 100 amp-hour AGM battery via a Victron 75/15 MPPT controller. This is all completely independent of the vehicle's 12 V system.

I keep the refrigerator at 34° F. normally, but I turn it down to 6° when I go grocery shopping. Despite the fridge running around the clock, the battery never gets below 12.4 V (about 80%) overnight and hits 100% almost every day, so I expect it'll have a long, healthy life.

I was impressed enough with the 12 V compressor fridges I installed in my vehicles that I just finished replacing my rig's Dometic 3762 propane fridge with a Vitrifrigo DP-150 12 V compressor fridge. It's 20% smaller in capacity, but that's no problem for me... and in addition to doing a great job of cooling, it means my propane usage is way down. Instead, all my food is kept cool by sunshine! :-)
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Old 03-08-2018, 07:23 AM   #4
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Thanks Paprika. I love your comment about keeping your food cool by sunshine.

You have the perfect setup. Nice to hear that it is working well.

I am going to try to just use my car battery and portable solar. One step that I have taken to reduce the battery drain at night is to increase the freezer temperature to 28 at night and keep a gallon jug of ice in the freezer. As the ice warms from 0 to 28 this helps keep the fridge section from warming up. As long as the battery doesn’t go below 12.1 I will be happy. In the morning when I start the car up or put the solar panel out I reduce the freezer temperature back to 0.

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Old 03-21-2018, 12:45 PM   #5
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"One step that I have taken to reduce the battery drain at night is to increase the freezer temperature to 28 at night and keep a gallon jug of ice in the freezer."

That's a good strategy, Dan. Even if you weren't ramping the temperature up and down, any fridge will perform better when well loaded. The added mass acts like a thermal flywheel, reducing temperature swings. Like you, I always keep a gallon of water in my truck fridge.
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Old 04-09-2018, 09:49 AM   #6
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The fridge fits nicely in the rear seat of our Tundra. The 80 watt solar panel stores behind the fridge. Our beagle “Bandit” likes the elevated position of his bed on the fridge. He can easily see out the windows now.

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Old 04-30-2019, 12:02 PM   #7
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Dometic CFX65DZ Portable Fridge Review

We got another dog which means they will be riding in the back seat and I will need to move the fridge to the truck bed. The problem is that there isn’t a 12v outlet in the bed of my 2008 Tundra. Well I just added one so that I could power the fridge. I got power for the outlet from the 7 pin receptacle that connects to the trailer. I had to drill the 1 1/16” hole somewhat blind, but I got lucky and it allowed me to fish wire down to the 7 pin receptacle. This will now provide the 50 amp power needed for the fridge. I ran #14 wire and tied into the black wire (12v) and the white wire (ground) to feed the outlet. Here are photos.



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Old 05-02-2019, 08:09 AM   #8
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Dometic CFX65DZ Portable Fridge Review

In post #2 I estimated the energy required to operate the fridge each day was 36 Ah. While we were camping recently in Florida I decided to perform a test to determine how many Ah were required to operate the fridge. Using a wattmeter I measure the power at 42 watts. The temperature outside was 76 degrees, the freezer temperature was -8 and the fridge temperature was 37 degrees. The fridge would run for 3 minutes and then cycle off for 5 1/2 minutes. This results in an average power consumption of 15 watts. The energy consumption would then be 30 Ah per day (15/12 x 24).

This is a significant amount, about the same amount of energy we require to camp daily for lights, water pump, fans, tv and electronics recharging. However, we have two lithium batteries and 200 watts of portable solar, so 60 Ah per day for us works fine.

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Old 05-02-2019, 12:32 PM   #9
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Thanks for the updates, Dan, great thread here!

"Summerized" our FC20 today, and ready to get OTRA! [On The Road Again ]

Nice term, Paprika, -- "thermal flywheel" -- for extra mass in the fridge/freezer . . .



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Old 05-05-2019, 05:28 AM   #10
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I now have a way to power the fridge when traveling in the Tundra. How do I power it when parked? I thought about installing a battery and a solar panel on top of the Tundra, like Paprika did, but my Tundra isn’t a daily driver and also we travel with a kayak on top.

The Airstream has 200 Ah of lithium and 200 watts of portable solar, so it makes sense to just power the fridge using the Airstream when we are camping. The easiest way to connect up to the front of the Airstream for power is to connect to the 12v and ground terminals in the umbilical cord. I just cut the end off a 12v extension cord and installed some male terminals. The terminals were not thick enough to hold so I added some thickness using pop rivets. The connection works fine now although a bit crude. I will install a proper 12v receptacle at the front of the Tradewind when I finish replacing the front section of the belly pan.

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Old 05-05-2019, 07:33 AM   #11
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My son has an ARB 50qt unit (the older stainless steel model). These fridges have changed my opinion of doing away with absorption fridges. If and when my AS pukes again, I will convert. My son's is very energy stingy and his 200 watt solar keeps up with all camper demands quite easily. And it will get as cold as you want! Including using the whole chest as a freezer. The only complaint with his ARB is that temp readout is off by about 9*. He has to set it at 29* while the inside temp (per thermometer) is 38*. I noticed his beer just wasn't right...so we checked actual temp. I haven't messed with finding out if there is an adjustment or mod I can do to make it accurate.
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Old 05-05-2019, 04:02 PM   #12
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Dometic CFX65DZ Portable Fridge Review

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The only complaint with his ARB is that temp readout is off by about 9*. He has to set it at 29* while the inside temp (per thermometer) is 38*. I noticed his beer just wasn't right...so we checked actual temp. I haven't messed with finding out if there is an adjustment or mod I can do to make it accurate.

The temperature indicated on my unit is for the freezer. I put a remote thermometer in the refrigerator section and adjust the freezer temperature to maintain a refrigerator temperature of 37. This usually varies between -8 in the freezer and 0. The remote temperature readout of 37 for the fridge and zero in the freezer can be seen in the photo below.

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Old 06-24-2019, 12:10 PM   #13
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Hello all. Just jumping in on this post due to my wife and I strongly considering installing a Domestic CFX 65 single zone in the trailer. I'm curious if any of you have done this and how you are powering it while traveling down the road. We are on our second Airstream and I still struggle with understanding the electrical side of things. What can we do with shore power, solar, generator, plugged in to Tow Vehicle, nothing. I know that I have power to at least one outlet when I am not plugged into shore power. I'm thinking that I can plug the fridge/freezer into that outlet, while traveling down the road, and the tow vehicle and/or solar will keep the batteries charged and the fridge/freezer running? Thanks in advance for any help.
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Old 06-24-2019, 02:17 PM   #14
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Hello all. Just jumping in on this post due to my wife and I strongly considering installing a Domestic CFX 65 single zone in the trailer. I'm curious if any of you have done this and how you are powering it while traveling down the road. We are on our second Airstream and I still struggle with understanding the electrical side of things. What can we do with shore power, solar, generator, plugged in to Tow Vehicle, nothing. I know that I have power to at least one outlet when I am not plugged into shore power. I'm thinking that I can plug the fridge/freezer into that outlet, while traveling down the road, and the tow vehicle and/or solar will keep the batteries charged and the fridge/freezer running? Thanks in advance for any help.
My son has a ARB 50qt in his Opus offroad camper. I draws max of 6 amps or so when the compressor is running. It will run off the truck umbilical without a problem, but if his batteries were low from the prior night dry camping, sometimes he doesn't get a full trailer battery charge while driving to next destination. He now has 100 watts of solar (a 200w homemade suitcase) stowed on the top of the fridge box. I made him a port which allows solar charging while driving. Performs very well now with both power sources available. Never a problem while on shore power.
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Old 06-26-2019, 12:48 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by jkingseed View Post
Hello all. Just jumping in on this post due to my wife and I strongly considering installing a Domestic CFX 65 single zone in the trailer. I'm curious if any of you have done this and how you are powering it while traveling down the road. We are on our second Airstream and I still struggle with understanding the electrical side of things. What can we do with shore power, solar, generator, plugged in to Tow Vehicle, nothing. I know that I have power to at least one outlet when I am not plugged into shore power. I'm thinking that I can plug the fridge/freezer into that outlet, while traveling down the road, and the tow vehicle and/or solar will keep the batteries charged and the fridge/freezer running? Thanks in advance for any help.


jkingseed

I am a little confused. Are you installing the CFX 65 in your Airstream? Where? How will you physically secure it?

By “power to at least one outlet” do you mean a 120v outlet running of an inverter? You really don’t want to do this. It would be best to operate it off of 12v receptacle unless you are plugged into shore power.

The CFX 65 requires a substantial amount of battery power, about 30 to 36 Ah per day. This will require a healthy battery bank supported by solar power.

I recently installed a 12v outlet in my truck but this only powers the fridge when the truck is running and the ignition is on. When the truck is parked and the ignition is off, no power is going to the fridge, so of course it will heat up. To handle this situation I have just installed a 90 Ah battery in the bed of the truck to power the fridge only. I am in the process of installing permanent solar on the truck to keep this battery charged and also have the capability of charging the lithium batteries in the Tradewind.

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Old 06-29-2019, 02:58 PM   #16
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Dan
The thought is to put the 65 in the closet. I believe it will fit nicely in the closet of our 33. I'm just questioning the best way to power this when we are not plugged into shore power. Typically we stay at places where we can plug in with at least 30 amps. I'm hoping that, on traveling days, we can keep it powered between the 7 way between the truck and trailer and any solar that we are getting traveling down the road.
To be honest I've never looked to see if there is a 12V receptacle in the trailer; I'll have to take a look.
We have a service appt. scheduled, in Jackson, for late Sept., so if we need to make any electrical changes, such as installing a 12V receptacle, we could have it done then.
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Old 06-29-2019, 03:01 PM   #17
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Dan
The thought is to put the 65 in the closet. I believe it will fit nicely in the closet of our 33. I'm just questioning the best way to power this when we are not plugged into shore power. Typically we stay at places where we can plug in with at least 30 amps. I'm hoping that, on traveling days, we can keep it powered between the 7 way between the truck and trailer and any solar that we are getting traveling down the road.
To be honest I've never looked to see if there is a 12V receptacle in the trailer; I'll have to take a look.
We have a service appt. scheduled, in Jackson, for late Sept., so if we need to make any electrical changes, such as installing a 12V receptacle, we could have it done then.
You'll need some way for it to breathe
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Old 06-30-2019, 02:04 PM   #18
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jkingseed

I would put a small louvered vent at the top and at the bottom. The upper vent will allow hot air out while the lower vent will let cool air in.

I would also install a 12v receptacle in the closet. You might even install two or three- one for your fridge and another to charge cell phones and tablets.

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Old 05-03-2020, 03:24 PM   #19
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Thanks for the updates, Dan, great thread here!
. . .
One year after the Post #9 above -- what a difference a year makes!



Looking at 12-volt coolers again.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TouringDan View Post
. . .
I settled on the CFX65DZ, dual zone, since one third of it can be used as a freezer and the other two thirds can be used as a fridge.
. . .
Quote:
Originally Posted by dznf0g View Post
My son has an ARB 50qt unit (the older stainless steel model).
. . .
Are you guys/son still happy with these choices?

Thanks,

Peter
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Old 05-05-2020, 03:16 PM   #20
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We have been very happy with our Dometic CFX 65 since we had it installed. Thanks to the help of other members on the forum I was able to ask for the proper power set up while we had our trailer at the factory for some warranty work. Fits well on one side of the closet (had to take the doors off to get it in, but not a big deal) in our trailer and Airstream was able to install an outlet in a very convenient location on the bottom of the closet to plug into.
Due to past comments, I leave one of the closet doors open so it can breath when in operation. I haven't had any issues.
We have always used this for freezing purposes and it runs great when we are driving down the road. I also purchased Dometics PLB40 (portable battery/charger) for when we are stoping at a location with no services/power for the night. The PLB40 seems that it will power this freezer for 8-10 hours on a charge during approximately 70 degree outside temperatures.
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