Renewing the debate on the best Fridge/Freezer for 6 seater MX

[aesculus]

Thanks to all of you for the reports on fitting the 28 and 35 in the six seater. It looks like either one will work well between the seats. I guess now the question is if I want to also deploy it in the trunk space. If so, that would favor the 28. TBD

 

[mattack4000]

Also you have to figure out how to keep it on permanently, my solution is to run a battery out back and not tab for a new connection somewhere in the trunk

 

[inconel]

It was a while ago, but I don't remember any issues with putting the 35 in the well area of the trunk. It fits well in there but what I don't remember is if I was able to put the cover on top. IIRC the top of the 35 is already flush with the trunk regular surface, so the cover on top would make it higher.

 

[inconel]

As for keeping the fridge on while the car is off I am going to use @ecrsail solution of the dedicated battery.

 

[maratd]

According to this post Can you keep the 12V outlets on when the car is off? which was quoted up the thread, the rear 12V plug is always on. Why are you guys using batteries?

 

[DCGOO]

According to this post Can you keep the 12V outlets on when the car is off? which was quoted up the thread, the rear 12V plug is always on. Why are you guys using batteries?

Not any more. Rear outlet is switched just like the front.

 

[mattack4000]

I bought a cheap 15ah battery and a 37ah to test out today. It's amazing how much smaller and how nice the packaging on these batteries are now.

The rear 12v definitely doesn't work after a few minutes of shutting off the car. With the way the Tesla is, the fridge is going to get cycled quite a bit on and off if you don't use a battery. I am curious to see if the battery will get charged while it is powering the fridge on. I won't need the fridge daily, but I will power it on from Saturday to Sunday night for those grocery shop runs

These units are fast in how they cool too, I can get this to 30F within an hour from room temperature sitting in the trunk. It barely makes any noise

 

[maratd]

Not any more. Rear outlet is switched just like the front.

Not according to this guy: Can you keep the 12V outlets on when the car is off?

Posted today. Seems like it's a matter of getting the right settings?

 

[mattack4000]

I have it hooked up to a portable battery pack. It's been running for 7.5 hours at 30F (it ends up being 30-32) with the cover on in the trunk. It has burnt through about 46% of my 578wh battery. I have removed it from the trunk as the area is getting a little warm due to the lack of ventilation. It's not hot, but I don't think I need to take the risk. I just pulled it out of the trunk and placed it on the garage floor. Let's see if I have any juice left when I wake up in about 9 hours. For one day, I would not worried about it. I would not leave it plugged in in the trunk overnight for safety reason. The unit will have more cooling in between the seat, maybe I will try that later in the week.

 

[ecrsail]

What limits the power draw from the car (2.6A in your picture)? Does the charge controller limit the charge rate? Solar panels have a finite amount of power they can provide, but with a direct connection to the car's 12V outlet I'm wondering what prevents blown 12V outlet circuit fuses.

According to the Model X Owners Manual, available online here, the vehicle's 12V power sockets are "suitable for accessories requiring up to 11A continuous draw (15 A peak)".

So, the 2.6A that we see being drawn in the photo I posted earlier is well within the capacity of the Model X vehicle's 12V accessory power system. In addition, the CUZEC male power adapter that I used to provide power to the charge controller from the Model X rear power plug is fused and comes with a 15A fuse.

The primary reason I purchased a charge controller was to ensure that the lead acid battery was properly managed during its charging life-cycle to extend its useful battery life. There is a great deal of information about charging lead acid batteries online, but if you are interested in learning more about this topic, I suggest a quick read of this article and especially the graph in Figure 2 --- the charge controller essentially implements the graph for the sealed lead acid battery taking into account its current charge state (voltage), ambient temperature, etc.

 

[ShawnA]

Hi Maratd,

The post you referred to was a Model X from 2016...

Not sure what 2017's do...

2018 MCU2 Model X do NOT have a power saving setting on the controls.
It's all internal to the Model X.

I ran a stopwatch on my 2018 MCU2 Model X last night.
The 12 volt outlets turn off exactly 2 minutes after the car is locked.

If you REALLY want to know what YOUR car will do: Put a light or phone charger in the 12 Volt outlet.
Something you are able to see through the window and lock the car.
Start a stopwatch and time how long the light stays on...

There is too much variability in car across 3 model years and 2 MCUs to reliably predict how
your car will behave.
It's very easy to run a stopwatch (in your phone) to figure it out.

Shawn

 

[SSonnentag]

According to the Model X Owners Manual, available online here, the vehicle's 12V power sockets are "suitable for accessories requiring up to 11A continuous draw (15 A peak)".

View attachment 317366

So, the 2.6A that we see being drawn in the photo I posted earlier is well within the capacity of the Model X vehicle's 12V accessory power system. In addition, the CUZEC male power adapter that I used to provide power to the charge controller from the Model X rear power plug is fused and comes with a 15A fuse.

The primary reason I purchased a charge controller was to ensure that the lead acid battery was properly managed during its charging life-cycle to extend its useful battery life. There is a great deal of information about charging lead acid batteries online, but if you are interested in learning more about this topic, I suggest a quick read of this article and especially the graph in Figure 2 --- the charge controller essentially implements the graph for the sealed lead acid battery taking into account its current charge state (voltage), ambient temperature, etc.

Thanks. I understand all that, but was wondering what is keeping the current draw to only 2.6A. Apparently it is the charge controller doing this, which is a good thing, just not what I would have expected when visualizing the system.

 

[unpollo2]

i've posted this in other thread:

putting the car in the old camper mode keeps all 12v sockets on indefinitely
instead of Park use Neutral and Emergency Brake, you can switch HVAC off, lights off, screen cleaner mode, lock car with key
only thing you can't do is charge it while in this state

 

[aesculus]

only thing you can't do is charge it while in this state

If you were charging slowly would the 12v power be activated? It would seem that it would.

So in this scenario one could expect that having the car charging would be a substitute for the camper mode. You would just need to do the math to figure out how to end the charge at the right time.

 

[scottf200]

So in this scenario one could expect that having the car charging would be a substitute for the camper mode. You would just need to do the math to figure out how to end the charge at the right time.

No math required if I understood your comment ... while staying in my X at a KOA last year I was plugged into the 10-50 and I just hit the arrow to lower the amperage until the estimated ending time matched when I wanted to get up and leave. ie. 7:30am. Worked perfectly.

 

[scottf200]

Aside: since we have fridges in our Tesla's now has anyone considered the gel/bead backs to wrap around the charger handle when you stop at a supercharger?!?! The fridge would keep it cool between waypoints.

Something like this and just use a black zip tie to hold it around the SC handle while you go eat or get snacks.

 

[SSonnentag]

No math required if I understood your comment ... while staying in my X at a KOA last year I was plugged into the 10-50 and I just hit the arrow to lower the amperage until the estimated ending time matched when I wanted to get up and leave. ie. 7:30am. Worked perfectly.

Wait! Did I miss something? Does the 12V outlet stay hot when ever the car is charging?

 

[scottf200]

Wait! Did I miss something? Does the 12V outlet stay hot when ever the car is charging?

Sorry for any confusion. As I recall it does not (it may have in the S with earlier firmware). In my scenerio, I was sitting/sleeping in the front seat so I think the car was staying 'on'. This was before the official 'camper mode' OTA tho. I don't know if that is running if it also keeps any 12v aux plugs active.

 

[unpollo2]

Wait! Did I miss something? Does the 12V outlet stay hot when ever the car is charging?

No it doesn't. The car needs to be in Park gear to charge. Old camper mode was basically Neutral with E-brake on, the car shouldn't charge at all.

The only way to keep 12V outlets on during charging is to use a USB mouse jiggler that tricks the car into thinking that someone is inside the vehicle using it at all times, otherwise the 12V outlets should shut off after a few minutes (maybe 30minutes).

 

[onlinespending]

Aside: since we have fridges in our Tesla's now has anyone considered the gel/bead backs to wrap around the charger handle when you stop at a supercharger?!?! The fridge would keep it cool between waypoints.

And what purpose does this serve?