Chinese 95L Giantstar and Glacio upright Fridges are they any good?

[cyberess]

Just considering a 2 Way 12V/240V Ebay Chinese 95L Giantstar upright compressor fridge delivered to Darwin about $325 with ebay's 5% discount

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/55-70-95L-Portable-Fridge-Freezer-Cooler-Camping-Caravan-Car-Home-12V-24V-240V-/113166930143

Has anyone tried one, or something similar?





Just trying to workout are they complete junk or O.K.?

[Craig Tomkinson]

Hi cyberess, I payed $200 for a second hand 55lt one to try them out as I asked the same question a few weeks ago and got no answer, my brother inlaw has had the 55lt one for 12 months or so and loves his, The one I bought is in my 6 x 6m car shed, it must be around 40 degrees or more in there some days and it stays frozen in the top and the water I have in there is icey cold, I have not been camping yet to test how it goes in the back of my old 80 series but have a trip away at Chrisy, But if mine goes alright over the next 12 months or so I will buy a bigger one if we need it, Craig

[cyberess]

Yes they are amazing value for a 12V compressor fridge

What I am looking for is a replacement fridge for a 3Way fridge in my caravan, and another fridge that I am considering is the Engel ST90F 80 Litre Upright Fridge / Freezer http://engelaustralia.com.au/2products_details.asp?pid=24&productid=21371 at a cost of $1349 , the difference in price is over a $1000

The only thing that's against the engel fridge is it's width and it will not fit through the door of the caravan, and that was the same story with the removal of the 3 way fridge, I had to remove the fridge through a window

Removing the 3 way fridge was a real tight fit through the front window of the caravan.




The nice thing about the cheap Chinese fridge it's narrower and it will just fit through the door of the caravan.

[Craig Tomkinson]

I Had the same trouble when I rebuilt my old 83 Jayco pop up van the flaming door was to narrow for any thing inside to fit through when I pulled it all out, it makes you wonder who designed these things and they need a smack across the head with a snap frozen mullet, Yes Me too I was looking at the ST90f 80lt Engel but I could not justify the price for something I use 3 times a year with my wife and kids, As when I go camping with my mates at Inskip Pt or up Cape York above Weipa I stay in the one spot for weeks so I take my 100lt trailblazer and its my freezer and I take two 90lt 3 way fridges and I run them on gas when I have set up my camp, The 55lt Chinese fridge I have is very quiet about the same noise as the trailblazer makes, I borrowed a near new 60lt Engel chest type fridge off my mate last year, it blow me away on how noisy it was in the van it took a week before I got use to it and slept properly, Look if it was my only fridge and I was heading off on holidays around Aus for weeks I would buy a name brand fridge for shore, But mine just goes in the back of my old 80 series and if it plays up I can just use my 60lt esky thats in the van and buy some ice to finish our trip, Craig     

[stephenh1235]

Hi Cyberess,   I note on the specs from the Engle Australia link, the second (bracketed) dimension for the depth is 510mm, guess with door off, would this allow fitting through your van door?
Steve

[hardroad]

Ebay will have 15% off from 5pm today

[cyberess]

Ebay will have 15% off from 5pm today

  I think you just saved me an extra 10%  -- I can wait till 5pm.

[cyberess]

Hi cyberess, I payed $200 for a second hand 55lt one to try them out as I asked the same question a few weeks ago and got no answer, my brother inlaw has had the 55lt one for 12 months or so and loves his, The one I bought is in my 6 x 6m car shed, it must be around 40 degrees or more in there some days and it stays frozen in the top and the water I have in there is icey cold, I have not been camping yet to test how it goes in the back of my old 80 series but have a trip away at Chrisy, But if mine goes alright over the next 12 months or so I will buy a bigger one if we need it, Craig

Hi Craig, Just found your post about your 12v 55ltr Chinese upright Fridge so I will just link it here http://www.myswag.org/index.php?topic=55418.0 so people can read about your fridge and check out the photos.

[cyberess]

Hi Cyberess,   I note on the specs from the Engle Australia link, the second (bracketed) dimension for the depth is 510mm, guess with door off, would this allow fitting through your van door?
Steve

The Door opening is only 485mm  and removing the door would make no difference -- actually i think that they build quite a lot of caravans around the fridge, making to remove and service the fridge an impossible task.
 

[cyberess]

Ebay will have 15% off from 5pm today

Hi "Hardroad",

Where about on the Ebay site did you find out about the 15% off from 5pm today?

 

[achjimmy]

Mate had a caravan with a 12v Engel upright. The swing compressor drove you mad in the dead of the night rattling away  😆

[loanrangie]

Hi "Hardroad",

Where about on the Ebay site did you find out about the 15% off from 5pm today?

 

There are a couple of different discounts on and not all items will be discounted, info is on the home page.
 Just checked the link and the discount is just below the pay now button, good discount at $278.

[nab]

I’ve had the upright Engel for a few years, can’t say the noise was ever noticeable after the first couple Poe nights.

[cyberess]

I ordered the fridge off Ebay yesterday, just got a message that's it's been posted -- so hopefully it won't take too long before I get it, at least the new fridge will fit through the door of the caravan. I will report back on this sub $300 12V compressor upright fridge if it's any good.

Anyway good riddance to the 3 way fridge, I have no idea why they are still building campers and caravans with 3 way absorption fridges.

 

[Shippo]

I Had the same trouble when I rebuilt my old 83 Jayco pop up van the flaming door was to narrow for any thing inside to fit through when I pulled it all out, it makes you wonder who designed these things and they need a smack across the head with a snap frozen mullet, Yes Me too I was looking at the ST90f 80lt Engel but I could not justify the price for something I use 3 times a year with my wife and kids, As when I go camping with my mates at Inskip Pt or up Cape York above Weipa I stay in the one spot for weeks so I take my 100lt trailblazer and its my freezer and I take two 90lt 3 way fridges and I run them on gas when I have set up my camp, The 55lt Chinese fridge I have is very quiet about the same noise as the trailblazer makes, I borrowed a near new 60lt Engel chest type fridge off my mate last year, it blow me away on how noisy it was in the van it took a week before I got use to it and slept properly, Look if it was my only fridge and I was heading off on holidays around Aus for weeks I would buy a name brand fridge for shore, But mine just goes in the back of my old 80 series and if it plays up I can just use my 60lt esky thats in the van and buy some ice to finish our trip, Craig     

Gday Craig. I came across the same issue when removing oven out of my old jayco swan. Scratching my head thinking how am I going to get this through the door when the wife comes into the shed and says why dont you just  put it on the bed end and lift up the canvas and get it out that way! Smart thinker she is..annoys me sometimes!

[Craig Tomkinson]

Hi Shippo, Your flaming misses is a bloody genius, I would of never thought of that till after I had burnt the Van, Craig 

[cyberess]

Just reporting back about the C&N Compressor Fridge off ebay      "C&N" = Cheap and Nasty

O.K. it's actually quite good -- Cheap and not so Nasty .. actually not Nasty at all.

The Ebay seller actually did not have the fridge in stock at time of purchase, causing me to nearly cancel the order, but the fridge did come into stock, and was delivered just 2 days before I was about to leave on a trip, I was nearly just going to use a spare 12v car fridge.

Details on the back of the fridge --
   
There is no branding on this fridge anywhere  -- I am going have to make some C&N stickers for it 

The fridge as installed


Yeah is actually looks O.K.


I made a few mods

Just removed the back cover to help air flow


Loosely Tided up a copper capillary tube with a wire tie, as it was just dangling in mid air, and where road vibration might cause a issue.


Changed over to Anderson Plugs getting rid of the stupid cigarette plugs. (Using stupid cigarette plug and socket is asking for trouble)


Added a surface mount reset-able breaker, as the actual fuse was in the  cigarette plug

The performance of this fridge is quite good, it cooled down very quickly even in Darwin's buid up heat -- unlike the crappy gas fridge, and the compressor is very quiet, just a slight hum.

 

[Craig Tomkinson]

Great work cyberess, it looks ok hope to gives good service, I have the 55lt one we just had 5 days away in 45 degree heat it performed faultless, Craig 

[Marty]

Just out of interest over on the caravaners forum in the technical section there is a thread where a number of people have replaced their large 180l 3 way fridges with a domestic Samsung 254l digital inverter fridge running through a dedicated 350w inverter. Usually the setup includes 400/500 watts of solar and 300/400 Ahs of batteries, most using lithium but a few with agm batteries. I assume that there are smaller digital inverter fridges available that may be suitable for some here, also there is a  $ saving when comparing cost of a new 3 way to the Samsung which I guess would soon be eaten up with extra batteries and solar but you get a more efficient fridge.

[cyberess]

I think the inverter would be worth more than the fridge that I am using

That 95L 2 Way fridge that I am using only has a input wattage of 48 watts --  I have setup a house 330W solar panel and a single AGM 130AH battery to run the whole van.. 

[cyberess]

The fridge still working great   

My only problem I really haven't anchored the fridge, the old 3 way fridge had screws going from within the fridge through to the cabinets, as it was a snug fit, and it was made for the screws to use be used between fridge to the cabinet work. The new fridge without anchoring, if one was to try to quickly open the door, it would move the fridge and the magnetic seal is very strong which is a good thing. I have to work out a way to anchor and maintain clearance for air flow around the fridge.

The solution was just to use a small tie down strap.



I have just enough room above the fridge to tighten the strap, and I can remove the fridge at any time without tools.



The Fridge still integrates with the cabinet work, yet now maintains airflow, I have to say I am quite happy with that .

 

[jackblue]

I bought a glacio upright 152l.....it carked it in a week...so i pulled out and tested the thermostat...all good....checked all the wiring...seemed ok....dodgy but ok.....then noticed the crappy cigarette lighter type connector was hot as....crappo connections inside ...pissed it off and installed a real connector......going like a beauty now...as cyberess says bone that thing as soon as you buy one

[chester ver2.0]

As Cyberess mentioned above with some of the cheaper stuff it works OK but for in vehicle or van installations where vibration will be encountered a bit of preventative work by taking the back off and adding / beefing up some of the securing points for pipes and wires will go a long way to getting a good life out of it as this seems to be where shortcuts are taken.