Make Your Own Reliable 12v Cooler

Thanks kecscout! My main problem is that my cooler doesn't cool unless I have it jam packed. If it only has one gatorade, it just won't even chill it. Does this sound like my outside fan or could it be the inside? I know it ices up something horrible on the inside when it is almost empty

 

If it is icing up on the inside, then the interior fan is probably not working, or is freezing up and stalling.

 

I am not an expert but I just look at the outside fan to see if it is turning. From what I read about the schematics the inside fan will not work unless the outside fan is functional. It would seem to me that the reverse would also be true in that the outside fan would not work unless the inside fan was functional. Alas I just put my hand inside and see if I can feel cool air blowing from the fan. I really have no idea what would cause the freezing. Mine works regardless of what or how much is in it, in fact , the less I have in mine the colder it gets, but if I leave it closed for a day it all gets cold. I do make sure that I pack my cooler in a way that the air can circulate inside. I know its not much, but I hope it helps. Sorry for the slow reply but I have been rolling hard.

 

bought a coleman 40 qt powerchill about 1 1/2 years ago been having a problem with the powwer cord end that plugs into power outlet keeps melting. have gone through 5 or 6 ccords. anyone have this problem?

 

Sounds like your outlet needs to be replaced. You probably have a corroded connection on the outlet which is causing high resistance and generating excessive heat. You could also just remove the plug and connect the wires directly to the power circuit - just make sure that you get the polarity correct, and use the correct size fuse.

As a side note, I measured the current draw, and my Coleman draws 5 Amps continuous while cooling.

 

thanks 4 info this has happened in 2 diffrent trucks months apart in a kenworth and now in a mack

 

I had aVolvo tht kept melting cords.
I slip seated for a while Volvos and Prostars, mostof them would not melt the plug.

 

I had the same plug eating/melting problem. I cut off the lighter plug and put on seperate blade style connectors, and have inserted them into the pos and neg plug that was wired for the original refrig in my Volvo, and has worked fine and never get even warm.

 

I have a 12V koolatron refrigerator. Absolutely no complaints tyvm.

I tried fixing my coolers the way you're saying how and I always ran into problems so I gave up.

 

I did this for a while but the cooler still kept freezing up.