refrigerator

Behind the driver seat. I drive a Volvo, it has a desk lookin thing behind the seat, unscrews easily.
Microwave on top the fridge with two sided velcro, works like a champ.

 

Personally, I do the Coleman 40qt thermoelectric, "lunch box" ovens and an old Maxx SST 350w plug in inverter for my laptop and cell. Had my Coleman for 16 years , my Maxx SST and my Burton lunchbox the same and about two years ago got a Road Pro as a second "lunch box." Not impressed with Road Pro but it does work. Can't tell you the last time I spent $8 or $9 for a meal half (or less) as good as I did myself for $2.50 (healthier too). They all work off the 12v power outlets and keep my hotel load (that is the drain on batteries for personal living things) low enough I never had to worry about draining my batteries. You get those big inverters for the bigger 120v stuff and like STexan said; mind it real close or you'll be paying for a jump. I have left my stuff (not my ovens but my cooler and inverter) running for four days while on hometime because I forgot to turn them off and she fired right up like she never had any battery draw at all. I don't recommend that. Just saying. My "new" truck has an APU and a 2,000w inverter. Know what? I don't even know if the inverter works. I never used it. Pretty sure it does cause it has an LED readout of the current battery voltage, but I never plugged anything into it to see if it actually works for power. Don't need to. My 12v current camels do just fine. If it ain't broke - don't fix it.

I'm not against modernizing and technology and what all. I love my APU for cool and heat from my bunk warmer. That's technology. That's modern and I'm all about reducing my carbon foot print so my great grandchildren have clean air and aren't floating in melted icebergs. OK, that part's a lie. I'm all about reducing my diesel footprint in my wallet (I pay for my own fuel) and APU's and bunk heaters beat the hound outta idling by about 90% cost-wise so YEAH. I'm an eco-hero <sarc>! AHEM I mean cost efficient Operator. If it makes AL Gore and my kids and grands happy hey. Good for all. Go Green means one thing to them, another to me. We both get what we want so who cares about the why?

Tell you what. I'll post a new thread just about In Truck Living and what I've learned. I'm long winded but I have good info gained from more time living in my truck than at home for 16 years. Like it on Facebook and Twitter - wait, strike that. NEVER! That's too compromising. Faceplant and Twits (or is it book and tweet?) is NOT for me.

 

i think most newer trucks have an automatic shut down if batteries start to get low
the trucks i have driven do anyway
battery heater and ac run all night on good batteries before low battery alarm shuts them off
still plenty of power to start the truck

 

I think a quality refrigerator will pay for itself. I'm not thrilled with my Truckfridge. I'd buy an Engle next time.

 

I'm not sure that I would want a metal box right behind my head, only attached by a couple of pieces of stick-um. A quick stop could be painful.

 

I'll stick with my Coleman cooler.

I've had other brands, but when something fails they are toast.
The fan went out on one, but was an odd size that cold not be found.
The switch fried on another, and there is no replacement.
Well, if the plug fries on the Coleman it might be a deal changer. Had that happen once, and the replacements that I could find were garbage.

But if the fan goes out on a Coleman it is easily replaced with any standard computer case fan that is between 80mm and 100mm.
There is a smaller fan inside the unit, but I've never had one fail. And is it also a standard computer fan.
No switches to worry about.

The Coleman is a cooler, not a real refrigerator. But with the right fan it will keep things at near freezing temps, even in hot weather.
The best replacement fan I've found so far is a 112mm CPU fan with a round housing (not square, like with case fans).

 

I've heard about the problems with the Colemans, so the first thing that I did was chop off the lighter plug and put on a pair of Powerpole connectors. Lighter sockets were designed to power lighters, not equipment.

I attached a Powerpole pigtail to my CB connection (20 amps available), and no danger of melting a plug in a "power outlet".

The stock external fan is a standard 92mm computer fan. I am currently using a cheap 80mm fan, which works fine. I never thought about using something bigger.

I have 4 of these coolers. I bought the first one, and have since found 3 more. All 3 had bad external fans. I carry one "spare" in my truck; the others are at home. All work as if they're brand new.

 

I don't think most of those are actually design to work as lighters anymore as lighter ones only have 10amps not 20amps. I could be wrong but I thought they kind of redesigned them to make them more effective.

Biggest issue I have on my cool. (it was cheap for works well for what I needed at the time which was just a weekend camping) Is that the plug gets HOT!

 

When I thought I was going back to OTR I got the Koolatron 1.7 cubic foot heat pipe portable fridge. It cools 54 degrees below surrounding temp, yes it keeps things cold. I cannot speak to how it performs in a truck as I never ended up using it in a truck (change of plans) but since we have a smaller full size fridge in our home my wife uses it for all her leafy green veggies she puts in her smoothies as it has the option of plugging it into a 12v or 110v outlet. It's been on top of our dryer for almost a year now with now problems what so ever. I was planning to put this a 2013 Prostar that ended up having a far too small bunk, that was a big reason for the change of plans, but I digress... I had to have the company's shop remove the passenger seat to put the fridge in that space because there was no room in the bunk for it or much of anything else.
http://koolatrononline.stores.yahoo.net/ac-dc-refrigerator.html

I had the Coleman 12v cooler years ago when I was OTR the last time and it worked well for what it was, but the fan did go out a few times. It's an easy enough fix, and not really a big deal, IF it goes out when you can get the parts to fix soon enough to not have your food spoil. I used to take frozen left overs with me and as the week went on the frozen stuff thawed enough to be warmed up in my Burton lunch box oven, I spent very little money on food on the road.

 

I have a 4.5 cubic foot Magic Chef. Runs off my 3,500 watt inverter. I also have an APU that starts up automatically to charge the batteries if needed. I can tell you one thing. Doesn't matter how big a fridge you get, you still fill it up to the max.