Review on 🚗 Alpicool K18 Portable Refrigerator Car Fridge Freezer 19 Quart - Ideal for Vehicle, Truck, RV, Boat - Compact Mini Fridge for Driving, Travel, Fishing, Outdoor Use -12/24V DC -4°F~68°F by Derek Helvie

I was looking for a portable cooler for camping and was disappointed with the lack of information on this cooler (K25) so this is going to be a long in-depth review. I hope this is informative for you. As I mentioned earlier, I was looking for a portable camping fridge for a number of reasons: 1) I recently bought a solar generator/battery for other personal use, 2) I've had enough of soggy/muddy food while camping with melting ice, 3 ) I hate getting ice cream all the time, and 4) I lose a lot of fridge space making room for ice cream. My campsite consists of self-contained car camps for less than 5 days with 2 people, so I don't need a large fridge for this. I took the opportunity to get one of the units which has two large separate areas for fridge and freezer but then again due to the length of my stay I don't really need a freezer and fridge like everything else. were frozen should be thawed anyway by the time you leave. At this point in my life, this fridge freezer is great for me. I ran some tests to see how accurate this fridge compares to what the manufacturer claims. All tests were run in maximum mode (the default setting) and with high battery protection, whatever that means. Test 1: Initial cooling to 32F. Ambient temp was 68F in my apartment and also in the fridge. Running on 12V DC, it took about 20 minutes to cool down to 32V with nothing in the fridge. The factory says it's 15 minutes so I think it's close enough. Test 2: Bring the water temperature to refrigerator temperature (36F). After Test 1, I placed about 3.5 gallons of room temperature liquid in the refrigerator and measured how long the refrigerator took to handle it. It consisted of 15 16.9 ounce water bottles, 7 20 ounce vitamin water bottles and one 42 ounce bottle of cider. This is the rough worst case scenario as you should always pre-chill food, especially water. Water has one of the highest specific heat capacities, which means it takes a lot of energy to change its temperature. Filling with warm water took 5 hours to cool the air inside to 36°F. This seems reasonable.- Test 3: Stationary observations. After running these tests, I collected some data to see what the power consumption was once the fridge and its contents had cooled to the right temperature. These numbers are for this specific use case of approximately 3.4 gallons of liquid set at 36F. The compressor shuts off at 36 F and the temperature continues to drop to 30 F (3:30). It then takes 10 minutes to heat back up to 36F. It took another 8:30 to warm up to 40F, after which the compressor kicked in. It takes 11:30 minutes to cool down to 36F. So the cycle lasts about 33:30 minutes and the compressor runs for about 11:30 minutes of this cycle. When operating on 12V DC, the refrigerator consumes around 45W during operation. This means that the refrigerator consumes 8.5Wh when the temperature drops. I also tested the cycle in AC operation. The fridge actually took longer to cool down (13 minutes) despite using significantly more power (95W) and actually running at a higher voltage (14.5VDC). This means that the refrigerator consumes 20.6 Wh of electricity. This should show how efficient these DC coolers are when powered by DC power. Test 4: temperature maintenance. Afterward, I wondered how long this fully loaded cooler would hold the temperature, knowing that the water would help hold most of it. After 5 hours the thermometer I put in still read 38F and the gauge on the fridge read 42F. At 7am when I finished the test the thermometer I stuck in read 42F and the cooler gauge read 45F. For my application this is more than sufficient. I wouldn't use it as a direct cooler for so long. Test 5: Freezing test and holding temperature when empty. Some reviews said this cooler can't freeze solid water so I wanted to try it. I completely defrosted the fridge and drained all the water I put in there and put in a bottle of cold water from the fridge and set the temp to -4F which is the lowest setting. It took a little over an hour for the reading to drop to -4°F, but the air temperature inside was only about 15°F. I contacted the manufacturer to find out exactly where the sensor is, as that's quite a is a big deviation. After 3 hours there was ice in the 16.9 oz water bottle but it wasn't set yet. The air temperature in the refrigerator was about 10F. I left it overnight (about 10 hours) and when I checked, the water bottles were frozen and the air temp in the freezer was 4F. The temperature swings noted were the freezer going down to -4°F, warming up to 0°C, turning on the compressor and raising the temperature to 7°F before cooling back down. I didn't write down how long it took for the compressor to get it back, mainly because I won't be using it as a freezer. Then I turned off the freezer to see how long the empty freezer stayed cool. After 2 hours the air temperature inside was 32F and the fridge's internal display read 41F. Other information: - The dimensions specified by the manufacturer are not correct. . The larger compartment measures 9.9 inches high, 13.1 inches wide and 10.2 inches deep. The smaller compartment is 5 inches high, 2.6 inches wide and 10.2 inches deep. This makes a total of 1461.9 cu. inches or 23.96 liters. It is actually measured as 24 liters, not 25 liters as claimed by the manufacturer. And even if you use the manufacturer's figures, then only 24.46 liters. I'm just saying.- The app works. I know some people saying that the app doesn't work with this fridge. Scan the QR code in the instructions and you will be redirected to their website. Then click on your phone's operating system, which will take you to the relevant app store to download the Alpicool app. compressor turns on). It's in the advanced settings and you can scroll through it, but you can't select it. The default is 4F. I contacted the manufacturer about this. It would be great if temperature drops were half what they actually are. The smaller compartment is always about 20 degrees warmer. It only fits 2 water bottles. For example, if you have this at 36°F in fridge mode, that compartment will be around 50°F. Alpicool claims it's good for cosmetics and the like. It's a little chilly. I think I'd trade it for a proper spot in the fridge. The sigils seem pretty decent. There was no appreciable flow of cold air around the block. He's pretty calm. During operation, a slight gurgling and humming of the compressor can be heard, but not too loud. Striking but not intrusive. - light. Since it's supercharged, it doesn't add a ton of extra weight. The handles look thin. Good thing they didn't give it weaker handles. I could see them click when you stack a bunch of stuff on top of the fridge and carry it by the handles. Interior lighting is a nice addition, but it's not very bright. I would ask for a longer light grille that runs the full length of the interior hole. - I don't know how accurate the battery capacity is shown on the display as there is no battery in the device. The battery I connected it to was actually down to 60% but the fridge gauge was 85%. The manufacturer claims that you can use it in the car at temperatures up to 30 degrees. This is great for me as I can pre-chill it at home, load all the groceries in, take it to the car, plug it in and go to my campsite with whatever has a temp. - The lid looks decent. difficult. I didn't stand on it, but I've used it as a footstool and put drinks and things on it and had no problems with it. I have included many photos for scale and actual use. 1 year warranty. I received this after contacting the manufacturer. Overall, for my specific use case (2 people camping in a car for 5 days each), this is a decent cooler for the price. I'm actually very satisfied so far. I'm going camping next week and will let you guys know if my mind changes. I'll also update the location of the fridge's internal sensor and if you can change the hysteresis if the manufacturer provides that information. I will also update this if I run into any issues. ** Update: 10/19/2020. I went camping here in the Northeast for the weekend. It had everything I needed for 3 nights with 2 people. I could see if your hiking habits call for more adult drinks, or if it was warmer outside you might want a bigger fridge. I had no problem turning on the fridge while driving to the campsite 2 hours away. I had an issue where the DC plug came out of my outlet at 12 o'clock, both in my car and in my car. as well as on my backup battery. This design flaw needs to be corrected as I don't have the other 12 plugs that come out of the socket. You need to build something to not put pressure on the connector. I had no problem maintaining the temperature in the fridge throughout our trip. The pens I previously expressed concerns about are nothing to worry about. I had a completely full fridge (about 20 pounds) and 50 pounds on top and the handles didn't flex at all. I put my concerns aside. - The display backlight is quite bright at night and you can't turn it off, so just cover it with a towel or shirt to hide it. - Interior lighting is still nice but would be better if it ran the full length on one side. I also received feedback from the manufacturer on my two questions: can the hysteresis be adjusted and where is the sensor actually located? There was no response to the setting hysteresis and the sensor is in the fridge wall. So you're stuck with a "gauge" that changes +/- 4 degrees Fahrenheit. Luckily, this doesn't seem to really translate to a =/- 4 degree Fahrenheit variation in the fridge, so I think that's acceptable. - I contend that it's a bit of a shame that the fridge loses a fair amount of space for that uncontrollably chilled part on the right-hand side. I think it would be better if it was open to the main temperature controlled area. I will keep this fridge anyway as I appreciate the rest of the features so much that the shortcomings (strange uncontrollable "cold” section, unadjustable advanced settings, dim interior light) don't stop me from returning it. If you found this review helpful, please mark it as helpful. This makes me understand that people really want to know such detailed information.