I won a Dometic fridge and I've never used one before. I drive my Cherokee almost daily and was wondering about the refrigerator running while the Jeep is off. I know I can use a solar panel just looking for some advice from anyone who may have experience with a fridge.
Thanks

 

Sounds as if you have a Dometic Mini absorption Frig? or is it a compressor type mini frig?

I wouldn't run the frig for very long while the jeep isn't running, most likely will drain your battery or batteries.

I have a smaller Dometic three way that runs from gas, AC or DC installed in a camper van. Also have a larger Norcold that runs from gas or AC.

So your referring to Dometic Mini absorption frig? What is the model number? cu. foot?

 

I have one I use in my XJ off my inverter. If you do the math, it takes ten times the power off the battery to run through the inverter to get 120V. So it is impractical to run it off a battery. But what we do is have those blue ice things you can put in the cooler in the freezer section, which is not separate from the rest of the fridge. We wheel during the day, camp at night. We freeze them during the day and at night we turn off the inverter and the fridge stays cold. Works, but takes a little fussing. But considering the price of the alternative, well worth it.

 

A guy in the club has one. He said he ran it 3 days straight in his truck while camping at AOP. After the 3 days his truck fired right up.
Impressive.

 

IDK abot that particular model, but had for time (before a jerk opened up my car and stole it) one and it worked perfectly, leaving the car all day alone with the fridge inside, draining 55W when the car was running and 7W when was stopped and didn't messed up my batery. Depending on yours battery amperage and age maybe it could suffer a bit anyway. Take count, if you use an inverter those are not 100% efficient so the battery drainage risses