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Hi

Could anyone tell me how noisy a 12v/240v cooler is? I know they have a fan - does this run all the time or intermittently. I think sleep in a tent would be easier if it ran constantly all the time rather than intermittently.

Was looking at 3 way fridges/coolers - trouble is they're just soooo big!

Cheer

Sonia

Our Halfords one runs most of the time but during the night it does switch off now and then.

David

Quote: Originally posted by big b on 16/2/2008

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Didn't notice much noise from my one. In fact it was so quiet I wasn't sure if it was working at 1 point.

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Ooooh, what make is it? I'd love to get a quiet one

I bought one from Woolies last year - plugged it in & left it on in the adjoining bedroom at home - we couldn't sleep for the noise of the fan. Took it back for a refund the next day.

Bought another one which was specifically made for camping, called The Wanderer - same problem. If we can't sleep with a brick wall between us and the fridge, we certainly couldn't sleep with just a canvas wall between us & it in the tent. 

I'd still like one, but I'd come to the conclusion that maybe they were all noisy, so haven't risked buying another one to try.

We have a Halfords 12v cooler. It did sound a bit loud when switched on at home but not as bad in the tent because there's more background noise. It certainly didnt keep us awake at night. If you use a fan heater the noise will drown out the cooler anyway 

Quote: Originally posted by rabb_uk on 17/2/2008

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We now use a tabletop fridge which is very quiet it's also bigger, colder and has a freezer compartment

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A table top fridge is what we now use. Miles better than any other camping fridge we've tried, and not expensive either!

Chaz

Many of the 12V powered coolers (perhaps all) use brushless DC fans which can be pretty quiet. The better coolers tend to have two fans one outside and one inside the box. They blow air across the the heatsinks attached to the Peltier devices that do the cooling. If they are both working correctly then there will be more noise from the external fan.

If there are no faults causing additional noise then the trick seems to be to point this fan away from people's ears. From experience I have found that simply doing this can make a surprising difference. When a fan is working well then the bulk of the noise is from the movement of the air. Hence why pointing the vents away from you works.

When they are not working well the fans themselves can get noisy however. The two failures I have noticed are bearings wearing out and obstructions. For the first case I know no effective cure apart from replacing the fan or cooler. The second case is more hopeful. Obstruction occurs when dirt or part of the mechanism gets in the way of the fan and a scraping or clicking occurs. I had this recently when one of the wires going to the fan just interfered with the blades. The noise was terribly annoying yet remarkably easily cured - I just moved the wire out of the way.

Taylor