My wife and I are getting into camping in a big way. We're loving the whole outdoors thing, but one inconvenience we have noticed is our inability to carry perishable items like fresh meat (which we tend to just buy fresh on the day anyway) and milk and butter. We have a cool box, but when the ice blocks melt it is useless. I am considering buying a mini fridge or an electric coolbox, nothing too expensive.
The thing is, we're campers, not caravanners, and I know not all campsites have an EHU for tents. Therefore we'll have to rely on something else. I don't want to buy a generator because they are noisy and smelly. I have thought about a big car battery or leisure battery and a 12v fridge. I might also be able to connect an inverter and power mobile phone chargers (or just us a 12v charger).
My query is this: if I did use a battery, roughly how long could I expect it to last before needing to charge it up? Obviously I would bring a charger and either charge it in the car, or plug it in up at the toilet block (with permission from the site owner of course), but how long would it roughly last me before needing charged?
I've never tried running a fridge off 12v except when in the car on a journey. I think a fridge would drain a leisure battery. We found the best fridge for all campsites is our 3-way fridge - we run it from the cigar lighter in the car on the way to the campsite, then on mains electric if we have hookup, or on calor gas if we don't - so we're not tied to booking EHU (electric hookup) for every trip, we can be 'self sufficient' on calor gas Our 3-way fridge cools down lower than most electric camping fridges too, it even makes ice cubes. If money is tight, look for a second-hand one.
I'm going to start sounding like a broken record at some point but. Although you have an ice box.. Most of them aren't really up for anything more than a couple of nights away, at best. There is a far chance you have one of those..
Check out the Coleman Xtreme range or the Igloo Maxcold as they will last for many days without any form of electricity. They are better in high temperatures than most electric coolboxes as well..
I'd second that Steve, far easier than a bulky 3 way fridge and gas bottle set-up. Our Coleman extreme only rises to about 4-5deg C after day 7 when we've eaten our premade-pre frozen meals and all ice has nearly melted, it's stays colder if we top up with ice cubes on about day 5/6.