An ARB 37 quart fridge and freeze unit is mounted on a fridge slide, also made by ARB using their lashing kit, in the rear left cargo area of Sterlin. The slide is securely bolted to the cargo area mounting panel with four bolts and the fridge can be attached to the slide with a wire rope and padlock to help prevent it from being stolen.It is pretty easy to access the contents of the fridge, as the lid opens quite wide before hitting the roof of the car. If the food is buried deep in the fridge, either the lid can be removed or the whole unit can be slid out. Sliding the fridge out is also very useful at cleaning time, and the drainage hole will no longer drain into the car but to the ground.
There are other manufacturers of fridge freezers out there, with various pros and cons. We selected ARB because it is cheaper than most of the competition, has lots of nice features like the removable lid and comes with add-on options like the slide and the lashing kit. There are various resources on the Internet comparing the leading models of camping fridge freezers and typically ARB scores well in those. The fridge runs really quiet which is important when sleeping above it in the roof top tent.
The fridge can operate off either 12 volts dc or 110-240 volts ac. In our setup we have used 12 volts dc from the auxiliary battery to prevent the main battery getting drained. It is important to use high gauge wiring from the battery to the fridge, as the cable run is relatively long and it is important not to have a significant voltage drop. In our case the run was 5 meters and we used 12 gauge wire. The wiring is protected with a 20 amps fast blow fuse on its own circuit. To make a tidy and protected installation of the wiring, the supply lines are routed from the engine bay, under the passenger seat, behind the water tank and into the rear cargo area cowling near the left side rear wheel arch. The wiring is terminated to a 12 volt socket outlet located near the existing factory installed 12 volt outlet. There is no switch for the fridge outlet, as we intend to continuously power it and accidentally bumping the switch and turning it off would be a bad thing. Additionally, the fridge itself has its own on/off switch via the control panel.
To improve the fridge’s performance, as well as protect it from prying eyes, we have covered the rear cargo area and fridge with plywood. ARB does sell a neoprene cover for the fridge, but we decided this is not needed for us, and it is also not very cheap.
We have taken the fridge on a number of experimental camping trips and it is performing well. It is certainly large enough for a couple of weeks worth of food.
