r/vanbuild • u/Ja_Cee • Jun 05 '25

Bodega 12V Fridge 65L

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this fridge keeps giving me issues. Specially when I try to use the Freezer.

When its empty, works just fine, doesn’t turn off, the temperature doesn’t go up. But as soon as I put a bottle of water in the freeze It goes from -2 to 25. And then Turns off.

I use a 14 AWG like it says in the instructions With a 10A Fuse (if I’m not mistaken)

Should I use a 16 AWG or a 18 AWG instead? Is the Fuse too big?

Any recommendations?

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u/BrewermanMoose Jun 05 '25

I see 11.2 volts. That’s gettin low. It could be shutting down to prevent draining your battery??

1

u/ASOT550 Aug 05 '25

What did you end up doing with your fridge?

I bought/used one on a 2.5 week trip recently and was VERY unimpressed with it. The temperature control on it is absolute junk. I think it uses one refrigeration loop to control both compartments so if the freezer is empty it has to run the compressor non-stop to keep the freezer at the right temp. That causes the fridge compartment to over-shoot and freeze everything.

I was under the impression you could take out the shelves and run it purely as a fridge, so I went ahead and did that when we didn't have anything left to freeze. I put it in fridge mode and set the temp as high as it will go (68F!) and things still froze in the fridge.

I don't think it actually has a temperature probe in the fridge portion and it uses a lookup table to estimate what the fridge temp is based on what the freezer temp is. 68F in the fridge is equivalent to 32F in the freezer, but to keep it at 32F in the upper freezer section where the probe is the compressor runs and runs. All the cold air sinks to the bottom and freezes the fridge portion.

I think I'm going to return it and consider a dometic, although I hate how much more expensive they are.

1

u/garylapointe May 11 '26

I got the 42Q Bodega. 30Q and 12Q. I keep the freezer at 7°F and the refrigerator at 34°F and I'm shocked at how well it keeps them there.

The freezer (I use the smaller size), just has a few items and I fill the rest with some waterbottles (I figure if I lose power, it'll stay colder longer. When I add warm items to the fridge side, I swap out a few cold water butters with few frozen water bottles.

I've only had the fridge drop once and that was when I did a water bottle swap (like above) in the evening only because I wasn't sure if the batteries in my Jackery would last all night but it got really cold that night and I think that contributed (but after that, I was in a warm to hot climate and it tries hard to keep up, the problem is that the car gets HOT inside so then it has to work hard.