winnie
Senior Member
- Location
- Springfield, MA, USA
- Occupation
- Electric motor research
Clearly the answer is to use a Crosley Icyball. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icyball
Though I admit to being partial to using CO2 fire extinguishers to make dry ice as needed.
To seriously answer the OP: if you actually want to run a cooler using solar power you will certainly need to charge a battery and then use the battery to run the cooler. The cooler will very likely not play nice with changing power output as sun conditions change. This means that you would need at least some energy storage.
With that said, small fridges tend to be inefficient, especially 'solid state' fridges. The 'use ice' suggestion is the one I'd follow, unless for some reason you need a refrigerator on site; say for precise temperature control above freezing, or because you go on long trips away from your 'home base' ice source, or because you really really want the convenience of being able to make cold 'on demand' and not need to plan ahead for ice.
If you really want to use solar power to for cooling, you are better off getting solar panels installed on your home and using your home freezer to make ice.
-Jon
Though I admit to being partial to using CO2 fire extinguishers to make dry ice as needed.
To seriously answer the OP: if you actually want to run a cooler using solar power you will certainly need to charge a battery and then use the battery to run the cooler. The cooler will very likely not play nice with changing power output as sun conditions change. This means that you would need at least some energy storage.
With that said, small fridges tend to be inefficient, especially 'solid state' fridges. The 'use ice' suggestion is the one I'd follow, unless for some reason you need a refrigerator on site; say for precise temperature control above freezing, or because you go on long trips away from your 'home base' ice source, or because you really really want the convenience of being able to make cold 'on demand' and not need to plan ahead for ice.
If you really want to use solar power to for cooling, you are better off getting solar panels installed on your home and using your home freezer to make ice.
-Jon