I told myself a 4WD fridge was a luxury I didn’t need. Then I camped for three days with a soggy bag of ice and a sandwich that tasted of cucumber water, and I changed my mind.
The Dune 4WD was the right size for the back of the Prado without eating the whole boot. Forty-five litres, single zone, LG compressor. I’d been looking at fridges for a while and Dune’s pricing was keen. The LG compressor was the bit that tipped me — same brand that’s in half the air-conditioners in Australia. At this price point, an LG badge suggested someone had picked a quality part instead of the cheapest one. I didn’t do a huge amount of research. Engineers know what an LG compressor is.
I wasn’t thinking about going remote when I bought it. If I had been, I might have gone for a dual zone — fridge one side, freezer the other. Knowing what I know now, I’m making this one work. It’s been reliable every trip so far. I’ve only ever run it as a fridge — never tested the freezer side — and forty-five litres is enough for me solo. Current draw is reasonable on the lithium. No complaints.
The slide
The original plan was to build the slide myself. The actual outcome was a Dune fridge slide off the shelf. Metalwork isn’t my trade and time was tight. For the money, a bought slide beat a half-built one taking up bench space.
What I did build was the platform underneath. A sheet of marine ply cut to size at Bunnings, covered with car carpet, bolted down through the factory tie-down points in the back of the Prado. The fridge slide bolts to the ply. So does the battery box mount. One platform, two jobs.
It’s not an expensive setup but it does the job. The slide locks at full extension. It’s rated well above the fridge and a full load. Nothing has shifted on a corrugated road yet.
The app
The fridge talks to my phone over Bluetooth through an app called DUNE4WD. I can check what it’s holding without opening the lid, which mostly matters during the drive — if the cabin is reading 42 degrees and the fridge is holding 4, the system is doing its job. If the fridge is climbing, something has unplugged itself and I want to know before dinner, not at dinner.
The settings panel lets me set temperature, battery cut-out, and a few other things. After a bit of experimenting the fridge sits at 2°C — cold enough to keep meat happy, not so cold the compressor is running constantly. The battery protection is set to Low. The fridge is wired to the secondary lithium battery, not the cranking battery, so the conservative cut-outs designed to protect a starter aren’t needed here. Lithium tolerates a deeper draw without complaining.
For the geek — same one as last time — the app remembers what the temp did overnight. Useful if you want to know whether a corrugated road shook a connector loose, or whether the battery ran lower than you thought.