Wagan 12-Volt 4 Liter Hot / Cold Personal Fridge

by Wagan

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 6 pounds
• ASIN: B0000950PX
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #287,774 in Automotive (See Top 100 in Automotive)

Product Description

12-volt personal refrigerator on the go - keep bottle water, drinks food, and snacks cold, fresh and ready to enjoy on the road. "Hot" function too.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Medicre Performance May Be Just What You Need, October 6, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Wagan 12-Volt 4 Liter Hot / Cold Personal Fridge

This cooler keeps things cold, but it is better to think of it as a "permanent" thermos. In other words, it is extremely slow to actually cool things. A 6-pack of room-temperature soft drinks will take 24-30 hours to get really cold. This unit will cool considerably below ambient temperatures, even to 32 degrees -- better than most of the units on the market, because it is so small inside, but uses the same capacity thermoelectric element. It does make noise with the cooling fan whirring all the time. It's about like a loud computer fan. As to adapters: thermoelectric elements do not function properly if there is electrical noise. Most cheap transformers do not in fact make a "clean" power flow. This will significantly reduce the efficiency of this refrigerator, which would mean less cooling. So it may be best to get the adapter from the manufacturer, not go to eBay or such sources. You can tell the difference in the car, using battery power this unit will show the best performance it is capable of.

You also need several inches of air space around the unit for proper operation.

If you need more storage than a 6 pack, or need to actually cool things down, keep in mind that this is a really light-duty unit. You'll be happier with a 1.6 cu. ft. refrigerator if you have the room. But this will work okay if nothing larger would be allowed in your office.

The thermoelectric cooling principle was discovered well over 100 years ago, and has been used extensively by NASA. Basically if you put hot Plutonium against one side of the thermoelectric element, electricity will flow. Whether cooling or making electricity, these circuits are only about 10% efficient. A compressor-type refrigerator is about 35% efficient. So, if you're using your employer's office power, don't worry about it, but if you use this at home, at 48 watts continuously, it will use about $25 a year for power. That is a lot of juice for a little bit of cooling.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars bad experience, October 14, 2003

By 

Gale Morse (Southbury, CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wagan 12-Volt 4 Liter Hot / Cold Personal Fridge

The first time I used this product it shorted out the lighter in my car. The plug for the lighter did not fit properly, overheated and shorted the system. The refrigerator never cooled. Additionally, the refrigerator hold much less than you would think.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 110 adapter not so readily available, October 2, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Wagan 12-Volt 4 Liter Hot / Cold Personal Fridge

This is a cute little unit, but don't expect to buy an adapter ... so easily. We did, but it only supplies half an amp. The fridge needs somewhere around 3 amps. You can purchase the right adapter ... Even when you use the unit in the car, it takes a while to chill warm things.

If you just want to keep a six-pack cool on a long drive, then this is probably the cooler for you. If you want one primarily for home or office use, go with a real compact fridge.