Best Of

We've been using a 12V 54qt Domende (not Dometic) for three seasons and around 30K miles as a replacement for the 3-way that came in our 2020 320S. We've only used it as a fridge, but it has worked great. Unlike the 3-way, it's set and forget. The temperature holds regardless of outside conditions.

This year we also purchased a 16qt to use strictly as a freezer. It rides in the back of our Wrangler. It's been great being able to bring frozen foods on longer trips and have ice for drinks. The label says it's a Vevor, but the build is identical to the Domende and it can be controlled by the same phone app. My guess would be that there's one factory in China pumping these things out under different names.

54qt Domende from Amazon
16qt Vevor from Home Depot

I've had an engle and dometic in the past. The Engle was very reliable, the domestic crapped out after 3 years. That was disappointing.   I currently have an IceCo 45VL. Love this fridge. It has been rock solid for the 3 years I've had it. And its less expensive than some other brands. 

I replaced the 3 way in my 320s with ICECO portable fridge/freezer, works great, I like the versatility of it, set it and forget it.

Have had good luck with ICECO 12v fridges. They use the same compressors (Danfoss-Secop) as the higher end ones and are cheaper. 

@AldebaranJill, "yes", my wife and I are still very happy with our Isotherm.  It uses more energy when the weather is very hot, but that is to be expected.  What I posted back in Nov 2022 is consistent with my experience since then, but I would say we probably use about 40% capacity of our 100 Ah battery each day with the refrigerator running, in addition to charging the phone, etc.  I carry a 2000i Honda Generator for use while boondocking as needed, so I usually charge up my battery to 100% each day.  I also just upgraded my solar from 100W, which was not sufficient, to 220W, but have not yet had an opportunity to see how well that will do with keeping our battery topped off.

I still occasionally adjust the refrigerator's thermostat setting as needed depending on the temperature, such as when outside temps drop down near freezing overnight as compared to 60-70 degree weather during the daytime (like we had in May in the High Sierra mountains in California), that is no big deal.  I had to do the same in the past when using propane.  I like that the Isotherm keeps the refrigerator contents cold throughout our travels, including while towing, which was not consistently my experience with the three-way Norcold (i.e., the Norcold often did a poor job of keeping the contents cold.)  It is also nice not having to deal with turning off the propane while towing (or if occasionally left on while towing, when stopping to re-fuel.)  I think you will like having the Isotherm.

@AldebaranJill, I did not specifically keep track of Ah usage, but when not connected to electricity to charge the battery, I would say the Isotherm was using approximately 15% of its capacity each 24 hr period, or less in colder weather.  However, there are many factors that impact tracking the Ah usage, including whether we were using the battery for other purposes, such as charging the phone or other device(s.)  When we did not have hookups (generally over a 48 hr period max, but sometimes 72 hrs), we were also towing the trailer for a chunk of that time.  Therefore, the tow vehicle was charging the battery and I would see different battery capacity levels throughout the day.  We spent a number of nights at rest stops, and twice at a Wal Mart, mainly because it was more convenient and we had driven more hours those particular days.  Our fresh water pump was not pumping fresh water due to a water line blockage (discussed in another post), so we generally tried to have hookups every couple days so we could take a shower.

I suppose the best test would be while boondocking in different weather conditions, but that isn't easy to do, because we tend to camp in the same location for days at a time when we don't have hookups.  When it was hot and humid at the beginning of our recent trip, we had hookups most of the time so that we would have air conditioning.  Hotter ambient (outside) temps lead to near continuous cycling of the refrigerator compressor, particularly if we did not have air conditioning.  Regardless, the Isotherm performed very well and was always operating in the 36-40 degree range.  We really love that the Isotherm has a freezer.  If the ambient temp was quite a bit cooler overnight, I occasionally adjusted the refrigerator thermostat slightly to keep the refrigerator around 36 degrees, but we never had an issue with liquids (or eggs) freezing overnight, which is something I have experienced with previous propane-operated refrigerators during very cold nights.  One last note........we brought our Renogy Solar Suitcase (100W) along for the trip, but I only used it once.  Every time we had hookups, the battery was back to 100% by the morning, if not earlier.  

Came out looking very nice.  Looks like a factory install.  I think you will get more use out of the new AC/DC fridge, and your battery/solar setup should be just fine.  We run our two-way compressor fridge on a 200 amp AGM with 193-watt solar and have no issues keeping the battery recharged in the day from power drain during the night.

Cherokee said:

This is simply the BEST conversion from a 3-way to a 2-way I've seen - great work

Thanks,  I appreciate your comment!