Koolatron Electric Portable Car Cooler

Koolatron Electric Portable Car Cooler

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One of the illustrations says to match the arrow to the red spot for Hot Mode, and says to match it to the blue spot for Hot Mode.

Interesting!

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They also don’t understand the math when they say it cools to 40 degrees (F) or 4 degrees (C) below the ambient temperature. If the ambient temperature is 80 (F), that’s about 26.7 (C). By their math, it would cool down to 40 (F) or 22.7 (C). 22.7 (C) is about 72.8 (F). Big difference between 40 (F) and 72.8 (F).

Do they even make cars with these types of plugs anymore?

sreischel, it will only cool about 4 °C below the outside temperature, to a MINIMUM of 40 °F (assuming the ambient temperature is close enough to that, I don’t think your car will be).
I have one of these and it works fine with those limitations. It works best if the items you place in it are pre-cooled (or heated). We took outs on a long drive out West so that we would have cool drinks and snacks available in places where stores and restaurants may be many miles away. We bought a wall converter to bring the cooler into our hotel rooms at night.

Yes. They are still very common. They are specifically made as “power ports” and cannot be used with cigarette lighters.

The text in the “Features” lists it correctly. But aboot that multi-erroneous pic… it should just be deleted. Unless Canadian math is different up there, am I right, friend?

When you leave it in the car, where does the heat go (when in cooling mode)? Does it give off enough heat to be a problem? I am also thinking of getting one for a long trip. But leaving it at the back of the minivan in the little space behind the 3rd row with no circulation seems problematic to me.

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I’ve never understood the inevitable first photo that shows all of the items that will definitely NOT FIT in the cooler! Take a look a breadbox ads on Amazon sometime. Photoshopped bread will definitely not fit in this breadbox.

Looks almost exactly like my old Igloo that I have been using since 1998. The TEC in that unit uses 60 watts (5 Amps at 12V). I built a custom power supply for the thing. How much power does this thing use? This is model P95 on Amazon. The listing for model P95 AZ looks the same, with all the same claims and numbers (maybe different accessories) and claims 48W (4 Amps).

Brought it out last week to put July 4 picnic provisions in it. P/S I built in 1998 still humming along.

Found a more detailed review of this cooler.

tl;dr - Performs well, but “very noisy” (without providing comparison or metric). No temperature control (i.e. no thermostat) so it is always on, which in heating mode may cause damage to the interior liner. Draws 62W.

Edit - Koolatron’s site says it pulls 48W. The review shows an AC adapter in one photo, so maybe they measured the power draw of the adapter+cooler combined.

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This didn’t cool my car down at all.

For a second I thought this said Koolaid Electric Car and I got excited.

Dang you Woot for not having the thing that doesn’t exist but I want!

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