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Electronics and comforts

Essential Camping Gadgets: LED Lights, Ice-Maker, and Affordable Fridge/Freezer for a Perfect Outdoor Adventure

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Hey there, fellow adventurers! Let’s talk about the secret sauce that turns camping from “meh” to “marvellous.” Picture this: after a day of epic road-tripping, setting up camp, and splashing around with the kiddos, you finally kick back, flip a switch, and—voilà!—your campsite is bathed in glorious electric light. This magical glow not only helps you locate the fridge for that ice-cold drink but also powers up the ice maker for a perfectly chilled glass of wine with dinner.

Quick heads-up: the gadgets I’m about to rave about are my personal faves. No sponsorships here, just some good ol’ heartfelt recommendations.

Now, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. All this awesomeness needs power, right? For the full scoop on how we juice up our gear, check out this article.

LED Lights

We swear by our dual-colour 12 LED Lumeno lights. These bad boys come with two switches, letting you choose between bright white, red, or amber light (or both if you’re feeling fancy). We usually avoid the white setting because it attracts bugs and is brighter than my future. Instead, we go for the coloured settings. We’ve got a red LED in our annex or bathroom tent, another red in our rooftop tent, an amber in our main gazebo, and yet another red one outside the gazebo where we chow down around the fire.

Oh, and did I mention these LEDs have little magnets? Yep, they stick to the gazebo frame, trailer, or car-like magic. They’re super power-efficient too, drawing just about 2.9W. We often leave the annex tent light on all night and move the red LED from outside the gazebo to inside for a cozy, all-night glow.

Ice-maker

Ah, the ice-maker, our trusty companion from our Namibia tour. This little gem was our first purchase and was way cheaper than a fridge/freezer at the time. It cranks out 9 ice cubes every 7 minutes, and then every 6-7 minutes after that. Perfect for our family of four! The only catch? It’s a bit of a power hog, guzzling 7-8 Amps. So, we try to run it when the sun’s shining, letting it sip directly from the solar panels. We stash the ice in a cooler or fridge for later. If we roll back to camp at sunset, we run it for about an hour to an hour-and-a-half.

Our battery box has a nifty cut-out board that shuts off the ice-maker if we forget about it while chilling at camp. This way, there’s always enough juice for the lights and fridge.

Fridge/Freezer

Now, let’s talk about our Flex Adventures fridge/freezer. Those big-name brands were always just out of our budget, but Flex Adventures swooped in to save the day with their affordable units. We were a bit cautious at first, but boy, are we glad we took the plunge! Our 40L Single Zone unit can keep temps from +20°C to a frosty -20°C. It even has an LCD on the front and connects via Bluetooth to an app on my smart device. Perfect for changing settings on the fly or checking the temperature.

The compressor kicks in at around +2°C and stops at -2°C of your chosen temp. We set ours to 0°C for ice-cold drinks, keeping them in the -2°C to 2°C range. It’s great for meat, butter, and other essentials, but maybe not the best for fresh fruit or mushrooms. Veggies like chicken and pork do just fine, but tomatoes? Not so much.

These units can run directly from a cigarette lighter port and come with a power pack for mains use. There’s even a USB port for charging phones and electronics, and my wife loves the bottle opener on the front.

Remember, folks, be considerate with your LEDs. Nobody likes a campsite disco unless everyone’s invited. Happy camping!

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