power setup.

Not much use for cold bricks, a slab of beer is the go.

Fair enough Dennis

Racey

replied:
Running an Engel (or other) as a freezer does zap the power and draining a battery down below below 12 volt will reduce the battery life. The best you will get from your panel will be around 15 amps and say you have the panels in a clear spot for 6-7 hrs of sun it will provide say 90ah of power during the day.

[1]The freezer will consume say 4 amps for about 18hrs and the frig 4 amps for say 10 hrs, the power consumption is around 112 A/H for both units. However, the power input is only 90 a/h; 20 odd amp hours short.

I run a 40 ltr Engel as a freezer set at -15deg. running from a 130 A/H AGM battery. When camping we charge with a 160 watt solar panel. On a good day as the sun goes down the battery is fully charged and by morning the voltage can be 12.2 volts, approx 50% charge. I would be reluctant to try and run any other device from this battery. Whilst the Engel running as a frig would not use as much power. As a freezer it just seems to run for ever.
[2] On a recent trip 40 deg days, it couldn't keep up, so I topped up the battery with the generator each night.

Cheers
Jon

HI John
Pretty spot on with those power cacls

Yes, In very hot weather most compreesor fridges used as a deep freezer will run near 24hrs a day at 3.5to 4A
.And as fridge from 30Ahrs up to 60 PLUSAhrs per 24hrs depending on factors such as: ambient temp , THermostat setting , warm loading, etc
The temp that the fridge is subjected to can often exceed the open air ambient, if it is not in a well shaded ,well ventilated area.

PeterQ

HI Chris
Closed in canopies can become ovens very easy,as can any enclosed area , even in the back of a van, Station waggon etc
IF your situation is like that , the power used by the fridges, both as fridge & freezer will skyrocket!!

PeterQ

HI Chris
Remember with just a week end test youmay not get a true indication
It will depend on how much charge your battery has lost before you start driving home
It may have lost a sustantial amount of charge which could show up with another few days use ,such as a longer period camping.

A surer way would to set it up at home & pretend you are camping [even doing a bit of warm loading ,door opening etc] &Keeping an eye on the battery voltage {At the battery terminals}
When it drops to around 12V,it is around 50% discharged
That is as low as a LA battery should be taken if you want long life

PeterQ

But if the 220 w solar panel is not replacing the charge taken out of 1 battery in a day, how is it going to be able to replace the charge in 2 batteries?

I think before investing in anymore solar or battery, consider a current measuring meter, and measure the current draw of the fridges, observe their On / Off cycle at different times of the day at different temperatures. Measure the current being supplied out of the solar regulator, in full sunlight, cloudy conditions, not pointed directly at the sun etc.

Then do some calculations on what average power is drawn from the battery, and also average power put back into the battery from the solar.

Grinner