battery box to fridge
Submitted: Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 at 10:48
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newbee
gidday all
looking at using a battery box with a 100ah battery, charged from the cigarette lighter in the car , the the fridge connected up to the battery.unplug the battery when stationary of course. fridge specs. show that it draws 0.16ah, this seems a bit low to me but.
any major reasons why this won't work?
Reply By: Ross M - Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 at 11:22
Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 at 11:22
G'day newbee
How did you measure than current flow?
An Engel fridge will be the lowest amp consumption while running at 2 or more amps.
Waeco's use around 3.5 amps while ON and running.
Charging a 100ahbattery from the ciggy plug system is not much good as they are only fitted with thin wiring anyway and only designed for relatively small amp loads.
If your battery became discharged a fair bit, the current flow required and demanded by the battery would be far more than a ciggy plug can handle. Ciggy plugs often burn out the plug just with running a fridge, because of heat build up and since the connection is only a press fit contact and not secure, they become high resistance and heat up.
The idea to charge the battery is to have bigger cable than a car has, fitted to the charge system so it CAN get the amp to the battery in as reasonable time, otherwise full charge will never be reached and it would take days of charging with thin wires.
0.16a may be what it suck while fridge is on but compressor not running. Seems high for that condition.
Post a bit more info about where the battery will be located and what vehicle, many have these in use and with various connection methods and they will/can give first hand experience with what works for them.
Cheers
Ross M
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522407
Follow Up By: Peter T9 - Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 at 14:53
Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 at 14:53
I think there are some commercially available battery box systems that claim to be able to charge from cigarette socket with a optional smart charger.
Not sure if you can run fridge from battery box at the same time or not.
Whatever the case it would would probably take a long drive to charge the battery.
Some vehicles have dedicated sockets in the rear that are rated at 10 amps as
well which should handle a fridge I would hope.
I have been wondering about the feasibility of all of this myself however have come to the conclusion it is unlikely to be adequate.
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Follow Up By: Michaeljp - Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 at 15:32
Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 at 15:32
Gday Newbee
You didnt mention which brand of battery box you are using but i use an Arkpak with great success. Which brand are you using? I had to by a dc-dc charger before i could charge it from my cars 12v system. I can charge the battery on the go and use it at the same time. Did you fully charge the battery via 240v prior to using it in the car?
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Follow Up By: newbee - Monday, Dec 02, 2013 at 07:55
Monday, Dec 02, 2013 at 07:55
gidday michaeljp
firstly thanks to all for the fed back,it has given me a bit to think about.
haven't purchased anything yet, but looking at ark smart battery box and 50l fridge,(bit of a price range from the engals to the chinese frigdges through ebay).
where do you connect your arkpak so that you can charge on the go and do you run your fridge off it at the same time?
thanks again
FollowupID:
803523
Follow Up By: Michaeljp - Monday, Dec 02, 2013 at 10:57
Monday, Dec 02, 2013 at 10:57
I have the ark pak bolted down behind my back
seat in my patrol with the England behind it at the back door. I have the dc-dc charger plugged into the accessory socket inthe dash. I just unplug it when I'm out of the car. And yes it charges the ark pak and runs the fridge at the same time. It worked great up the
Kimberley for. 5 weeks this year with no probs at all. When ever the car was running so it was charging. The charge never went below 100%
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Follow Up By: Michaeljp - Monday, Dec 02, 2013 at 10:58
Monday, Dec 02, 2013 at 10:58
Bloody iPhone. I have a engel 40litre not an England
FollowupID:
803533
Reply By: Tony F8 - Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 at 17:18
Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 at 17:18
G,day Newbee, personally for piece of mind, buy a dual battery controller, hook it up to your battery box via an anderson plug, put in a adequate switch before the plug. That way you can easily turn it on and off as you please, but the dual batt controller will ensure your start battery will remain isolated from the fridge battery drawing power. I understand they are not cheap, but forgetting to turn your fridge off just once will easily cover the cost of a controller.
Cheers Tony
AnswerID:
522425