Second Battery

I dunno about the Engels coming down in price Truckster. Despite all the competition out there these days, they still seem to be holding their own. :-)Melissa

For winching you'd be best to use a starter or hybrid battery (eg Century Severe Service or Exide Extreme), as most deep cycles wouldn't like the current draw of a winch.

As for fridges, yeah they cost a lot, but we make sure we get lots of use out of ours - at least one camping trip a month, plus we use it for day trips on the other weekends (ie we bought it for the camping trips, but use it at other times coz it's there).

Have done only limited research on this but always get the same reply;
Limited use - starting battery
Serious camping with bells and whistles - deep cycle

As for Engels, lash out, you'll never regret it. Mine has done Gibb River, Cape Leveque, Steep Point, Running Waters, Gregory Gorge plus thousands of K's over Pilbara roads for work. And a rollover. In short, some of the worst corrugations and treatment you can dish out and it's never missed a beat.

Regards
Russell

Truckster,

I recently did the second battery purchase thing, here is what i found.

Deep Cycles are designed to be fully used, then fully recharged, so in theory good for camping with slow draw rates over time.

However, with a dual battery set up, the car turns on and off etc for short periods, long periods....who knows. so a "starting" battery is more suited to partial drawings and partial recharge etc etc.

So in short, I ended up with two identical batteries, as i tend not to camp in the one spot for more than a day or two.

BTW I went for AC Delco (NA70 or something I think) sealed cell.

hope this info helps

TW

re the Fridge, when i'm not camping i run mine (Engel) constantly at home as a bar fridge.

Truckster, I run two Magnum 250 amphr deepcycle batteries (American Manufacture)connected in series to give 12volts. They run a 60ltr. Trailblazer fridge in full freezer setup plus an 800watt 240volt invertor & all my comms gear (UHF/VHF & HF) and at times a 10tonne electric winch & camp lighting at night. They have been in the vehicle for the last 8 years & have never failed me (yet!). I make sure they never go under 50% full charge & with the fridge running flat out I have 2- 80 watt BP solar panels to keep the charge up while not travelling & they have never got below 75% full charge.

Truckster, I run two Magnum 250 amphr deepcycle batteries (American Manufacture)connected in series to give 12volts. They run a 60ltr. Trailblazer fridge in full freezer setup plus an 800watt 240volt invertor & all my comms gear (UHF/VHF & HF) and at times a 10tonne electric winch & camp lighting at night. They have been in the vehicle for the last 8 years & have never failed me (yet!). I make sure they never go under 50% full charge & with the fridge running flat out I have 2- 80 watt BP solar panels to keep the charge up while not travelling & they have never got below 75% full charge.