An OLD Engel Fridge & 80Ah Deep Cycle Battery Life
Submitted: Sunday, Jul 23, 2006 at 09:25
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Richard of NSW
G'Day Got an original Green and Yellow 29 litre engel 20 years old _Affordable_Storage_Drawers.aspx up to 4.5amps per hour. Dual Battery System is a new TJM in my 05 Patrol. Use to have a 95 Disco ran this fridge on its system for day trips and all was good but am now doing a 7 day trip to the high Country in December hopping the old engel won't drain the life out of the battery. How long will a 80Ah Deep Cycle Battery keep it running without the vehicle turned on. We will be travelling during the day and camping overnight so would assume the down time over this period will be OK with the travelling during the day to recharge.
What recommendations would you make to drive this old reliable engel?
Over the 7 days will the engel drain the battery to much?
Should I look at a new fridge?
The engel goes up to 4.5 amps per hour and cause of its age (I reckon it uses every bit of that to keep things cold) I don't know what that translates to over a 12 or 24 hour period.
Any sugestions would be appreciated.
Cheers
Richard
Reply By: cipher - Sunday, Jul 23, 2006 at 09:29
Sunday, Jul 23, 2006 at 09:29
i wouldnt imagine it would run for more than 10 hours, if that.
If you plan to replace this fridge in the future, perhaps do it now?
I dunno, i dont have one of these fridges nor have i ever had one im a fan of the old Esky ;-)...
I just have one of those ice boxes.. Keep my ice frozen for about 8 days.
I have also heard that running a dual battery system will only give your aux battery about 80% charge max... So this would dramatically decrease your running time...
What is the minimum opperating voltage of the fridge?
Justin
AnswerID:
184869
Reply By: Alloy c/t - Sunday, Jul 23, 2006 at 10:04
Sunday, Jul 23, 2006 at 10:04
Richard ,the variables are many ,such as battery type/age ,wireing size , altenator output , ect ect , however if the old Engle still does the job of keeping the beer cold why bother to change ? I bought an old green and yellow 39lt at the right price at the right time to pass onto a mate ,did all the testing to see if it would work for him in his application, it like yours drew 4.5amps while running but that is NOT the amp hrs used per hr , due to cycling on/off the actual amps used per hr is closeer to 1.9amps or roughly 45/46 amps per day/24hrs ,, if you are planning on driving the vehicle every day of your trip for at least a couple/few hrs and your aux batt and altenator are in good nick to start with you should have no problem.
AnswerID:
184872
Follow Up By: Crackles - Sunday, Jul 23, 2006 at 20:11
Sunday, Jul 23, 2006 at 20:11
You make an excellent point Alloy c/t which is probably the most misunderstood point on power usage. The amp rating of a fridge is not the amp hour rating. An old Engel using about 4.5 amps when running will consume only a little more power (not twice as much) compared to a brand new Engel that may only use 2 amps as the new one will need to run longer to keep the fridge at the same temp.
Richard from previous experience an old Engel in 30 degree heat running off a fully charged 80 amp hour deep cycle battery will run for about 20 to 30 hours (without the car engine running), less depending on the age of the battery, how often you open it, if the car is parked in the sun, if you restock the fridge with drinks etc............ We never had any problem running a fridge over night but if we were to be parked for a full day I would run the engine a couple of times for 1/2 an hour to top up the charge.
New fridges have some minor efficiences but the old Engels are fine.
Cheers Craig......................
Autofridge.
FollowupID:
441656
Reply By: Member - Oldplodder (QLD) - Sunday, Jul 23, 2006 at 20:46
Sunday, Jul 23, 2006 at 20:46
We have the same age Engel, and about the same size battery.
Assuming you will be having about 30 deg during the day and about 15 at night.
We usually run on '2.5' or '3' during the day and about '1.5' during the night.
I turn it down after sunset and turn it up again in the morning.
We don't use it as a freezer.
It lasts two to three days wihtout a recharge, depending how often it is opened and how much watm beer you put in.
It takes about 4 hours of running to recharge the battery.
So we plan to do a short run every 2nd or 3rd day to a
lookout, or for supplies.
AnswerID:
184928
Reply By: Member - andrew B (Kununurra) - Monday, Jul 24, 2006 at 08:17
Monday, Jul 24, 2006 at 08:17
The couple of small trips I have done since getting the fridge I have had good success out of doing most of what has been said above. Also, while the car is running, whether for a short trip or long, I crank the fridge right up (or down depending on how you look at it) so it almost freezes everything - usually get a few ice crystals in the milk etc. Then when we stop for the day....or 2 put the temp back to a normal fridge temp. The unit then won't need to start cycling for a few hours, and tends to cycle less often due to the entire contents being colder(?).
From my limited experiments, and logic, This gets me about 5 extra hours of battery life between charging/driving.
Anything that can be put in your fridge frozen also helps a great deal. In the Waeco, meat etc is defrosted over 24 hours in the dairy compartment, which helps keep stuff cold at the warmest end of the fridge. I also use a Themometer with a remote sensor to keep asn eye on the temp where the food is, not where the waeco sensor is.
Cheers Andrew
AnswerID:
184980
Follow Up By: Richard of NSW - Monday, Jul 24, 2006 at 13:35
Monday, Jul 24, 2006 at 13:35
Thanks Andrew, How do you find your Waeco as the minor repairs I need done the old engel may justify an upgrade. About $200 all up. The Waeco's are a lot lighter too I believe, I notice on your profile you got a 80 litre, is this size easy to manage with all the other stuff you got to pack???
FollowupID:
441728
Follow Up By: Member - andrew B (Kununurra) - Monday, Jul 24, 2006 at 14:10
Monday, Jul 24, 2006 at 14:10
So far I'm impressed with the fridge. I've only used it on an 8 day trip where we had access to power, and a 3 day trip on just the aux battery. While it is quite big, It takes up virtually the same amount of room as the 110l evacool esky we used to use. I think I will be rebuilding the drawer system in the back of the wagon, and putting the fridge down on floor level (on runners), with the drawer underneath going on top (wife is 5 ft tall so needs to climb up on the car to get stuff out)
The capacity is about the same as the 110l evacool when you take the ice into account. While I haven't had any experience with smaller fridges, The leangth is perfect for the back of the wagon - door to cargo barrier. I think any space saving on a shorter leangth would be a bit inaccessable anyway, unless used for a watertank or similar.
Space is becomeing a bit of an issue with us, We have a 3.5yo and a 1.5 yo, and the older they get the more toys etc we take camping with us. I suppose if I didn't drink as much beer a smaller fridge would be better, but so far I'm verry happy with the 80l
Cost about $1250.00 though, so I'd want to be happy with its performance!
Cheers Andrew
FollowupID:
441740
Follow Up By: Richard of NSW - Monday, Jul 24, 2006 at 14:37
Monday, Jul 24, 2006 at 14:37
Gotta have room for a few beers. Our kids are 17 year old boy and 14 year old girl so room for toys is a thing of the past for us. Really does make a difference and great ages as both really enjoy the outdoors stuff and contribute to our trips away. Reckon we will get the package from the fridge
shop 50 litre plus posted to
Newcastle 4 $975 not to bad. My wife is all of 5 foot too and unfortunatly I have side by side _Affordable_Storage_Drawers.aspx from 4WD systems of south OZ. Quality product however in hindsite would have gone on top off each other so fridge was on the floor. Anyway a trade off I suppose as there more usable space with side by side when fridge is not being used.
Cheers
Richard
FollowupID:
441762
Follow Up By: Member - andrew B (Kununurra) - Monday, Jul 24, 2006 at 14:46
Monday, Jul 24, 2006 at 14:46
My _Affordable_Storage_Drawers.aspx are bodgey rush job
home mades, Ply on Ply, no runners or carpet! They still slide pretty
well, and cost me stuff all! Have intentions of making steel frames up etc when a layout can be decided. I almost went for the 50l, but there was none in town at the time. They had a 60l, but it was just a bit too tall and skinny - good for beer & drinks, but difficult for food etc, you always want whats on the bottom!
I like the idea of the chuckwagon system. I can't warrent spending over a grand on something I can build myself (possibly not as
well, and if I paid myself labour buying a prefab unit would be cheaper!). I think it was the chuckwagon that could be slid out on a track like setup onto a trolley in the shed - unpacked to packed in seconds! I'll keep thinking of a design....but it only needs to come out occasionally to fit the 3rd row of seats when we have visitors.
Cheers Andrew
FollowupID:
441767
Reply By: Member - bushfix - Monday, Jul 24, 2006 at 09:32
Monday, Jul 24, 2006 at 09:32
G'day,
yep i've got one of these old dears, with a 90 A/h. if as you say, you will be travelling during the day and camping overnight, for normal use, this will not be a prob imo. will you be running it as a fridge or freezer? if a fridge then no worries, if a freezer then perhaps back it off a little overnight so that it cycles rather than being constantly on.
for normal food and beer useage, i have it set to 2-2.5 whilst driving then back off to 1 at
camp. arrive in the arvo, a couple of nights at
camp, then move on again. might not turn the motor over for that whole time. she just keeps going and never troubles the battery. this is checked by using either a multimeter or just checking for the green indicator that my batts have.
what i find anyway. reckon you'll be alright.
AnswerID:
184987
Follow Up By: Richard of NSW - Monday, Jul 24, 2006 at 13:28
Monday, Jul 24, 2006 at 13:28
Yea will be running as a fridge, so sounds like it will be OK. Just got to replace the top to it it has got few dints and the seal is buggered. mmmm $120 quoted to replace this. Otherwise fridge is running OK, nice and quite and should keep the beer cold. Cheers richard
FollowupID:
441726
Reply By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Monday, Jul 24, 2006 at 16:48
Monday, Jul 24, 2006 at 16:48
You'll have no problems.
80Ah second battery + driving during the day + cool-cold nights in High Country in December...... Add it all up, and you'd probably find you didn't even need a second battery!!!
I occasionally run 2 engels (one old, one new) on a setup thats less than what you've got. Measure the temp in the engel with a $20 electronic thermometer from Jaycar and measure the voltage with a $35 digital voltmeter from Jaycar, and you'll know that everything's fine. Set your Engel to about 1.5 and leave it there (I find that equals about 1-2 degrees).
Keep it simple and enjoy!
Cheers
phil
AnswerID:
185047