Trickle charger

I use the same system with a 2.5 amp charger and I hook it to the second battery. beats all the other ways. I just leave the fridge hooked up to the 12 volt the whole time and when I have power I plug in the trickle charger, it provides enough to keep the battery chockers without too much gassing.

Hi John,

Wire it to the Auxilliary Battery.

You will need bigger than a trickle charger. You will need at least a 7 amp unit to keep up with the fridge and also have power the charge the battery.

Look at the Ctek XS7000 or the 15amp Smart Charger.

Regards Derek.

if your pirhana system is the same as mine you have to go to the second batteryas the power does not get thru until main battery is full and does not cut in until the motor is started

steve

Connecting the charger to the Auxiliary is the simple thing to do - there won't be any discharge from the main battery anyway.

Assuming the Piranha is a voltage sensing relay, then if you connect the charger to the Main Battery it will charge both batteries. Any charger that works will put out out at least 13.8 volts and that is enough voltage to activate the Isolator to connect the Auxiliary Battery to the Main Battery.

Glad I have my ute Moses with me or I may get an identity crisis. Me in Vic, one in NSW and another in SA now. Fair dinkum guys. Why isn't the handle Smith. LOL

John,

I'm going to look at your requirement from an entirely different angle mate.

You say the vehicle will be stationary for a few days and you wish to run your fridge.
If you are going to use a battery charger, one would assume you must have access to a 240 volt supply. Why not connect your fridge direct to the 240 volt supply?
A lot less hassle and the drain on the auxiliary from the radios, etc. would be minimal.

If you wish to use a charger, connect it direct to the auxiliary battery, but also ensure it is a "smart" charger which provides an automated multi-stage process to charge and maintain your battery, without overcharging it.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

Sandman it's a valid question, and something I've thought about. Aside from the fact that I've also got a grn and a couple of other bits dragging power (they can be turned off), the fridge is mounted in such a way that it's a bastard to access the rear cord ports to change them over (it's an engel).

I did think about making up a combined 240/12v lead with an isolator switch on the 12v side so I could just throw that and plug in the mains, but haven't got too far down that line just yet.

There is no wonder really that there are so many of us about John. Such a fantastic bloody name.