Deep cycle batteries

Hi Ian

I don't know what a navaboost 140 is but if it is a 14 amp charger and run for 4 hours on a decent sized battery it should boost the charge and the solar panel should make up the difference.

What size is the battery ?

What size is the fridge ?

What size is the solar panel ?

Regards

Derek.

Ian,

Although the solar panel may be "marginal" for your application, the inclusion of the generator to recharge the battery should well and truly put things right.

My guess is your battery is well below par.
You can try charging it up and then taking it to a battery shop where they can load test it.

I would be replacing the battery if necessary, with an AGM type deep cycle battery and include a low voltage cutout unit to protect it.

The Engel is a great fridge, but will keep sucking power from the battery until it is dead flat. After a couple times of this, the battery will become calcified and....well.......cactus!

I destroyed two batteries in this way before adding the low voltage cutout to the mix.

Ian,
forget about 'hybrid' batteries grrr
your DC27 battery is a sla 80AH and would only be expected to run for a few days anyway.
Do as suggested and get a 100+ AH AGM Deep Cycle battery to replace it.
They recharge much faster and to a higher voltage because of the much lower internal resistance than either hybrid batteries or sla's.

With the fridge using 2.3ah (hopefully running at 50% dc) and the panel putting out ~2 amps over the day, you should get close to 2 days from it without any recharging at all and only discharging to 50%


Simplisticly and yes NOT accurately.

Fridge use---> 2.3a x 24(hours) = 55 / 50% (dc) = ~27ah
Battery supply---> 80ah /50% = 40ah
Solar charge---> 2a = 6 (hours) = 12a

So according to the (realistic ?) numbers you use only 15ah per day with your 40wt solar panel.
(according to the numbers - and yes it's not true, but then do numbers lie ? )

The idea with solar is you must be able to replace in a day all the power used in 24 hours, to maintain a fully charged battery.

AGM's will recharge faster and therefore they require much less 'sun' time.

Hi guys,
I have a 60ltr Waeco that runs off a Marine battery (used as an aux batt). The marine batteries have a "deep cycle characteristic" but charge at the rate of a normal battery.
I am not up with all the technical stuff but that is the way it was suggested to me at the time of setting up my dual battery system and so far it has been great. The Waeco does have a cut out feature and it has been activated on two occasions - once when I didnt drive the car for 48hrs in warm weather and another when I didnt drive the car nor charge the aux batt fully before I went away. Apart from that it has been a great set up for me.

Cheers