Battery Advice

Thanks Norm, thats great info to have and pretty much what I was looking for.

Never has a Waeco 110 litre (or any Waeco for that matter), but this test":
Waeco 140 litre test

Showed that at a room temp of 26 to 20 degrees C, a 140 litre Waeco used 42.2 AH in a 24 hour period with fridge running at 5 degrees C.

On this basis, my guess is that a 110 litre would use 35 to 45 AH, depending on how often it is opened, how often hot stuff is put in, the temp it is running at and most importantly what the ambient temp is.

Can't find their rated current draw when compressor is running. If I could, it would be just a matter of maths from there, using reasonable assumptions.

Not saying you are wrong and it would never draw 75AH. Set the fridge temp low enough and the ambient temp high enough, open it regularly and keep putting hot beer in and I'm sure you could make it draw even more.

But based on the Fridge and Solar test and reasonable assumptions, I suspect 75AH is a tad high for normal use.
Norm C

115AH Trojan wet cell runs the 40 litre weaco just lovely for up to 48 hours. pulls about 25-30 AH per 24 hours in average conditions. So am guessing a 110l would do about double that!

Muddy

Hi Norm. Mate, you seem to be a font of knowledge for fridges/amps so I am after your advice if you wouldn't mind.

I'm running my engel 40 ltr off the dual system, deep cycle. I'm not sure of the amp draw but I have attached one of those 'two-way' sections to increase fridge area by about half.

I understand the engel is now working harder, and it's not as cool in the additional section as below, but I accept that and can work with it.

Do you have any idea what the unit would be drawing now? And how can I test what it is drawing?

Thanks mate.

Loch, you assume too much. Although my first trade (via Army apprenticship many years ago) was Electronics Technician, I am a looooong way from being an expert. Bit of basic knowledge added with life experience.

Your 40 iitre Engel should draw about 2.5 Amps if working well before your add on. It will draw the same now, but will run more often due to the increase in area to be cooled. Assuming a good seal on the joins and lid after the add on, I'd be guessing that you would be using close to 50% more AH now than with the standard fridge.

I've never used one of the 'two-way' add ons, but my understanding is they are more for keeping fruit, vegies and the like that needs cooling, but not necessarily at the 4 degrees or so that yo probably run the fridge at. That is, they are not intended to be as cool as the fridge, so yours is probably working as it should.

To confirm that the fridge is drawing around 2.5 Amps when running, the best thing is a clamp meter which has jaws that you open and put one of the cables in. This is really the only way to measure Amps without breaking the circuit to put a metre in series. They are pretty expensive, but most auto electricians should have one, so a friendly one might do a quick measure for you if you ask.

The biggest issue though, is how long and often the compressor runs for. This will be the main factor driving your power consumption.

I'm guessing that if you previously used about 30 AH per day (fair rule of thumb for a 40 litre Engel I suspect), you might now be using 45AH or so.

Lots of guesswork here, but I suspect I'm in the ball park.

Don't know if any of this helps, but that's about the limit of my knowledge and guesswork on this.

Norm C

Thanks Norm,

Mate, you have helped shed some light on the subject and I appreciate that.

You're right, we'll be storing items like salad, etc in the top component, stuff that doesn't require the 4 degree's (that's for the beer).

As for your 'appy school' days, won't hold that against you cobber, us type of the light green are everywhere!

Cheers

Maybe the technical specs are "100 Amp Hour"
B U T
the rate at which they are measured is just as important as the AH number, if it's measured @ 10 hours then it's 100 Plus (+) Amp Hours.

Make sure it's a DEEP CYCLE AGM battery and not a Cranking agm battery etc.

Hi Robert

I have just been down this track.

I ended up with a Remco 100AH AGM from Batteries Plus in Cannington for $264. This was about $100 cheaper than some of the others.

Prices were about to go up.

Also if Cargills is still open they had Engel Battery monitors for half price as they are closing down.

quality batteries, Remco, used by most Winnebago dealerships