challenger dual battery

Paul,

Here is some photos of my 2000 Triton with a V6 motor,
I could fit an Allrounder MRV48 battery which is a 60 AH battery.

Isolator mounted on RHS guard



Air con Hoses out of Fire wall the Aux Battery Cradle just misses them



Charcoal Canister New Location



Aux Battery with Isolator on RHS Guard



Main and Aux battery Locations



This is an ARB set up

Hope this helps

Cheers Kev

Waeco quote 3.6 amp/h to run your fridge. In a car during summer it will be more than this, especially if you are forever going in to it. I have a 40lt and during summer here in the car it uses closer to 5 amp/h. (Out of the sun)

The larger capacity wont necessarily use more power and if you have the insulation bag that can make a big difference too.

So based on an average of 5 amp/h it then depends on your plans. Sitting still in one spot, no driving for a few days versus running the vehicle most days. (I have ignored hot days/cold night difference in consumption as they help to off set each other.)

Then without getting in to different batteries abilities to be charged quickly/capacity/useable discharge etc etc (there are PLENTY of threads on those subjects, just search dual batteries) you can work out a rough guide.

We have a deep cycle about 80amp/h which will comfortably run ours for a couple of days with little or no additional charging.

My advice would be to start by looking at your battery budget. Cranking are generally cheapest then deep cycle then hybrids and AGM etc. Based on your budget what is the largest capacity battery you can fit. The other thing is don't restrict yourself to under the bonnet. Depending on space underneath you may be better off mounting a tray underneath (similar to new vehicles have to do because of limited space). With the large fridge you may not have any space left in the boot for fitting a battery there (MUST be sealed, AGM style would be best)

The other idea might be to call a couple of the local 4x4 clubs and see if there are any challengers set up for touring that you could have a look at and see what they have done.

Most of the manufacturers give the external dimensions of their batteries on their sites, just keep in mind you dont want anything touching the posts when your bouncing around and flexing.

If you are looking at sopping in the one place for any time then you would be best advised to look at supplementing your storage capacity with alternate methods of charging. (Solar, Wind or Generator)

This is all very gerneral and no doubt others will disagree but if you want more detail then ask away, the more info you can give us the better we can answer.

Also think about keeping your fridge reasonably full, they are very inefficient when running almost empty. (However filling your fridge with warm cans/water etc is not a good idea unless you are doing long transit stages to give the fridge a chance to pull the temp back down and also charge batteries back up)

Hi Paul,

I run both my extra batteries in the back next to the fridge, partly because I was informed rightly or wrongly that sealed batteries don't like heat (engine bay) and secondly because with the LPG system on my vehicle there isn't room under the lid.

I have had no problems so far except for the time I came home with camper in tow, no isolator fitted so the camper fridge pulled all the batteries down over night, but that's a normal Caravan Fridge.