Proposed vehicle power system
Submitted: Wednesday, Apr 02, 2008 at 16:39
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Muddy doe (SA)
Hi All,
I want to run a recently aquired 35 litre Weaco compressor fridge in the cargo area of the Prado and am checking out the best overall power system to keep it going on a permanently installed basis. This is in addition to a 40 litre Weaco that will only be in the car for trips where one can be a fridge and the other can be a freezer.
The vehicle already has a Pirahna DBS180 dual battery controller feeding a Trojan 115AH deep cycle wet cell mounted in the engine bay. There is a 6mm cable from the deep cycle to the cargo area terminating in two hella plugs.
I have two new 100AH sealed lead acid batteries that I want to mount in the cargo area and they will fit neatly ahead of the fridge (behind the 2nd row seats) with appropriate securing frame bolted to floor.
I am looking at connecting an Arrid twin charge unit between the existing 6mm cable from the dual battery and the two rear batteries. I am also looking at an adjustable low voltage cutout between the Arrid and the dual battery set to around 12.8v.
This would mean whenever the underbonnet dual battery is receiving a charging voltage from the Pirahna controller (alternator is running) then the Arrid will also be charging the cargo area battery bank.
When the engine is off the Arrid would continue to charge the rear batteries until the voltage in the front battery drops to 12.8 and the low voltage device cuts it off. Same would apply if I was camping and put my generator powered charger on the front battery.
The rear battery bank would run the installed fridge. I can still run the 2nd fridge off the front dual battery if required and all batteries get charged whenever alternator or charger power is available.
Can anyone see any issues with this system or offer any contructive comments?
Cheers
Muddy
Reply By: Member - Andrew L (WA) - Wednesday, Apr 02, 2008 at 17:23
Wednesday, Apr 02, 2008 at 17:23
I've got a Prado with the fridge in the back and an 110AH AGM battery in front of the fridge (same as you). I'm using a 1000W pure sinewave inverter and 30 Amp 3-stage battery charger to charge the AGM.
I've got two 100Amp solid state relays in the circuit:
1. to isolate the inverter from the main battery when the vehicle is not running.
2. To isolate the battery from the charger whent he vehicle is not running.
I changed to this system after having issues with a redarc / wetcell under bonnet system. This set up gives me a much better recharge rate and fully charges the battery, allowing me to stay in one place longer before needing to recharge.
There are the additional benefits of having 240Vac available in the vehicle and being able to recharge the battery from any 240VAC supply (generator , caravan park etc.)
I have mounted the inverter and charger next to the fridge by utilising the third row
seat mounting point.
I looked at the Arrid twin charge but was unable to get any written information about the I-V output characteristics of the unit.
Redarc also make a unit that is a boost converter with a 3-stage battery charge output. But the output is only 7amps, which was less than what I wanted.
Leachy
AnswerID:
296161
Follow Up By: Muddy doe (SA) - Wednesday, Apr 02, 2008 at 17:45
Wednesday, Apr 02, 2008 at 17:45
The Arrid is supposed to be a 20 amp charger looking at their website but I agree the amount of technical data on it is somewhat limited!
Inverter system sounds ok as
well but I'm not too keen on having 240v happening in a moving vehicle.
Cheers
Muddy
FollowupID:
562239
Follow Up By: Member - Mark E (VIC) - Thursday, Apr 03, 2008 at 03:20
Thursday, Apr 03, 2008 at 03:20
Re the Arrid Twin Charge........
I once rang them trying to get some answers to a number of technical questions about the unit, but found them to be unwilling/unhelpful (lacking in knowledge?) about the units, so passed on them.
Cheers,
Mark
FollowupID:
562340