Fridge Power

Thanks Notso.

Would an old land cruiser battery be ok to use or would I be better off buying a new battery?

If I should get a new battery, what is the ideal type?

Also can you run the fridge while charging the battery?

Thanks for your help.

If the battery will run your fridge for a day or so on a full charge it should be OK.

There are heaps of options for batteries ranging from hybrid types like exide extreme up to AGM types.

The Hybrids are cheaper and I use them but there are others who swear by the AGMs so it depends on how deep your pockets are I guess. A landrcruiser size battery is a good option as most 4WDs have that size and you can swap em around if needed.

Make sure you get a decent size, as in AMPs, battery charger if you haven't already got something as it cuts down the amount of time you need to run the genny.

Also don't let the genny run out of fuel whilst you are running the charger as it will hunt up and down in the revs and can burn out the charger.

Big red, I have an old battery from my hilux 670cca that was to me a bit dodgy. It was in the lux for five years and I was doing a run down the high country 2 years ago and thought I wont chance it going dead on me so replaced it with the biggest I could fit in the battery spot which was a 760cca from battery world ($170). I left that battery in the hilux when I sold it and still have the old one laying around. As the prado doesnt have duel batts and the one in it is only 430cca I have on occasions charged up the old battery put it in one of those battery boxes (black plastic) and have used that for the 50L waeco, running the fridge at 2c the battery will last me just on 48 hours before the light starts to flash on the waeco thats with the slide set at the lowest setting. I have done this a few times when we have gone away for 2 or 3 nights. It must be about to die now its nearly 8 years old now. I am going to put the biggest battery in the prado I can get for it soon. I ran permanant power to the back or the prado for the fridge but havnt ran the fridge off it yet for an over nighter due to the current battery in it. (mightnt start the next day). Regards Steve M

That's not what Engel say - Phone them, I did

Engel will only recommend using a perfect sine wave generator and only on their fridges manufactured over the last few years

As I said, phone them for yourself

Thanks Ozwasp , but they have not given you correct information.

What they said is understandable and protects their interests , but if you ask for a technical reason as to why not you will soon
see the weakness in there reasoning.

If you wish to test there logic , ask them how good a sine wave, if they say "Perfect sine wave" again then tell them that even the mains is often not a perfect sine wave and can be worse than a $99 GMC under some conditions.

Hi rabs
It is the luck of the draw, you have been lucky!!
Any electronic equipment can be damaged by a poor supply such as frequency[ engine speed]not being correct or varying, voltage spikes & wave form .
I would need to know EXACTLY what the genny was putting out BEFORE I WOULD CONNECT ANY EQUIPMENT WITH ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS , this includes Engel & waeco fridgs, dvd ,cd ,tv, laptops etc.
The same applies to inverters , PURE SINE WAVE IS THE ONLY SAFE WAY
AND I WOULD NOT BE ASKING THE SALES MAN IF IT WOULD BE OK .
Many have been lucky & had no trouble & others have destroyed their equipment in a very short time, the problem is you wont find out if its going to do damage until too late.

Hi
Just a follow up, most good generators do put out a reasonably good wave form ,ie sine wave, but voltage & frequency[speed] contol are very important .
I don't know how the gmc measures up in this respect