Fridges and Batteries

Steve,

Before I had a dual battery system in my old 4by I used to just use the standard starter battery for overnight stops.

I usually ran the fridge on a lower setting until we pulled up for the night and then changed the fridge to a higher setting. We also limited the number of times we accessed the fridge during the overnight stops as well.


Cheers Kev

Batterys aren't batterys, you have one engine starting battery high current short time and one deep cycle low current long time.
If you have one battery the chances of running it flat are quite high and it is hard to get a combined deep/starting battery although Optima make one, this also comes at a price as they give quite high starting current but not a long deep cycle life.

Beat to have 2 batterys that are seperated by an isolator, no worries when starting in the morning.

Have a good one

Whilst these days I have solar, generator, and dual battery, a few years back I ran a 39L Fridge from the start battery in a Falcon for four days. About 5 times a day I idled the motor for about 15 minutes.

It was no monster start battery either, about 550 cca.

So I have no doubt what you are planning is totally feasible. Perhaps invest $70 in a little jump start pack as insurance.

Cheers,

Jim.

I recommend a portable battery pack that can be used for the overnight stops and this can run the fridge and some lighting.

I recommend to leave the starting battery for just that.

Regards

Derek.

Thanks for all this -
I have been playing around with a small portable unit
3 X 7ah batteries with solar reg and a 10w panel - this unit should run the fridge for 3-4 hours while driving without totally discharging
trouble is the 10w panel is not big enough to recharge the batteries and cope with the fridge !!
I will get a Jumper Unit as a backup - And I have a Ctek XS 3600 charger to charge up overnight on a powered site

Before going on my safari to Darwin next August/Sept I'll invest in a nice new battery for the Jeep over 100 ah if possible ..

Hopefully that will keep the tinnies cool for a few weeks !!

Cheers

Steve

i just been to the 4wd adventure show in WA. I have a D40 Navara got no were to but a dual battery system except in the ute so i went for a Thumper it is a portable battery which you can run fridge lights jump start if you get stuck it is wired through to your engine plug it in to charge when your back on the road 2 to 3 days you will get etc

hope that give you more of a idea

Steve, I have had a Wacko 50 for about a year now. I can run it off a 100 amp battery for about 3 days,maybe 4 under good conditions.

I can also run it for a few days off one of the batteries in the engine bay.
I have a solenoid which automatically isolates the aux battery so I have one good battery for starting.
For overnight use this might be the best option for you.

The only problems with using cig lighters is the wiring between the fridge and battery may not be in perfect condition .
This causes the fridge to shut down with a red light flashing about every 4 seconds.
The other problem is that the wacko plug falls out or wobbles around .

The best way is wired direct to the battery with wire that can handle up to about 4 amps.
I butchered a wacko plug and soldered eyes that connect to the battery poles.

By having only the one battery... of course you have the obvious of running the main starter flat... but then when a battery is run flat it loses some of its holding power.. so each time it is run flat the battery is that little bit worse off (up to 20% each time)

In the end the cost saving of getting a single 150A/h battery would be eaten up in having to replace the battery more often.

I would be definitely looking for a second battery setup.. preferably the auxhillary set up that will charge when driving as opposed to the battery pack set up.

cheers

OK - all of your experience and knowledge has won me over -

150 ah AGM mounted in the back - wired with "BIG" wire and the
dual battery set up ...

Thanks everyone for input - any donations gratefully accepted !!

See you around OZ

Steve

Can I hop in and pose a similar question?

I've owned a Waeco 50l fridge for three years but never used it, mainly because we're travelling with a caravan with its own fridge and three deep cycle batteries linked to solar panels.

But the caravan fridge has been known to play up, it also needs to be cleared out and defrosted from time to time, and sometimes it would be useful to have the car fridge betwixt shop and caravan.

So, if I were to carry the Waeco in the truck, plugged into the cig lighter, I take it that it will operate just fine while travelling. I'm guessing also that the standard twin starter batteries in the LC 100 Series TD will not suffer unduly if the Waeco was run overnight (I'm not sure if the socket remains active with the ignition off so this may not be practicable anyway)? Equally, as an emergency (or defrost-time) source of refrigeration, the Waeco could be run indefinitely if plugged into a caravan cig socket.

I take the point that for extended use as the sole source of refrigeration, it makes more sense to fit heavier wiring and to install a (third?) deep cycle battery in the truck and to ensure that there is an appropriate system in place to maintain the health of the battery.

Michael