Saturday, May 09, 2009 at 11:03
Hi guy,
Don't mind the questions all, that's how we learn and that's what I love about this
forum. I thought we might have got more out of the batteries to but after talking to a few battery guys none were surprised with what we have done with them. 18 months full time use varying temps from -4 to 50 degrees.
Our fridge uses about 1.5-2 amps/hr according to the evacool website at 32 deg ambient temp. Run as half fridge half freezer. It will freeze fresh meat etc. Have not checked it my self. The fluros draw about 1amp/hr.
If we are staying for more than 2 days we connect the solar panel other wise don't bother. The trailer batteries charge off the car via an anderson plug while driving. We find this setup works very
well.
Make sure any wire you use for charging from solar panel or car is heavy duty. A few auto elecs have said ours is heavier than it needs to be but I have met others with similar set ups that have current lose and don't charge as quickly with thinner wire. For the extra couple of bucks to go next size up can save hassle of not being able to keep charged. We spent 3 months in Tassie first up camping with no power the whole time and had no problem with charging at all. If we get heaps of rain and batts getting low we connect the car and run for half hour to get them up a bit.
Hope this helps. If I can work out how to do it I will post a photo of the set up.
Josh
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