12 months on the road. Best power? Best size Fridge? Ideal Battery Setup? Tips?

This piece of string ........
Questions -
Where will the fridge be mounted ? In 4by or in Camper ?
Will you be using the freezer ? If it has one ?
What lights are currently ( no pun intended ) in the camper ?
What size are the 2 batteries now in the camper ?

Most Waeco 80 Lt run av 2.9 Amps / hour ? you state 0.89 !

For a solar setup you will need enough amps coming into your setup in 6-8 hours as you draw out over 24 hours or some other way of filling the gap -

Does the vehicle have a dual battery setup to charge the camper batteries while you are driving ?

If you send me an email I can send you a spreadsheet which might help
with the Solar part of your question

Cheers

Steve

How much do you want to spend?

$1000.00 or $40000.00?

My smallish budget is properly a lot different to your smallish budget.

This is going to have interesting replys.

Hi Erin
Solar is the best long term option in my opinion but in your case I reckon that a, say 1kva inverter generator and a good charger instead of the 4th battery. In some national parks generators are restricted or banned. It will take more than 12 months to get value with solar but you will always use a generator. With 4 batteries you would need to work out if your tow vehicle alternator will produce enough power to charge efficiently. That is my 2 bobs worth for you to think about.

Neil

Erin, stand back from your computer screen as it will be bombarded over the next few days.

My advice is mostly limited to the fridge and the Waeco 80l. Avoid it like the plague if battery consumption is an issue. It is arguably marginal as a freezer and _Affordable_Storage_Drawers.aspx current like it is going out of fashion. An average of 3.5A!!! This compares to about 1A for most other fridges ( Waeco 50 or 60l), Engel etc.

From Waeco's website in the UK.

Waeco power use chart

( no reference to this in the Aust web site)

A big part of the problem is freezing. You really, really, really don't want a freezer unless you specifically want ice cream in the middle of a desert, or scotch on the rocks. Freezing uses *a lot* more energy than cooling. Cryovac'd food will last 4 weeks at least and months in many cases in the fridge. Even fish lasts 3 weeks. It is easier to handle, store and use at the last minute. Research this, and better still go get some meat from your butcher cryovac'd and leave it in the fridge for 2 months. You will be surprised, it tases better than new, especially marinated. Unlike frozen stuff you can even tell what's in the bag.

Other than that, to make it simple get as thick a cable from your vehicle to the trailer as possible ( AWG 8 or bigger), 100 to 160W of solar panels with a good regulator to last you a few days, and all LED / flouro lighting. You will be laughing.

Gidday Erin

Get a good quality generator if your planning to spend a bit of time in the bush.

Regards

Kim

BUY the Camper Trailer Book by Collyn Rivers (note spelling) who is based at Broome, it will prove invaluable. May also pay to Google him to see his resume.

His book provides a lot of background information, advice and theory behind camper trailer electrics. This will enable you means to calculate what you require for your situation.
It has chapters on solar, batteries, cable wire, etc.

I'd just put a "regular" 2nd battery in the vehicle and get a 2kva honda and a good charger. Well thats actually what I have! 2 exide crankers with one dedicated to accessories and a deep cycle in the van. I used to have a deep cycle as the second in the vehicle but it died after about 4 years and decided to replace both in vehicle batteries with the same ones at the same time. So far the set up has been as good as with the deep cycle and I have the available cranking amps sitting there for winch, jump starting (mainly my ride on mower) etc. Also the batteries were cheap, like $108 each from battery world when I got them not quite 2 years ago.
Going a 2 KVA may be too large but they are the best of the lot and not a great deal more weight or size difference. Your young so you'll carry it easy and it'll run tools easier some time in the future. Put an hour meter on it as that makes maintenance easier.

Hi Erin,

As a fellow youngin on a budget I hope I can offer some useful advice.

I have an Engel 40L fridge in my Landcruiser (I highly recommend the Engel, they are very reliable!). What we have done so we don't zap the power is to install a battery isolator under the bonnet. When we are driving along, or stopping for only one night, we use the 'joined' setting which means that the batteries run together and crank the engine together when you start the car. When stopped for a few days, we switch to 'isolated'. This separates the connection between the cranking battery and the auxiliary battery. The fridge runs from the auxiliary battery while the cranking battery can never go flat :) After you have started the car again, you can switch the switch back to 'joined' to charge up the auxiliary battery for your next stay. I haven't stopped for more than 3 days with the fridge running & batteries isolated, but there is still enough voltage in the auxiliary battery after this time to start the car if need be which may give you some indication of how long you can stay with your batteries still joined. I also have a battery voltmeter installed in the cabin so I can check the battery voltage on either battery at any time. My dad installed these two bits for me (I think he got them from Jaycar)- you might have someone similarly handy with the electrical bits to save on the installation cost.

For lights, I have a LED tradies worklight which I got from SuperCheap for about $60. It has a lot of LEDs! I have some 12V sockets installed in the back of the car (depending on your car it might come with one standard) to plug in the light. I also have a lightpole which is attached to the rear wheel carrier, made out of an extendable tent pole. I extend the tent pole and put the light in the top (it has a bit of 90 degree angle metal attached to it (sticky velcro! works a treat)) so the light sits horizontally and throws light over the camp in whichever direction I care to aim it.

As for the cryovac, great idea for keeping things fresh. We really only use ours for meat. We got the unit from the master butchers, but I have seen them at oo.com.au under vacuum sealer- not sure what the quality is like but the price isn't bad at all. For veggies etc you are better off keeping them in the fridge, or wrapping them up separately in newspaper and putting them in a calico bag- this works especially well for root vegetables and apples. It's probably likely you'll have access to shops fairly regularly on your travels so the cryovac idea might not even be necessary, but it's definitely great to have for trips up to a month.

We have tried the esky thing and personally think they are a pain in the butt... you have to buy ice all the time, no good!

For my batteries I have two Exide Extreme N70. They cost a couple of hundred dollars each but they are really nice batteries!

No idea about the solar, sorry. Probably only worthwhile if you are going to be stopped for a while or running a lot of things.

Hope this helps and happy trip planning :)

If you want an extra battery that won't be damaged by occasional deep discharging, works well for starting and charges in less than a day, then make sure you get an AGM - Absorbed Glass Mat battery.

Don't be fooled by batteries having glass mat separators !

Erin,
as you can see, different people have so many different thoughts on the same subject, does not mean they are wrong, it suits them, so it IS *perfect* for them.

Maîneÿ . . .

Erin said
"Also, any suggestions/tips on running fridges and how to optimise running time and lower battery draw are greatly appreciated."


Fridge efficiency.
Opening and closing a chest type fridge does not loose a lot of cold if done slowly. Opening it quickly will disturb the air and suck cold air out. (minimal saving but it all counts.)

Load warm things into the fridge to cool only when your driving and use turbo mode if available to cool it quickly before you stop so that your using alternator power not battery power. eg Only load the hot booze when you'll be driving for a while, do any shopping as soon as possible when driving and get it in the fridge.

Keep the fridge in as cool a spot as possible.

Set the fridge temperature lower when driving and turn it up a bit when stopped. Easy if your fridge has digital control. Just be careful not to freeze things unintentionally or go above a safe temperature. A fridge thermometer can help here.

Saving lighting power.
Go to bed when the sun goes down and get up when it comes up. Saves lighting power, obvious really.

Use a led headlamp each, we rarely need other lights.

Use a gas light if you need more light. We don't.

General.
Carry a good quality smart charger and charge all your batteries fully whenever you get the chance, caravan park etc.

Get some battery monitoring equipment, a cheap $10-15 multimeter is good enough ,and learn how to use it. Better is a DC clamp meter $100-120 which lets you check charging currents without disconnecting anything.


And we find a 60L fridge is easily sufficient for two people for a week with a little menu planning.

There are some really big con's with 12v fridges including...

1.) Once food is frozen it works just as hard as the power-supplys supplying power to the unit to keep everything frozen.
2.) You yourself will work hard "managing" the power-supplys to keep the food frozen
3.) Frozen food is unsafe if kept in varying tempretures
4.) The real cost of a self-managing 12v system is incredably expensive...

The cost of managing a gas system is a gas bottle and the fridge's "switch-over" when camped or touring...

the alternative is provisioning for 12v, ie... solar panels, batteries, regulators, wiring, switch;s, shunts, multiple "switch-over" systems, cost, suspension upgrades and the list goes on and on...

IMHO... for camping in the same area for more than four days, the best gas fridge in the market is the Electrolux RC1180 or F400... properly mounted and vented and managed they are a much less expensive solution to food safety...

If your touring a 12v is an good alternative to a quality 40litre esky.... it saves you bothering with ice from the servos your filling up in along the way...

Erin,

If I've read your situation correctly, I'd suggest you don't even really need an extra battery.

You said that you'll be running the fridge from the batteries in the camper most of the time and only from the car while day-touring/driving. If the fridge will only be powered by the car when you're driving, why would you need an extra battery? Assuming the fitted/cranking battery is healthy, it would run your fridge even for a couple of hours if you stopped the car to go for a short walk (and you'd still be able to start the car afterwards!). Obviously if you're planning longer hikes in the heat of the day you'll need more (& isolated) battery power so that your starting battery isn't drained.

If I've understood your situation correctly you should be able to run the fridge for a day or two from the two camper batteries (depending on their size, health etc. and assuming they get a good/full charge between stops). So, if I personally were in your situation, I'd look at buying a small/simple solar panel system (ie. panel and controller) to 'top-up' the camper batteries while stopped for extended periods. A solar salesman will probably try to sell you a huge expensive system that will keep everything fully charged so you can sit still indefinitely but I would argue that's not always necessary ie. assuming you could sit still for two days with the current set-up before your camper batteries need charging, perhaps a smallish solar system could give enough 'assistance' to get you a third day in the same spot before your camper batteries require a long drive to charge them up again.

We are halfway through a 12 month trip with a Cruiser and a van.

We use the fridge in the van as both a fridge and a small freezer and have a 60ltr Waeco as a freezer only. It runs 24/7 at -10deg

It usually runs off the 240 on the van but quite often is in the car on 12 volt overnight It also travels in the car and is connected to the auxilary battery.

We use it to allow us to buy bulk supplies and freeze them to get us from place to place.

I have two N70ZZZ Hybrid batteries and so far they have managed OK.

The van has two Ultimate semi sealed 100amphr charged by 140w solar panels

The car has 8 auxilary sockets in it as well for all the toys .

Some are connected to permanent power and some to switched power.

Cheers