Question re a 60lt Engel Fridge

I believe that once the battery gets below a certain voltage the Engel will not run or even try to...cheers

The WAECO will automatically shut down but the Engel won't. It will keep going until the battery has thoroughly drained so it pays to keep an eye on your voltage drop.

We have a 60ltr Engel and lost a battery due to not checking it regularly whilst away.

HTH

Scol.

Hi Bruce n Sal,

You can buy an in line battery monitor from camping shops which you can set to cut out at 10.5v or 11.5v. They are priced at about $130.00. They plug into your 12v power cable.

Regards Shane

Hi Bruce,

The Engel will run "on the smell of an oily rag".

It won't be damaged by reducing voltage, however this is the quickest way to stuff up a battery, permanently.

Deep Cycle batteries are designed to provide current drain down to about 50% capacity. Even draining the battery down to 30% should not adversely affect it, but draining it flat (10.4 volts) a couple of times will most likely damage it beyond "repair". The plates become calcified and will not hold a charge.

The cheapest solution is to add a low voltage cutout device in the circuit.

Derek Bester from Sidewinder (an advertiser on this site) has a good, well priced unit available, or you can purchase a similar device from Projecta. They have a plug and socket to connect in-line with the fridge circuit and will cut out the supply voltage at around 11.6 volts or so, to protect the battery from total drainage.

Bill.

Hi Bruce
If you are worried about your battery going flat, you can buy the Engel in line power cut out monitor. There are two power setting for you to select. When it reaches your selected power setting, it will cut your fridge out, saving your battery. It is as simple as undoing the 12 volt plug on the end, and inserting the cut out unit, or there is the same unit that is wired direct to the power line that the fridge runs from. As a matter of interest, your 60 litre Engel will draw a maximum of 4.5 amps per hour, giving you something to work out on your battery capacity.

Both genuine Engel units sell for Under $100

Cheers

Stephen

Thanks for the replies,

My main concern was the fridge being damaged by the battery going flat. The battery i am using is a large on out of a truck, a mate is a Diesel mechanic and when he changes one he change them all regardless if they are stuffed or not.

So the battery doesn't do too bad a job but i think the deep cycle is high on the list of things for the next trip.

I will however be more careful when i eventually buy a deep cycle battery.

Bruce