Anderson Plug - charge battery

I do exactly that. Have a battery in the back of my ute to run the Engel and run a cable direct from the Anderson plug to the battery. It was connected by a auto electrician and there is an 'isolator' which only lets the second battery charge once the main battery is fully charged.

Works well.

That's exactly what I want to do. Thanks for that.

Can anyone tell me:-
1) How do I hook the battery up to the Anderson plug?
2) What type of battery can I use? I have been told that the AGM are best but also the most expensive. What is the next best option - the battery will be in a box in the cargo section of the wagon.

Mine is a direct connect. A cable (+ & -) with an Anderson plug on the one end and connectors on the other end which I attach to the threaded post on the battery and tighten it down with wing nut. I use a Delkor M31 marine battery - was in my van but replaced with a new Delkor and put the old one in the ute. Made a box out of marine ply, bolted it to the tray and got some battery clamps to hold the battery in place in the box.

It is permanently connected so I can use the Engel whenever I need. I got an Engel plug (female end) from ranger camping (with fuse attached) which I mounted on the side of the box and attached to the same threaded post.

Engel is mounted on fridge slide with one of those Engel sprung bases. Also stays permanently in the ute (under canopy) and locked with bike lock. We live in the country so is relatively safe and I can slide out when we go up to the city.

Just done an 11 week trip and ran the Engel as a freezer. Plugged it into 240v whenever available but it worked perfectly.

Obviously you have a battery in your van and this is charged via Anderson Plug whille you are travelling.
How do you charge this van battery when on 240?

My old Freedom had a battery in van and if I needed to charge it , I used a Ctek 7000 which had been modified.
The modification was a cut in wiring above the two clips and rejoined by 2 Anderson Plugs so that clips could be used in the normal way.
However, the modification was such that if the Anderson plugs were separated the top one could be plugged into the van Anderson plug and this would charge the battery.
I also have a Prado with a second battery (120amp AGM) in back and this is charged while I travel via wiring connected to alternator and to the Power In via Anderson Plug.
It looks like this
When I pulled into a caravan park I would pull out alternator wired Anderson plug (from Power In) connect the Ctek to 240 in back of Prado and charge battery via the top Anderson plug to the Power In on battery box.
While travelling my 2 Waeco's ran off AGM battery via modified Waeco leads .
When on 240 the smaller Waeco(CF18) continued to run off battery whilst the CF 50 ran off 240 until disconnected when it would swith over to using the AGM battery.
The 2 Waeco's look like this


The battery in back is secured by ratchet strap

This might give you some ideas.

Pedro

Definitely recommend an AGM which I purchased from Fridge and Solar (Mr Val)
His article on AGM batteries

have been using one to power the Waeco's since 2005 and all still good.

Also a plug for the Ctek 7000 as a battery charger to keep battery in good shape

Pedro