Newbies to the Campervan World... Keeping a fridge working for 3 days...

Submitted: Thursday, Dec 23, 2010 at 17:23

ThreadID: 83215 Views:11674 Replies:6 FollowUps:3

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Lis & Nick

Hi guys,

Firstly, I would like to say that I am very new to this. So I apologise now for the basic level questions etc. We have just purchased our first Campervan (Toyota Hiace, Campervan converted by Sunliner in Melb) and have never owned a caravan/motorhome before.

What we would like to do, is travel around Australia for 12 months. We would like to be able to power a fridge, some house lighting and charge 2 x laptops. I am trying to work out what type of power supply i need, whether it be 2 deep cycle batteries or solar panels or portable solar panels. I don't know.

I estimate that the longest time we will be stationary or without mains supply (240v) would be 3 days. So i would like to be self-sufficient for this amount of time.

Here is what i estimate our power usage to be:

Fridge: 80L Waeco Coolmatic Compressor Fridge - running constantly.
Lighting: 1 x 12V Fluro light that is already connect in the vans ceiling - 30mins per day.
Laptops: 1 x netbook - 19V - recharged probably every 3rd day. 1 x notebook, yet to be purchase - but around 19V recharged probably every 3 days also.

Now, i have tried to work out what the van already has. It has in the engine bay:
1 x 54D Battery (Is this the starter Battery?)
1 x ED4 Battery (Deep cycle battery?)

The rest of these things are scattered around the van:
1 x Mobitronic "black box" - that is for the fridge, so it can switch between 12V and 24V?
1 x Projecta On Board Battery Charge ( I assume this trickle feeds the battery when plugged into the mains).
1 x Fuse switch.

It is all been fitted out professional by Sunliner in 2004. So i believe that it has a "split relay" so the starter battery wont go flat etc.

I dont think I have enough power to stay out for 3 days without moving... so could someone please give me some options. Especially for powering the fridge.

I have uploaded some pictures of the van, so people can make more sense of my descriptions. http://aroundozwego.com/

Thank you for your help in advance.

Cheers
Larissa

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Reply By: Sigmund - Thursday, Dec 23, 2010 at 17:49

Thursday, Dec 23, 2010 at 17:49

A lot depends on how much work the fridge will have to do: the temp you set it at and the external temps.

Offhand you're looking at a deep cycle battery capacity of well over 100 amp hours.

The ED4 is 55 a.h.

AnswerID: 439664

Reply By: pepper2 - Thursday, Dec 23, 2010 at 18:14

Thursday, Dec 23, 2010 at 18:14

Just a rough calculation , say your fridge uses 3amps per hour typically,an alternater doesnt really fully charge a car battery so a 100amp battery may only have around 80amps to start with.

To ensure a long battery life you should only discharge to around 50% capacity i know you can discharge further will damage the barrery and reduce its life quickly.

Therefore if you discharge to 12.2v you will only have 30amps to run the fridge at 3 amps per hour you will have 10 hours running time.

If you ignored the above and ran the battery absolutely flat and damaged it your run time would be about 26 hours.

The batteries you have are much less than 100 amps so they will run the fridge for proportionaly less time.

i think you need a min on 2x 100a batteries and about a 120w solar panel as a minimum.

AnswerID: 439667

Reply By: Bushranger1 - Thursday, Dec 23, 2010 at 19:19

Thursday, Dec 23, 2010 at 19:19

Its very difficult to calculate the exact fridge power consumption due to all the variables involved. Ambient temp, how often its opened, how often it is restocked etc. It sounds like you don't plot yourself in one place for too long like myself so I will tell you what worked for us on our 2 years on the road.

We had no access to 240volt power for 2 years so I installed 2X120 AH deep cycle batteries in parallel in addition to the starting battery & ran our 40 litre Engel plus all our camp lighting.

Sometimes they would go flat in 5 days, other times because they were not fully charged due to a short run between camp spots they lasted 2 days. I wanted to keep costs to a minimum so i did not want to purchase Solar panels or gennie (HATE them for camping anyway). On very rare occations I would run the engine at a fast idle in the day to give them a charge.

I know your not supposed to run them down under 50% but we did & they were still fine when we got back. Anyway its not that expensive to replace them.

I guess what I am saying is that you can go on & on spending money getting a "bulletproof" dual battery system but I would rather use the money to spend more time on the road seeing our wonderfull country.

Cheers
Stu

AnswerID: 439677

Follow Up By: Lis & Nick - Thursday, Dec 23, 2010 at 20:26

Thursday, Dec 23, 2010 at 20:26

Can i asked were you stored the 2x120AH Batteries?

Does it have to be in the engine bay because we wont have enough room. Can i store them in the cupboard behind the passenger seat of the Van?

FollowupID: 711562

Follow Up By: Bushranger1 - Thursday, Dec 23, 2010 at 20:40

Thursday, Dec 23, 2010 at 20:40

I installed them in a cupboard in the tub of my Hilux ute.

I reckon the cupboard in the van would be fine. Make sure you vent the cupboard & use appropriate size wire to avoid voltage drop.

FollowupID: 711563

Reply By: Mick O - Thursday, Dec 23, 2010 at 19:55

Thursday, Dec 23, 2010 at 19:55

Have a read of John and Vals Blog ELECTRICITY FOR CAMPING. It should help you get a grasp on some of the basics and how to work out your needs.

Cheers Mick

''We knew from the experience of well-known travelers that the
trip would doubtless be attended with much hardship.''
Richard Maurice - 1903

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AnswerID: 439683

Follow Up By: Lis & Nick - Thursday, Dec 23, 2010 at 20:04

Thursday, Dec 23, 2010 at 20:04

Wow, thank you guys for all the feedback.

It looks like it would be best to set up two deep cycle batteries (100 - 120 each).

I am off the read John and Vals Blog as suggested above.

Thanks for the feedback

Cheers
Larissa

FollowupID: 711558

Reply By: Member - Bucky - Friday, Dec 24, 2010 at 05:00

Friday, Dec 24, 2010 at 05:00

Larissa

Your question is a very valid one.
Here is what we do.

We run everything 12 volts, and for the odd occasion we need 240 then it's via an inverter.
The key to running a portable fridge, is to make sure it's a 12/240 volt one. An Engel or a Waeco is really good.

Get yourself a cryovac machine, or get your meat, chicken ect cryovacced by your butcher.

Run the fridge full all the time, ie if you take out some food, then put back in something else, asap, even water filled plastic coke bottle, ect... Bulk will keep colder longer.
Get an insulated cover for your fridge.

Get some solar panels and put them out. not every time you stop, but if you are camped up for a couple of days then go for it, asap, and keep the battery's topped up..
We have 120 watt folding ones, but sometimes I wish we got 160 Watt ones

Hope this makes some kinda sence to you ,.

Happy travelling
Cheers
Bucky

AnswerID: 439712

Reply By: Lis & Nick - Monday, Jan 17, 2011 at 19:26

Monday, Jan 17, 2011 at 19:26

Hi guys,

So we have decided to get two (2) AGM batteries either 100AH, 105aH or 120aH - just depends what fits best in the space we have available, and a 120w portable folding solar panel.

The problem we now face is finding someone to fit and connect these, including a dual battery monitor and and dual cigarette socket outlet connect to the batteries.

We have visited an auto-electrician, but was not confident because he said that AGM's are the wrong battery because the alternator wouldn't be able to charge the batteries?? Can anyone help with this?

Secondly, we took it to a well-known campervan/ RV centre, but they are pretty expensive, but said that the alternator would charge the AGM's just fine. (but we could save a couple of hundred dollars, purchasing the batteries and then getting someone to install them).

So what i am asking is:

Will the alternator of a 2.4L Toyota Hiace, charge the AGM batteries, (we will also be using solar panels to keep them topped up as well)?

And does anyone know of an auto electrician that has experience in installing batteries into a campervan. (it has most of the wiring set-up, as we already have a dual battery system, expect it is only a 55aH battery).

We are based on the Northern side of Sydney. Any help, would be muchly appreciated.

Cheers
Larissa

AnswerID: 442131