Thumper vs Flyer vs Battery Box

tonydav
From some one who knows very little about vehicle electrics.
We have a deep cycle second battery in in our cruiser under the bonnet, you say you don't have room for one under yours.
Is there any reason why you couldn't put a deep cycle battery in a box in the back of your Kia and then wire the fridge to it.
Remove the battery when not wanted.
Just a thought.
Cheers
Baz

Davo,

We have a Thumper wired into the back of our Prado as there was not enough room under the bonnet for the size auxiliary battery we wanted. It takes up room, but so far we are happy with it. Ours is a 105AH. We wanted something to mainly run our fridge and that could cope with beng out bush for a few days.

Cheers,
Bruce and Di

The flyer also comes with some cable (which isn't cheap) and a few extra bits over a normal battery box. It's also a bit larger, I think, and sturdier with a large strap for lifting the whole thing, battery included.
I have one - but have since moved the battery and isolator under the bonnet.
I do agree the flyer seems too expensive when compared with the parts that make one up. I guess you're paying for the convenience of having it already connected for you.

If you are always near power when camping, and don't need to run the fridge for hours while in the car and stopped, then you might get away with running it off the main car battery. But you'll have to bypass the ignition so the outlet in the back of the car is permanently on.

Perhaps, since you already have the RAPS 36, you can just upgrade the wiring in the vehicle so that it will charge at 10-20A.

Yes, the FLYER is a complete dual battery system complete with isolator, plugs, cables, breaker and fuses. Just add a battery.

We have two of the Waeco RAPS 36 packs and the Waeco RAPS 12 wiring in our Prado. We run a Waeco CF-40 fridge. I haven't had the same experience as you that the battery goes flat even when the car is running. In fact generally I find that after a couple of hours on the hwy the battery has more charge than when we started, even on a hot day with the fridge running.

If camping in one spot for a few days, an hour or two's driving will generally charge the power pack up reasonably well. I wasn't aware of the 2 amp capacity of the RAPS 12; it seems to provide more than that.

I am no auto elec, but is it possible that there is some other problem in your electrics? E.g., how much charge is the alternator putting out? Could there be a short somewhere? Could other accessories be draining power? Might be worth getting someone to check.

We also have a 48A/hr Thumper unit with jump start facility. It was expensive, but very high quality. It also charges reasonably well from the RAPS 12. (Because we already had the RAPS 12 we didn't need to install the wiring that comes with it.) You would be safe with one of them, provided there isn't some other problem in your wiring.

Cheers,
Des

Hi Davo,

I have a 75A thumper in the back of the 80series, runs my 60 litre Engel, I think they are a quality battery, a tree branch went through the back window of the cruiser, in a severe wind storm, it also punched a hole in the side of the thumper, it has not mised a beat, still holding full charge and running the engel.

I have jumped started so many different people with it and overall am very impressed, although as mentioned else where it is not cheap, but it does come with a 40amp charging kit, and jumper leads.

Hope this has been of some help,

All the best Warren.

Davo,

I have both mate and they are both good devices.

My Flyer has a 100Ah Remco inside and I use this as my main auxiliary battery pack.
With this battery installed it is "bloody heavy" and as such I do not use it as a portable system.

I also have a 75Ah Thumper and have had this for around 6 years now and still going strong. The weight of this unit is sufficiently "light" to use as a truly portable system.
This is the baby I use with the tent when resident at camp, where I remove the fridge from the vehicle. Its jump start capability is a bonus, but as the starting battery is isolated from both the Flyer and Thumper, I have not had to use this feature yet.

The one difference with the Thumper over the Flyer, is the availability of multiple 12 volt outlets, if you need them.
The Flyer has one cigarette style outlet and a 50a Anderson outlet if required.
The Thumper has four outlets in the 75Ah model, three merit style sockets and one cigarette style socket.
I quite often have the fridge and two fluros connected, plus I plug the solar panel into another socket, so the four outlets are great.
I guess it would be possible to have a multi-outlet accessory plugged into the Flyer, but the convenience of 4 ports already on the Thumper give it instant flexibility.

The Flyer with a lighter battery (or optional battery packs) would also be more portable, but I believe the 75Ah Thumper provides a more compact profile.

Either of the two choices will give you an excellent "dual battery" solution with good capacity for most situations.
The Flyer/battery combination would work out a little cheaper all up, if cost is a real issue.

No connection with either Blue Apple (Thumper) or Sidewinder (Flyer).
Just a happy user of both systems.

I now also have another battery system at my disposal.
I have recently invested in a new camper trailer which has 2 batteries with a combined capacity of 160Ah.
Charging while travelling is achieved by plugging in a lead to the"OUT" Anderson connector on the Flyer which connects to the 12v cable on the camper.
This is another reason why the Flyer remains resident in the back of the Ute.

Have I spoiled myself with all these 12 volt power options?
You bet ya!
Each option was introduced for a specific purpose (or by accident) and all work well with each other.

No bloody generator for me:-)


Bill.

I'm just going to add my voice to the ones that suggest that there may be some problem in the RAPS 36 battery pack or the RAPS 12 power outlet, and here's why.

If the RAPS 36 was only designed to charge itself at 2 A, it would take about 18 hours for a full charge if it was totally dead. (Going from half to full would still take about 9 hours!) Most people don't drive that far in a day, or don't leave their car idling that long just to charge the battery.

There is _some_ limit to what it will charge itself at but I suspect that the limit is rather more than 2 A. It won't be over 10 A (it has to not blow the vehicle fuse if plugged into the factory cigarette lighter socket, and lots of those are fused at 10 A), but something like 5 or 6 A seems reasonable to me - giving a full charge time of 6 to 7 hours, or a half charge time of 3 to 3.5 hours - closer to a reasonable amount of driving.

So... I think either it's not getting enough juice out of the RAPS 12 socket, or that there might be some internal problem (like the bad connection mentioned) in the RAPS 36. A good auto electric place ought to be able to investigate both possibilities rather quickly.

As to your question about being able to jump start from an AGM in a battery box using jumper cables - yes, you can do this. Make sure the heavy wires from the terminals on top of the battery to the terminals on outside of the battery box are clean and tight - or, *carefully* open the top of the battery box and connect the jumper cable clips directly to the AGM battery terminals. Make sure the box lid can't flop back and knock the jumper cable clips loose, and that the jumper cable clips can't flop into each other.

The AGM batteries that are used for lights and fridges aren't really starting batteries - they are meant to deliver 10 or 20 A for a few hours instead of 300 A for a few seconds - but they will do it in a pinch. If you are jump starting the engine every day from your AGM, the AGM might not last as long as it otherwise would, but doing it a few times a year isn't bad. Charge up the AGM fully as soon as you can after you use it for a jump start and it will most likely be just fine.

I hope this helps!

Matt R.

Not sure if this helps,
I have a Waeco 25 and a 30 amp thumper which I wired in myself, not being a 12v boffin I thought it was quite easy.

The fridge runs fine when I'm driving and the battery stays charged, I found if I am touring during the day there is no problem with leaving the fridge on all night and the battery is only at about 12.2v in the morning, that's with the fridge at about -8c
My car is a Forester and I have never had a flat battery with this system.

I also use an OZ Charge 2-4-8 amp charger if I stop for a couple of days in a motel,
I simply keep the fridge connected to the battery and connect the battery charger to the battery.
I use this system instead of the recommended 'fridge power supply' simply because it keeps the battery well maintained, I can use it for other things where as the
'fridge power supply' costs $100 and can't be used for anything else.
I have been using this system for a year or so now and I find it faultless.

I have recently bought an 80w solar panel for camping which also seems to do the trick.
Obviously if you use a bigger fridge a bigger battery will be needed but as far as the thumper goes I can't fault it.

BTW I just recently purchased from 'Home of 12v' another 30 amp battery for my wife's car as I love them so much but also made up a short cable from old jumper leads with 175 amp Anderson plugs so I can connect the 2 batteries together to get 60 amps if needed.

Well that's how I do it hope this give you some food for thought

David

Hi Tonydav,
not being too familiar with your vehicle I cannot be certain of your situation.
My personal opinion of thumpers is that they are designed for the not do it yourself market. The thumpers that I've seen have more outlets than are necessary for the average person. You say that you want to run a Weaco fridge in the back of your car? But why buy all those fancy gizmo's that cost you big bickies. All you realy need to do is run a pair of suitable sized cables from your main battery, via an isolator and a fuse,which is ignition controlled to where you want the fridge. You may need a 12 to 12 transformer near the second battery if the cabling is a bit light and you get voltage drop. I would put the axillary battery in a cheap eski of a suitable size and fit a couple of Anderson plugs to the eski and chop off the 12v plug fro the Weaco and fit an Anderson plug to it or you could connect the 12v Weaco cable straight to the auxiliary battery via a second fuse but I would advise you to put a pair of Anderson plugs on the feed so that you can remove the eski/battery from the vehicle when not needed.

I would not scrap the Weaco. I have had a Weaco for quite a few years. Just simplify your charging and supply system