Deep Cycle Battery and/or a Power Pack ?
Submitted: Monday, Jul 04, 2011 at 16:32
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Doddy
Hi there. I plan to run a DC 80AH battery in my caravan to provide power for lights and water pump
should we
camp away from 240V power for a few days. I have also been advised to purchase a Power Pack to jump start my Prado diesel should its cranking battery fail on a 3 month trip. Question is, do I need both? Wouldn’t the DC 80AH give enough power to start the diesel in case of an emergency boost being required? Any advice would be appreciated.
Reply By: ben_gv3 - Tuesday, Jul 05, 2011 at 10:36
Tuesday, Jul 05, 2011 at 10:36
Do you know if the DC 80AH battery has a CCA (cold cranking amps) rating? Probably not since it's a deep cycle but it's worth asking.
I trust you realise all of the Power Packs use Sealed Lead Acid batteries which are more akin to deep cycle then starter battery construction.
What I'm getting at is if your 80AH battery has the CCA to start your Prado then I would use that instead of lugging around another bit of kit. Of course you'd need to remove it from the caravan and use jumper cables instead of trying to jump it through the battery isolator (if it has a jump start function).
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Follow Up By: Doddy - Tuesday, Jul 05, 2011 at 14:15
Tuesday, Jul 05, 2011 at 14:15
Thanks ben and all others who responded.Will
check out the CCA of 80ah and go from there.
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Follow Up By: ben_gv3 - Tuesday, Jul 05, 2011 at 14:22
Tuesday, Jul 05, 2011 at 14:22
Having said that though...
Since your DC battery will be in use running your lights etc it may be depleted hence it might have trouble starting your Prado.
Just some more food for thought.
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Follow Up By: Nomadic Navara - Tuesday, Jul 05, 2011 at 16:01
Tuesday, Jul 05, 2011 at 16:01
"I trust you realise all of the Power Packs use Sealed Lead Acid batteries which are more akin to deep cycle then starter battery construction."
Who told you that? Sealed batteries come in both starting and deep cycle style types. These devices are made for primarily for emergency starting purposes. Every one I have examined the specks of have contained starting batteries.
The engineers design them with emergency starting in mind. Tech sales staff then tack the deep cycle use on them.
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Follow Up By: ben_gv3 - Tuesday, Jul 05, 2011 at 18:54
Tuesday, Jul 05, 2011 at 18:54
Because I've pulled apart my own Power Pack, admittedly which is only a 18Ah SLA battery... and is the same battery you can buy from Jaycar and is definitely not a starter battery even though I've used it many a time for jump starting purposes.
What I consider a power pack is the run-of-the-mill ones you can get from SuperCrapAuto eg the Projecta ones etc not one like the Thumper or the ABR Battery Flyer.
No one said you can't use DC batteries for starting, they just won't have a long life.
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