'Supercheap' battery pack and Engel 40litre

Peter,
I have a projecta power pack which has been reliable for over 5 years now. I use it to run my versa light and my 12 volt shower and it will run my autofridge for about 4 hours max, which is enough to freeze everything up over night.If you mainly camp on power there is no need for a dual battery setup.Just run fridge while you are travelling, which is enough for an autofridge you can turn it off overnight then,but for other type fridges that need continuous operation you need alternate power supply, or run your main battery down and use the powerpack to jump start her in the morning.

It is not worth my while putting in a dual battery set up as I usually camp with power. The Waeco packs are pretty expensive for the times that I would need it.

What do you do between towns??
Dual batteries are always useful!

peterjday, A second battery is $150 plus wires & solinoid say $100 total $250 could be a good Christmas present.1991 80Series Std Diesel
2003 Down Under Camper

The supercheap 900 and 1200 amp packs are great for starting but they are next to useless for running a fridge - nor are they designed for this task. Install a 2nd battery it is not that expensive for the benefit gained. Turning off your fridge overnight, IMHO, is not an option where the ambient temperature is higher than 22 degrees C.
Cheers
Pete

I've had a good run out of the Projecta Power pack, excellent value at the current sale price IMHO. We carry it on our touring trips to power the lights if the vehicle has to go somewhere else after dark. It's there also for emergency. You can charge it off the vehicle as you drive. We have run the fridge off it for a couple of hours at kids picnics and so forth but I don't think it's a long term proposition for that.

We run a 3 Year old Engel 39 off a single 70 size battery in the truck and have never had a problem. I did install one of those $20 in line low voltage cutout things but it has never triggered. Our pattern of use is to use the truck every day when touring.

I know everyone has thier own opinion and mine is that if you do not have a winch, a power pack is all the insurance you need with current fridge technology. Especially if you don't stay in the one spot for long.All aboard!

I agree with Billy. If you're running the vehicle every day, you don't need dual batteries. Engel run fine each night, just needs a couple of hours driving to top up the battery.

Having said that, I like the dual batteries in case I get a battery failure as well. These newer vehicle can't be push started like the old ones!

Bit more on this!
I have run a Delkor 4wd battery as starter battery for over 4 years & it still cranks out the full 600 cca.
I have often run my Waeco 45l frig over night and longer on this battery but the security of a second starter battery is essential if travelling alone or in remote areas I believe. I have carried a second battery in my Triton ute in the tray & can switsh it over or jump start if I need to.
I also have a projecta pack but have never run the frig from it but it should see you out overnight but it is very slow to charge so not sure how that goes for short day runs.
The projecta will NOT start my little 2.5 diesel if the starter battery is down, probably because it is only 260 cca. After a few years of little use standing in the shed the projecta still seems to work ok but with the second starter battery I now usually leave it at home.
The Waeco frig seems quite efficient and makes an effective freezer but have yet to try it in v.hot weather day after day as I did with my previous Trailblazer 60l which was excellent in the tropics but a bit too big to manhandle on my own.
Hope this helps .

Your local 4WD places would quote $700 for a dual battery set-up - rip-off merchants! Bugger them off and if you can't do it yourself, or have any mates who can show you how, try an auto electrician. I bet the cost will be a lot less than $700.

I found the offers to install a dual battery setup for only 6-$700 scary, but I couldn't rely on the single battery for the fridge and radios as we were stationary for 24 hours at a time.

Purchased an Odyssey battery for $180 trade about four years ago. It is a gel cell deep cycle type thingy that has enough grunt to start the car but only weighs 6 Kg.
Small enough to fit in one of the storage pockets on the subie. It is a bit bigger than a motorcycle battery. I can't read the CCA on it any more but I remeber it was the equivalent of normal car batteries when I bought it.

Runs the fridge (a very old Engel) for about 24 hours. It is wired in parallel with the original battery using heavy duty wire. There are two 80amp fuses, one in the engine bay where the wiring taps off the original battery and the other inside the car where I can reach it from the drivers seat.

Turn off the car pull out the fuse and my second battery is isolated. Plug it back in BEFORE I start the car. No problems with spilkes and surges. Recharges while doing the days driving without the hassles of fancy control systems.

Works for me.

regards

A

Those Supercheap battery packs have a sealed lead acid battery inside them. I can't remember the capacity, but on the side of the box, it will say something like 17 amp hours, which is about one fifth the capacity of a good N70 sized car battery.

Won't run the fridge for long. The SLA batteries are deep cycle, but the charging current must be restricted. They will charge up very quick if hooked up to the vehicle's charging system. I use 7Ah SLAs and 2 amps is the max charge rate. So to overcome this problem, the packs have some sort of a resistor or diode to limit the charging current, so they do charge slower.

Simplest dual battery system is to wire two identical batteries (4gauge cable or greater) together under the bonnet. Simply doubles the capacity, also halves the stress of heavy current draws. Must have earth going to motor. Good system for the big diesels. Batteries last longer. A low voltage cutout for the fridge is a good idea with this.

those jump start packs generally have a 15-17 Amphour SLA (sealed lead acid) gelcell battery - they cope well with deep cycling, down to about 70%. Of course not all gelcells are created equal and you do get what you pay for. You have to charge them slowly (bout 2 amps) or they will die young.

The only cheap way out of your situation would be to parallel two marine batteries permanently and use a low voltage cutout - but you'd also need to be prepared to replace both batteries when one dies (possibly every 12-18 months) otherwise the old battery will just kill the new one.

peterjday,

Hi, I run a "Bushman" 35/42 litre of a battrey pack like you are saying except that it is 38 amp hours.
This is the most important spec that matters.
None of the other figures eg: cranking amps etc really matter for the purposes that you are going to use it for.
38 AH on my fridge set at 4-5 degrees will run it for about two days.
We are quite pleased with this as I can't run a dual battery set up and don't see any need to.

Cheers Aston