Friday, Mar 30, 2012 at 11:22
I went to the DC to DC charger because it charges the van battery correctly via it's inbuilt 3 stage charging.
It also compensates for any loss of voltage in the cable from tug to van battery.
Because the fridge is a heavy draw in its own rite there van be a voltage drop when it is on and the van battery is a little low.
I have found consistently that the battery when low will come up to a fully charged state in around 4 hrs driving time. With the fridge in operation on 12v.
Having said this the 12v lead from van to both battery and fridge is heavy duty 6mm cable, via an Anderson Plug.
This way I can
camp up to four days without power (provided fridge is on gas) or solar input if it is overcast then drive for one day and the van battery is again up to full charge. However as I have portable folding solar I make a point of putting it out when camped
Our traveling is done like this, 2hrs then morning tea another 2 hrs then lunch then 2 more hours and
camp. We always run the fridge on gas when stopped for any break greater than 10 minutes.
This has worked
well over the years.
The other backup is a genset mainly for air con and is very seldom used.
But is still started once a month because if you don't use it you lose it theory.
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