Dual battery and Fridge advice... please( kinda urgent)

[mcfisherclan Member Find all posts View Profile Close mcfisherclan]

Hi guys,

Well we dont have a load of time online. Will be able to check back in maybe 2 or 3 times over the next 24hrs.

SO here is the issue. We live out west qld. We are currently in Syd, but will be driving from townsville back home tomorrow afternoon. We dont have a dual battery setup yet, or a fridge. BUT with the fact that there is fairly low food and water supplies back in our area we really want to buy as much as we can in townsville before we leave. I would normally take a few weeks/months to research and shop around for the best value/price/unit for us. We will be really struggling this year financially now after the floods. So we can afford to make the wrong choice the first time.

We have a family of 5 and are hoping to make the most of cheaper trips via the new prado out bush (when it drys out) sometime this year. Can the people in the know please help with some advice.

1. DO i need dual battery to use a fridge in the back?
2. What size would be best for a family of 5 (2 adults and 3 kids under 6)
3. Recommendations of actual products for us?
4. Best places to buy in Townsville if you know any?
5. Price is a real issue for us, so the best value is pretty high up there. but i guess long term is important too, so im not going to save $100 for something thats going to last half the time.

Cheers guys,
I know there are alot out there that are being affected by the current floods and our thoughts are with you all.

[lionel Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close lionel]

Re: Urgent help needed... please

mcfisherclan,

A couple of thoughts, I'm sure you'll get plenty of opinions from here

1. You don't need a dual battery for now (Townsville to Mt Isa), but it does allow you to run the fridge without risking flattening your main battery when you are camping
2. We have a 40lt Engel which is pretty good for 4 adults for a couple of days, but it depends on how long you want to go camping for and if you have an esky as well etc etc... Don't forget that a larger fridge will weigh a whole lot more when it's full so you need to consider if you will have to lift in in and out on your own. Most people on here are probably using something between 40 and 60 litres for family camping
3. If it was me, Without the time to shop around I'd stick to either Waeco or Engel
4. Don't know townsville, but Anaconda (if they have one) often have good 20% off specials

Cheers

Ed

[Guest Close Guest]

Re: Urgent help needed... please

A really good esky could also help in addition to the fridge if you want to stock up supplies.
Techni Ice Esky

http://www.tropicaliceboxes.com/tropical/profile.php

[Schaffer Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Schaffer]

Dual Battery and Fridge Advise

Not sure if the use of the name "Urgent" really does you any favours in your title. People tend to look at the titles (well at least I do) and avoid the ones that don't have any useful information in them.

In repsonse to your questions about a dual battery and fridge I guess you should consider filling in the details about what sort of use you would have for it. Are you looking at going camping for extended periods of time or remote travelling OR will you be staying in motels overnight. You can simply run a fridge from the 12v socket in the rear of your vehcile BUT this will stop when you turn the vehcile off and remove the keys from the ignition. You need to consider that it is also running from your crank battery so if you run that flat you are not going to start your vehicle. Since you are heading off tomorrow I would recommend delaying the dual battery initally and just running the fridge during the day. The reason for that recommendation si that you need to purchase and install the system which will take time or have someone install for you.

I would personally look at installing a dual battery system so that you know that you are not making an impact on your cranking battery.

In terms of fridges to use there are heaps. The new ARB ones seem to have a good name form them selves and now come in an extended range. One of the good features of these is that they include a low voltage (that is settable) cutout so if it was running on your primary crank battery it will shut the fridge down when your voltage reaches your set point. We have 5 in the family and use an Engel 40l fridge but if buying new would probably consider the ARB 47l.

[photoprado Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close photoprado]

Re: Urgent help needed... please

If you're leaving tomorrow afternoon, I would suggest there is not really time to procure and install and test a dual battery setup before you go.

If the weather is mild, you could consider parking the car/fridge in the shade and minimise overnight fridge access. It should keep up ok as long as the weather stays mild.

Alternatively, a Thumper battery would work well, and may even suit your second battery requirements.

As far as fridges are concerned, we have had a good run with our ARB 47L - enough for me to recommend them. There's an ARB in Garbutt, Townsville.

A good ice chest as already suggested is also a valid option

Good luck with it all

Michael

[Boomslang Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Boomslang]

Re: Urgent help needed... please

I've been giving my ARB (47 liter) fridge an extensive wokout over the last 13 months which included 2 trips to SA in Dec with 40+ temps everyday any many miles of corrugations. It has been perfoming faultlessly on all my trips, which also includes many weekend trips. It is the most user friendly fridge on the market with easy to set up temperature control (unlike Engel), Internal light, Drain plug, selectable undervoltage cutout to protect the battery and a direct 220VAC input if you want to power it from AC (no adapter required like the Waeco). I will recommend this fridge without any hesitation and they are now available in a few different sizes as well.

[mcfisherclan Member Find all posts View Profile Close mcfisherclan]

Re: Dual battery and Fridge advice... please( kinda urgent)

Thanks guys, it seems arb 47l is the one. will check it out asap. What is a thumper? will need to look that up too. I know i cant get a dual battery in overnight, but in the future.

The future trips will be for 3 or 4 nighters. With a young fam this will be it for a while. Mostly will be for 1 or 2 nighters. But the main issue is the current food shortage etc back home. So I will also look into getting a decent icebox if i can fit it all in YIKES thats going to be a challenge.

Cheers
I will keep looking back in when i can, its fairly hectic here and internet is patchy at best.

again thanks

[Schaffer Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Schaffer]

Re: Dual battery and Fridge advice... please( kinda urgent)

What is a thumper?

It is a portable battery that can either be run as stand along or wired into a charging cirucit:
Blue Apple Thumper
The good thing about then is they are portable and can be used in and out of the vehicle. The bad thing is they take up valuable space in the rear compartment where a duel battery is typically installed under the bonnent.

[Justo77 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Justo77]

Re: Dual battery and Fridge advice... please( kinda urgent)

I have a 60L Waeco which works well for my family of 6, holds enough for a few days but as some of the others have said a good esky would be well worth while.
I would recomend a dual battery set up as then you wouldn't have to worry about flattening the starting battery. When I got my fridge I got one of the accessory packs that Waeco normally offer that includes an insulated cover and a portable battery pack, you can then plug the fridge into the portable battery pack and plug the battery pack into the car so that it charges while the car is running. If your doing a few big drives the battery pack should stay charged for a few days. Only thing to watch out for with these battery packs is that normally the car can only charge them to a certain level, you will need to put them onto a car battery charger to charge them up all the way.
Hope you find some of this info usefull.

[chester Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close chester]

Re: Dual battery and Fridge advice... please( kinda urgent)

mate have a think about your storage as with your family and a say a smaller fridge of the 40 to 50 l range you will need an ensky as well.

For example when i traded up my 40l bushman i sat down with the missus and we decided that we no longer wanted an esky in the car as well however i did not want to be swapping out each beer as i go. We went an 80l waeco now you may think overkill but look at it this way.

2 Weeks worth of meet in the freezer section (usually ours plus friends), frozen vegitables, couple of those tube ice blocks if it is hot
in the fridge section 2 x 6 packs of beer, 2x bottles of wine, 1x bottle of spirits, cold bbq chicken for lunches, salad ingredients, sauces and condiments, 2x bottles of soft drink
In the dairy section 1x butter, 1x cheese slices, 6x tubs yogurt,maybe a block of nice cheese

So you can see it is easy to fill up an 80l fridge pretty quick if you are going to run without an additional esky

[Boomslang Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Boomslang]

Re: Dual battery and Fridge advice... please( kinda urgent)

Good point Chester
the 47 liter works well for us but we are only 2.

[chester Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close chester]

Re: Dual battery and Fridge advice... please( kinda urgent)

Yeah we are only 2 as well but i can still manage to fill an 80l i just put beer in the empty space

[samo Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close samo]

Re: Dual battery and Fridge advice... please( kinda urgent)

got a 60 waeco with dual battery setup, can fridge for 4 days at 3 deg C when the temp is 30 odd, there is 2 adults and 2 skids in my fam and it does us well when we go away, when i say run 4 days thats till the error light comes on, then its time to go on a big drive probably about 6hours to give it a good recharge, when you throw some food in a bottles of wine and a few 6 packs it soon fills any fridge up, i also have a 73l fibreglass icebox i use when i tend to bed the elbow a bit more, mainly use fridge for food in that case and esky for milkshakes. cheers samo :lol:

[Bushbasher Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Bushbasher]

Re: Dual battery and Fridge advice... please( kinda urgent)

Get the butcher to cryopack all your meat. You won't necessarily need a fridge - you could just use an esky and even get some dry ice.

I used a 40l engel for a couple of years before fitting dual batteries. During the day I cranked the engine up every 4 hours or so to keep the battery topped up. At night I simply dropped the temperature control down to around number 2 and the battery was never flattened or caused any staring problems.

Now that I run solar panels and 2 deep cycles in the camper trailer I have no problems with the frige at all.