fridge powering opinions

[g.t Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close g.t]

Hey Guys,
Im about to buy myself a 40L engel and just want some opinions on powering solutions..
My Prado does not have a dual batt setup, so im hoping id get a night out of it without deadning my battery.
But I have a honda eu20i generator, which I was going to also use for running the fridge, top up car batt if needed etc.
Do you think ill be alright to run the fridge overnight without doing continious damage to my battery, or would you sell the genny and invest in a dual battery setup?
Ill be upgrading vehical in the next year or so, so im a bit hesitant to spend the coin on a dual battery setup on this car if i can get away without it!
Interested in your opinions..

Cheers
Grant

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

Go the dual battery path with an isolator, you don't want to risk draining the cranking battery and not be able to start the car the next day. A redarc isolator is <$90 off ebay, maybe another $50/100 wires and fuses, ads a few hundred for a deep cycle battery and tray. Most of this can be removed from the old rig and moved to the new rig so its not a wasted investment.

[Brains Find all posts View Profile Close Brains]

Hey Guys,
Im about to buy myself a 40L engel and just want some opinions on powering solutions..
My Prado does not have a dual batt setup, so im hoping id get a night out of it without deadning my battery.
But I have a honda eu20i generator, which I was going to also use for running the fridge, top up car batt if needed etc.
Do you think ill be alright to run the fridge overnight without doing continious damage to my battery, or would you sell the genny and invest in a dual battery setup?
Ill be upgrading vehical in the next year or so, so im a bit hesitant to spend the coin on a dual battery setup on this car if i can get away without it!
Interested in your opinions..

Cheers
Grant

Keep the Generator and get a dual battery setup as well! I agree with Rev, I have a Redarc isolator and a 80 AH Allrounder battery for my setup and it powers the fridge for up to three days if we're not driving and goes for a long time if you are driving everyday. I always charge the 2nd battery with the ctek every couple of months or just before we go camping.

[matt150 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close matt150]

I agree with the majority. I have a redarc and 115amp hr battery set up and it is great. I have just purchased another dual battery tray ready for my new Prado, the install and set up of a deep cycle will be my first task !

[g.t Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close g.t]

Yeah it does make more sence to go the dual battery, I was just trying to be cheap and get out of it for the short term. In saying that I still have a couple of 2 week long trips planned with this car so I would get my moneys worth out of it!
Electronics arent my strongest but im keen to give it a go by myself if I did it, will start using the search button I think to get more of an idea on how to set this up

Cheers

[Brains Find all posts View Profile Close Brains]

Yeah it does make more sence to go the dual battery, I was just trying to be cheap and get out of it for the short term. In saying that I still have a couple of 2 week long trips planned with this car so I would get my moneys worth out of it!
Electronics arent my strongest but im keen to give it a go by myself if I did it, will start using the search button I think to get more of an idea on how to set this up

Cheers

Check out my rig page, there is a link to my dual battery install.

[ondaboat Coopers Pale Ale Find all posts View Profile Close ondaboat]

Howdy GT
I ran a "temporary" setup in my wife's Commodore for 5 years. Just a 60 amp/hr battery in a box with an anderson plug attached which I would put in & out as needed. Ran a surepower isolator under the bonnet with 6mm wire to the back to charge it connected by anderson plug. In the top of the box had an engel socket to connect the fridge. Was reasonably cheap to set up. When brought the prado last year took the stuff out and used it for that.

Regards Adam

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

Hi g.t.,

The thing that I picked up loud and clear was that you didn't want to spend the money unnecessarily, and that you were thinking of upgrading in a year or so?... SO... I think that your question was really "Is it really necessary??"

I would agree wholeheartedly that a dual setup is the best way - [we still have the dual battery on our long list of desires (as we plan to keep the car a while), together in the list with roof racks, an awning etc, etc]. The question is "which is the right approach for you?"

Just to cheer you up a little bit, we did a trip up to the Carnarvon Gorge earlier this year with the same problem, ie (1)Just bought frig, (2)going away; (3)unsure of battery load/life..

and (4) Should we spend the dough on a dual battery setup, or wait (research, delay, procrastinate etc), until we knew a bit more of the loads, battery lifetime etc... [Our single cranking battery was also starting to show signs that the end of its life was approaching, so we knew that doing 'nothing' was not an option.]

We ended up just getting a NEW cranking battery, for $210 (NRMA) #4704 (850 CCA (Cold Cranking Amps), 175 RC (Reserve Capacity)), and we lasted 2 days running the Waeco 60l frig, on that single battery with no problems at all. the start after that time showed no battery fatigue at all. Could probably done another 2? days!

Clearly the above was our experience, and we certainly weren't going to be in trouble (lots of other cars around) if it did go flat, and we would probably have taken a different approach were that not the case.

The Frig uses perhaps 50-70 watts when it is cooling, but cycles in and out, so the average is likely to be under 20 watts? If you have jumper leads try leaving all? the interior lights on overnight, and see if you can start the can the next day?? Most frigs have cutouts when the battery gets below "safe" and even if you switch the frig off after dinner it will probably still keep reasonably cold??

Mmmmm.. The question remains... "which is the right approach for you?"

Good Luck!

bworth

[Reserve Capacity is the number of minutes that the voltage of a '12v' battery will last, with a load of 25 amps, until the voltage drops to 10.5 volts.]

[g.t Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close g.t]

Thanks alot for the replys there
bworth, 2 days is more than enough for me! I actually have a waeco fridge already and did a test by leaving it on for 6/7hrs and my battery was completely flat, I didnt bother mentioning this as I was unsure if my battery was on its way out/too small. So reading that, it may even be worth me purchasing a larger capacity main battery and going from there, probably still be an idea to upgrade the wiring to the rear socket though. Worst case scenario I would have to charge the battery via the genny.. which could be a pain. Certainly something else to think about anyway! Have been looking at the DIY guides on here, seems pretty straight foward. Decisions decisions