Solutions/Suggestions for Portable Battery Setup? (Instead of Dual Battery)

You will need a VSR and 6 B&S cable at the very least for charging purposes. The alternator will push more amps than the rear cigarette plug.

[cammac92]

yeah been looking into it a fair bit, is it safe to say that the 12v accessory plug from the rear will not provide enough power to charge a portable battery?
Therefore you would need a setup along the lines of a voltage sensitive relay as mentioned in the article below and then a rear anderson plug?

http://www.fridge-and-solar.net/dual_bat.htm

[ziggle]

This was my solution in the Patrol I used to have. I needed six seats, was towing a camper, and had no room in the engine bay for a dual battery because the LPG converter took up all the available space. Also I needed cheap :-) So I ran a heavy cable from the starting battery to the back of the car, via a simple 100A continuous duty relay in the engine bay to protect the starting battery. Then I made up a little panel, supplied from that cable, with a couple of plugs for the fridge and accessories, and an Andersen plug. I bought a basic battery box and a decent deep cycle battery, and made up a short cable (about a metre or so) that enabled me to connect the Andersen plug to the battery box. See the pics. All up it was heaps cheaper than buying a specialised power pack, but it basically did the same thing as they do, with the additional advantage that I could still plug things into the panel without the battery pack in place if I wanted (mainly an inverter to power a laptop for the kids to use on long trips).

If you're handy with the tools, you can get a cheap battery box and add the connections yourself. I see many adding 50A Anderson plugs on portable battery boxes. the only time you would need something so big is when connecting to the alternator for in-car charging while on the road. For other equipment connected to the portable battery, go with the smaller cousin - Anderson Powerpoles.
http://www.andersonpower.com/us/en/p...ole/index.aspx

Most devices are DC nowadays, so if you can avoid needing an inverter, it will lower the cost significantly of the portable battery setup.

[BiLLz0r]

The old man has one of these "Baintech PowerTop" seems like a very impressive peice of gear, however its costly at ~$600 mark.

Oh I like this. Might be on next years xmas list.

[cammac92]

The old man has one of these "Baintech PowerTop" seems like a very impressive peice of gear, however its costly at ~$600 mark.

[cammac92]

Hi

We run both the dual battery in car, and a portable battery pack (ArkPak) for use once we set up camp. Its great as the dual battery keeps the fridges going during the stop overnight or at a lunch stop for Maccas. The ArkPak is positioned in the campsite to power LED light bars, water pump and fridges during our camping stops. I also run a Projector 16Amp multistage charger that I charge the ArkPak battery as the built in ArkPak charger is fine to maintain the battery between trips in the garage, but is not that great in charging the battery quickly while the genny is running at our camp site.

nice setup, do you think the would ArkPak would survive nightly after an initial full charge before a trip, then getting a 12v car charge for a few hours a day while driving?

[blw]

Hi

We run both the dual battery in car, and a portable battery pack (ArkPak) for use once we set up camp. Its great as the dual battery keeps the fridges going during the stop overnight or at a lunch stop for Maccas. The ArkPak is positioned in the campsite to power LED light bars, water pump and fridges during our camping stops. I also run a Projector 16Amp multistage charger that I charge the ArkPak battery as the built in ArkPak charger is fine to maintain the battery between trips in the garage, but is not that great in charging the battery quickly while the genny is running at our camp site.

[cammac92]

Hi all,

Wondering what brands or solutions some of you have used to power a fridge or other accessories in the rear while ignition is off (instead of the classic dual battery setup).

I've seen some products such as the ArkPak or the Engel Smart Battery Box.
Any thoughts welcome.

Cheers,
Cam