Dual Battery choice

[ag9111]

Engels have a three position switch for the cut out voltage. The three positions relate to starting voltages for a Diesel, highest,Petrols, and a straight Aux battery, lowest voltage.

[new44]

I have had a decent look for a switch on mine . Can`t find it anywhere.

Is it behind a panel somewhere?

[ag9111]

Engels have a three position switch for the cut out voltage. The three positions relate to starting voltages for a Diesel, highest,Petrols, and a straight Aux battery, lowest voltage.

My bad

Wrote this in a hurry and should have said Waeco not Engel

[new44]

O.K. Thanks

[daryn]

Ok, I think my 2nd Battery is playing up, my first question is this battery any good to have:

http://www.acdelco.com.au/batteries_smf.html

mine is the 85amp model.

Im still not getting the agm etc business.

It is running through a red arc and is just over 12 months old now, has worked well up till about 3 months ago.

[ag9111]

Sounds like you have something wrong with your setup and its probably something simple. Take it out and put it on charge, overnight, with a decent battery charge,r then take it back to were you purchased it for a load test. That will tell you if its any good or not.

Couple of questions Daryn

What type of Battery is it? Model No if you can get it. ACDelco batteries have been around for a while and should be OK. You short cut only takes me to the cover page.

Saying that I can go to a battery wholesaler near were I work and he can give you a battery case and any brand sticker you want to go on it

How is your battery cycled, charger and maintained?
Batteries must never be discharged till they are really flat as this shortens their life.
Batteries should never be left in a discharged state as this shortens their life.
Batteries should never be left sitting on a concrete floor as this shortens their life.
Batteries should be regularily discharged and used otherwise this shortens their life. Keeping a battery fully charged and never discharging it is not healthy for a battery
If not using a DC to DC charger in your carvthen you should regularily put your deep cycle battery on a decent 240V battery charger to maintain it. This will effectivly bring it up to 100% charge and prolong its life.

As handy as it is, having your second battery mounted under the bonnet and not really using it for its intended purpose is not real good for the longevity of your battery. I for one will never mount my second battery under the bonnet. It sits at home on float, on a piece of timber, Its a wet cell 95Ah battery that is nearly 4 years old now and still runs my Waeco 50 Lt and campsite lighting for at least 2 1/2 days without being charged

[daryn]

Sorry for my lack of explanation for problem, so I will go in to more detail:

Besco 12" sealed as starter
AC Delco DCM24SMF 82amp/hr as 2nd Dualie - this is a sealed maintenance free battery.
Red Arc with microprocessor control

I have 2x240v chargers - 1xEvaKool 7amp and a larger size 8amp

My Evakool 40l is always connected on, being used everyday.

All parts supplied by Battery World Auto Electrician fella, not salesman.

Batteries are under bonnet, anderson plugs and all good size cable everywhere, the thinnest cable is the actual supplied 12v cable with fridge.

I drive a minimum 1 hour a day, mostly up to 2 hours. once a week lately I have had to throw it on the 240v. I did last night and by 1pm today the fridge cutoff had activated due to low voltage.

Does it matter which battery I put the 240v on ?

Never less, for over 12 months it has been great up until the last 3 months, gradually getting worse to the point now something is very wrong.

[ag9111]

Always best to put the charger on the dual battery in case your isolator does something wierd. I always charge both batteries.
How long have you had this particular set up Daryn. Get the battery back for a check up at least. Doesn't sound good. If your fridge is always on then the battery is being cycled so thats good. looks like a charging issue.

[daryn]

Thanks Garth,

I reckon the setup is over 16 months old, I have had the charger on the 2nd all night and will monitor, I will put it on again tonight.

[new44]

Off your topic of conversation ,,,,
I am looking at these batteries from All Purpose Batteries, to run 60l Fridge Freezer.

Has anyone got any comments on either brand battery,, running time,,Quality,, Size,, or the Shop?

http://www.allpurposebatteries.com.au/p ... cts_id=103
http://www.allpurposebatteries.com.au/p ... ucts_id=24

[Diddy]

I bought the fullriver agm 120a/h from that mob and I can run my 40engel for 4 days easy

[4x4fun]

Hey Guys, I have a Deep Cycle wet cell that I got from the place Garth was talking about (one battery many labels ) I think from memory it was around $250 and it is mounted under the bonnet on a mistu frame I got for around $160. I have a Redarc isolator $120. Now I had a mate wire it up for me and all was good until the batteries would drain down to a point where the isolator would kick in and then blow the 40amp fuse we had. So recently (2 weeks ago) I took it to a professional to get him to put in a circuit breaker and all seemed well. Since then I have been tinkering and noticed that the batteries are not keeping charge. Now there is nothing drawing from the aux so I took it back and after some mucking about discovered that the aux (deep cycle) was pretty much dry ! And the OE Thai POS was not much better! The auto electrician filled them both up with acid (3lt in total) and suggested I run it for a week to see how it goes. I'm a bit confused as to why they would be so low? They are both less than 2yo, has anyone else experienced this or once again am I just special???
Daz

[4x4fun]

hey guys, i just took it for a quick run (15min or so) got back and checked the batteries and noticed that it was rather hot in there. my theory is : could the engine bay heat be enough to evaporate the acid out of the batteries? If so how the hell do I cool it down? Please help i have a trip in two weeks

[ag9111]

Darran
Get your charging system checked. Sounds like an overchaging issue to me. Suggest a decent place like Key batteries on Mt Keira Rd or the auto sparkie beside were you bought the battery. Closer to you place anyway.
How often do you check your water levels on your batteries. Should be about once a month when you do your other checks oil etc.
Batteries generate heat when they are being charged, this is a by product of the chemical reaction that also breaks down the sulpuric acid and lead to produce hydrogen. I your batteries were flat before they were topped up then the heat could have been from the charging current

[shotgun283]

Im running a 60ah Thumper with a 600w inverter attached, i used their wiring which is basic and runs the isolater that is activated when the ignition is on accesories and run. Im not real switched on with electronics but so far ive had no problems with the Thumper running a 47lt ARB fridge. Longest so far ive run it without using the ute is 3 days (in cool conditions). If the ute is sitting in the shed for a few days i hook the fridge up to 240v. In reality 60ah is small, but as this has the jump pack on it and i got it cheap on special, it suited me for farming.

[4x4fun]

Autowise are the guys looking into it ATM, so far they have been great. they had a look and it was charging at 14.5 amp and they said that was ok. i must admit i have been slack and not checked the aux for a while but the POS OE one is translucent to a point that i can see it regularly

Thanks Garth

why the stupid daughter?

[ag9111]

14.5 amp? 14.5 Volts is probable what you mean, that sounds good. Probably lack of maint

Daughter was hanging over my shoulder saying "write that your daughter is cool".

[4x4fun]

Probably lack of maint

dont let the wife hear that

do your daughter a favor and say she is cool all over facebook, i'm sure she'll like that

[ag9111]

Probably lack of maint

dont let the wife hear that

do your daughter a favor and say she is cool all over facebook, i'm sure she'll like that

[andyj]

Hi Daryn
I recently had problems with my battery set up the MOWF broke down at Singo and I found the Redarc wa playing up I disconnected it and it as been fine since then, so Possibly the isolator is stuffed,
but mine was about 6 years old.............
Just something else to check, it was showing 14.5V at the second battery when I checked it

[daryn]

Thanks Andy, something to consider. I will have that looked at to.

[chaser]

The batteries will only be connected whilst engine is running, daz do u have the recept for the bat.? It should be under warranty sounds like it has dropped a cell? Quick test at battery shop will confirm it...

[4x4fun]

Thanks guys for your ideas I will look at the isolator and I'm in the process of charging and checking the specific gravity of the water (whatever the hell that is) a friend of mine had a similar experience and sorted it so fingers crossed. I will keep u posted

[ag9111]

Specific gravity, in this case, is measuring the concentration of the acid in the battery. An SG (specific Gravity) of 1 indicates pure water.

[Diddy]

I would be looking at the redarc bcdc1240 dc-dc 40A charger mate it has a built in isolator as well as being a voltage booster n smart charger
www.redarc.com.au