Dual Battery choice

Dual Battery choice

Postby new44 on Wed Feb 09, 2011 1:29 pm

I am about to convert to dual batteries for a 60l fridge. Battery in the tub.

Which deep cycle battery is happiest getting only charge volts from the standard electrics on the ute.
i.e. With only a basic redarc isolator , and not the more expensive step up types like ctek, redarc and projecter.
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Dual Battery choice

Postby Diddy on Wed Feb 09, 2011 1:52 pm

Hi mate I have a dual batt setup on my tray and I don't run a isolator I have made my own setup with a positive 8mm cable from main batt to a 50amp auto circuit breaker at the fire wall then I run the rest of the cable to the rear with another 50amp circuit breaker mounted to the tray then into a 50amp Anderson plug and a negative cable from the chassis to the anderson plug for the earth and the other end of the Anderson plug goes to the aux batt with a negative cable from the batt to the Anderson plug . And all u have to do is when u get to your destination of camp is just un clip the Anderson plug for total isolation I find it works a treat and when charging it charges at a rate of 50A/H at 13.9-14.4v very cheap setup and total piece of mind when it comes to isolation simply just unplug and no power can get drained from start battery . I hope all makes sense
i wish we had a caravan like the ALCO'S
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby new44 on Wed Feb 09, 2011 2:20 pm

Thanks for the reply.
Is your Aux battery in your trailer or in your tub/tray .?
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby new44 on Wed Feb 09, 2011 2:26 pm

I just read it again. It does make sense now. The anderson plug is in the ute , which is your manual isolator?

This seems to give you heaps of volts to your Aux Battery?
It seems that the fridge would be drawing power from both batteries in your case?
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Dual Battery choice

Postby Diddy on Wed Feb 09, 2011 2:30 pm

new44 wrote:I just read it again. It does make sense now. The anderson plug is in the ute , which is your manual isolator?

This seems to give you heaps of volts to your Aux Battery?

Yes mate that's right and I have a fullriver 120a/h agm deep cycle batt mounted on my tray and with my setup I can fully charge it from dead flat in under 2.5hrs it is a very cheap and extremely reliable setup
i wish we had a caravan like the ALCO'S
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby salt36 on Wed Feb 09, 2011 2:53 pm

Hey New,

I have a 100ah Delkor marine batt in my tub and a redarc isolator in the engine bay. I had no probs running the 60litre Evakool all the time. running to and from work was enough to keep it charged about 45 mins each way.

However on the weekend, especially lately being so hot and fridge running overtime to keep cool the battery would go flat. have since bought a solar panel from ebay which I plug in when stopped and it keeps battery always charged :D
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby ag9111 on Wed Feb 09, 2011 4:21 pm

Wet Cell Deep cycle is your best alternative. AGM's and Gel batteries require a slightly higher voltage when charging. Recommend that you "maintain" your battery from a decent 240V charger every now and then though.
Salt, sounds like you may have aproblem with your battery, have you had a load test done on it? Any battery store should be able to do it
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby NTBB on Wed Feb 09, 2011 4:30 pm

ag would a wet cell be ok in a canopy... :?:
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby Cowboy Dave on Wed Feb 09, 2011 4:41 pm

I've gone with a 105Ah AGM battery in my tray. I have a Matson branded isolator mounted on the plastic battery tray under the hood. Can also manually disconnect with Anderson plugs at the back - the battery came with handles so theoretically I can take it out and run the fridge in the tent if need be. When I run the fridge while driving it can draw power from either the battery in the tray or from the power coming from the isolator up front. The battery I chose is a slim line unit but weighs about 25kg. I went with the AGM because it was a sealed unit and could be mounted any way up if that was what I wanted. It was also quite a durable setup. The other reason I was advised to go with the AGM was that it would cope better if left to run completely flat and would provide enough voltage to run the fridge for longer than other types. It can run the fridge for about 4 days (so far) before having any problems. Haven't had a chance to try for longer without driving somewhere which charges it some more. In the long run I will get a solar panel to top it up with so I have indefinite capacity.
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby Cowboy Dave on Wed Feb 09, 2011 4:42 pm

here are the details of mine from when I bought it:

http://www.newtriton.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4416&p=71406&hilit=remco#p71406

reckon it might fit behind the rear seat too, but haven't had the time to try that as yet.
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby ag9111 on Wed Feb 09, 2011 4:50 pm

NTBB wrote:ag would a wet cell be ok in a canopy... :?:


Yes, I have a wet cell deep cycle in my canopy no problem. Wouldn,t put it in the cab though. I always have the front window on the canopy cracked about 2 - 3 cm's. Marine batteries are normal batteries, just put together better to cope with the continuous pounding that boats suffer.
Can't comment on what CD said about the run flat ability of AGM's as I dont know, but I know AGM's charge faster then wet cells
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby ag9111 on Wed Feb 09, 2011 5:18 pm

Some light reading on Wet cell vs AGM's

First link refers to boats but all the info is still pertinent. Interesting info on mixing AGM's and wet cells near the bottom. Also on the heat issue there is some info on that.

http://www.vonwentzel.net/Battery/01.Type/index.html

Second link is Wikipedia :roll: but the disadvantages of AGM's is interesting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VRLA_battery

Heaps more just type in AGM vs wet cell or similar in your browser
Last edited by ag9111 on Wed Feb 09, 2011 5:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby new44 on Wed Feb 09, 2011 5:38 pm

here are the details of mine from when I bought it:

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4416&p=71406&hilit=remco#p71406

reckon it might fit behind the rear seat too, but haven't had the time to try that as yet.



Thanks for all the replies. I was sure there was a thread going on this stuff as pointed out above.
So many options.
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby renotriton on Wed Feb 09, 2011 9:02 pm

I have Matson relay from ebay $140 odd dollars from memory with a gel cell battery. Don't like the idea of wet cell battery in the tray in case of acid spill. Unlikely if it sits in proper box etc just overcautious perhaps.
The relay kits come with everything including instructions and is easy to do yourself.
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby scubapro on Thu Feb 10, 2011 4:25 am

When you guys run the second battery in the tub where do you locate it? Also what cable ( size/thicness) do you use to connect it to the starting battery?
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby koshari on Thu Feb 10, 2011 6:15 am

scubapro wrote:When you guys run the second battery in the tub where do you locate it? Also what cable ( size/thicness) do you use to connect it to the starting battery?


mines mounted on a custom built carier mountes on top of the tow bar frame and i run 6mm2 cable to it.

see this thread

http://www.newtriton.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=7495
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby ag9111 on Thu Feb 10, 2011 4:40 pm

Mine sits in a battery box that attaches to the steel frame I have installed in the tub to take the fridge slide and battery. Battery is passenger side rear. Fridge is drivers side rear.
I hooked mine up with 4 core 2.5mmsq cable, 5mmsq when two are paralled up. Good for about 40A and negligible voltage drop across the cable lenght.
Just make sure you take the negative connection all the way back to the battery negative as you will get voltage drops if using your chassis as your return path.
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby david on Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:57 am

Hey guys, i didnt like the idea of taking up space in my tub, so i was determind to fit it under the bonnet, so i was able to squeeze a 95ah deep cycle battery under the bonnet, all you need to do is slide your start battery forward, then i custom built and fitted the tray for the aux battery at the rear of the start battery, you could buy a tray from TJM, but not cheap. From there i fitted a redarc solenoid and fuse box under the bonnet, no need for a main battery fuse as the connecting cables to the batteries are only 30cm long. Then it was just a matter of running some 6mm wiring and conjue down the chassis and fitted the standard 12V engel plug on the left hand rear side of the tub. The set up runs my 60lt engel for nearlly 2 days before requiring a recharge. Battery cost about $270, solenoid $130, some wiring, conjue, plugs and fuse box, should keep your cost under $500 if fitted yourself.
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby new44 on Mon Feb 28, 2011 7:33 pm

Nice work david,
I already have that space taken up with a Provent crankcase oil remover.
I am going to aim for at least 120 ah battery in the tub as I believe the Engel 60 fridge/freezer uses more amps than the fridge only?
With a borrowed/ gifted 60w solar panel helping to top up, I hope the engel will last a decent time period?

Question,, With your engel working for two days, how low in volts do you let your battery go? (is it AGM Battery?)

Cheers
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby KevO78 on Mon Feb 28, 2011 7:51 pm

one word of advice is to fitt a cb or fuse at the tub end aswell, if your cable gets damaged your redarc should open the circuit from the main battery supply but you'll want something to disconnect your aux battery too
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby new44 on Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:07 pm

Another open question .

With the ctek isolator or any other for that matter,, to jump start off the second `deep` battery, or join batteries for prolonged winching,
is it as simple as connecting a jumper cable between in+ and out + at the isolator. ?
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby marashkar on Tue Mar 01, 2011 10:39 am

at the risk of hijacking this thread but my question is to do with dual batterys so here goes. i have a surepower isolator that needs a trigger wire from the ignition. do i go back to the ignition switch or is there somewhere under the bonnet? feb 2010 mn any help anyone? steve
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby david on Tue Mar 01, 2011 12:16 pm

120 ah sounds better, i also have the 60lt engel fridge/freezer, if your only using your engel in fridge mode, it should only draw up to 2.5 amps when running, meaning you should get at least 48hrs or more out of your battery, i two have been thinking about the solar panel idea, i think its just another cool excuse to spend money, but haven that set up sold keep you going for yonks. I dont have any volt meters set up in my car, but the engel has a built in cut out if battery power gets to low ( around 11volts i think) you just need to keep an eye on the fridge temp, and if your a keen drinker it wont be hard.
Cheers bloke :)

new44 wrote:Nice work david,
I already have that space taken up with a Provent crankcase oil remover.
I am going to aim for at least 120 ah battery in the tub as I believe the Engel 60 fridge/freezer uses more amps than the fridge only?
With a borrowed/ gifted 60w solar panel helping to top up, I hope the engel will last a decent time period?

Question,, With your engel working for two days, how low in volts do you let your battery go? (is it AGM Battery?)

Cheers
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby new44 on Tue Mar 01, 2011 3:24 pm

the engel has a built in cut out if battery power gets to low ( around 11volts i think)


I thought Engel was about the only fridge that does not have the inbuilt cut off? correct me if I am wrong..

I think thats why they sell these...http://www.engelaustralia.com.au/cgi-bi ... 20Monitors
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Re: Dual Battery choice

Postby new44 on Tue Mar 01, 2011 3:27 pm

With an Redarc isolator jump starting is as easy as pushing a button

That redarc`s feature would be great. I think feeding the blue wire with 12v connects the batteries together.
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