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Thread: Dual battery system or Solar panel

  1. #1
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    Dual battery system or Solar panel

    Hi there!

    I would like to have a second battery to run my fridge, some light and charge some stuff.
    I doubt if I would take either a dual battery system or Solar panels.

    With the dual battery system I want to put the battery under the bonnet, I dont have enough room to fit a big one, so that will be a Yellow top D34 with 55aH.

    If I put in Solar panels I can fit my battery in the back, witch alows me to use a bigger battery up to 120aH.

    So my question is, is the 55ah enough to run the fridge 24/7 and from time to time a light and some charging. Or do I have to go for a bigger battery witch forces me to go in the boot with the battery, then I would prefer Solar panels to avoid the hard wiring.


    Thanks in advance,
    Grtz, Koen

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    Other suggestions also welcome!

  3. #3
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    What vehicle are you fitting this too ? The solar panel on its own will be useless without a storage facility (battery) so they go hand in hand.
    Vehicle mounted aux. battery will allow you to run a fridge and lights for 3-4 days (batt size dependent ) without needing a top up, add a solar panel and you can extend this almost indefinitely in the right conditions.
    MY08 TDV6 SE D3- permagrin ooh yeah
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    It's for a disco 2

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Koen View Post
    So my question is, is the 55ah enough to run the fridge 24/7 and from time to time a light and some charging.
    No. I had a 120Ah AGM in my P38A and I needed the solar panels to keep it topped up when running the Engel 29 litre fridge and a few LED lights. In summer, the car interior would often ride well above 40 deg C so the Engel ran quite a bit.

    Quote Originally Posted by Koen View Post
    Or do I have to go for a bigger battery witch forces me to go in the boot with the battery, then I would prefer Solar panels to avoid the hard wiring.
    My second battery was in the back and connected to the starting battery via a Traxide SC40 dual battery system. See SC80 - 90 amps Standard Isolator | TRAXIDE - RV | Traxide - RV. The SC40 doesn't appear to be available any more.

    I had an Anderson plug at the rear into which I plugged the solar panels.
    Ron B.
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  6. #6
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    If you fit a second battery on the firewall next to the turbo (TD5) you can fit an Optima blue top to use as the starting battery with rewiring and then a 130AH aux will fit in the original battery tray.

    I have had this setup for over three years with no problems so far.

    I also have a 120watt solar panel running through an MPPT controller.

    The problem with solar and a small battery is that the sun don't always shine, sometimes for days and some moderate cloud drops the output from say 7 amps to less than 1.
    Regards Philip A

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by PhilipA View Post
    If you fit a second battery on the firewall next to the turbo (TD5) you can fit an Optima blue top to use as the starting battery with rewiring and then a 130AH aux will fit in the original battery tray.

    I have had this setup for over three years with no problems so far.

    I also have a 120watt solar panel running through an MPPT controller.

    The problem with solar and a small battery is that the sun don't always shine, sometimes for days and some moderate cloud drops the output from say 7 amps to less than 1.
    Regards Philip A
    Interestng solution

    If I understand correctly, you used the Optima blue top mounted on the firewall as your starter battery - have you experienced any detrimental heat effects due to it being so close to the turbo or did you do something about heat shielding?
    Roger


  8. #8
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    Hi Koen, another option is to mount an Optima on the firewall, and fit one of my isolators.

    Because my isolators share the load over both batteries, you will have around 90Ah available to run your accessories, like your fridge and lights.

    If you fit a 120Ah battery in the rear, as a 120Ah battery gives you 96Ah of usable capacity, you will only gain about 6Ah over my suggestion above, but you will loose space in your cargo area.

  9. #9
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    have you experienced any detrimental heat effects due to it being so close to the turbo or did you do something about heat shielding?
    __________________
    No, I had a look at the Blue top recently and there is no leakage or swelling that I can see.
    I have a heat shield made from stainless steel on the end next to the turbo and spaced from the battery. I have also covered the stainless shield with bright aluminium reflective tape. In addition I have a thermal blanket around the battery, and I have polished the inside and outside of the turbo heat shield.

    I have a dual battery controller from ABR which cuts at 12.4 volts which I personally feel is safer than 12.0 volts like Drivesafe's In my application. This contributes a share from the starting battery but not as big as Drivesafe's does.

    I do note that the CCA is apparently not the only reason that D2 Diesels have a big batteries. I note that even when the batteries are both at 12.7-8 the starting 760CCA Optima blue top battery will pull down through 12.4 to about 12.1 as the ECU goes through it's set up routine, and if the batteries are at 12.4 , then the voltage drops down into the 11s,presumably because of priming the capacitors in the ECU. This is before I turn to start. Having said that It always starts really well.

    The voltage reading for the starting battery is taken from the behind dash fuse box so may not reflect the voltage at the battery, however the batteries do separate at 12.4 reading on the second battery , which is taken from near the battery, so it's not too far out.

    This is another reason that I personally feel safer with a 12.4 cutoff than a 12.0 cutoff with a D2 diesel when using a relatively small but high CCA Optima starting battery.

    This is all specific to my experience with a D2 diesel and should not be taken as comment regarding D3 D4 .
    However it works for me.
    Regards Philip A

  10. #10
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    I've got an Optima D34 yellow in a tray next to the turbo, against the firewall. One of Traxides USI-160 isolators, and a D31 yellow in the tray for the cranking battery,

    I work on this setup being capable of providing 60-70 A/Hrs of power when run down to 50% SOC ... gives me 2-2.5 days running a 47L ARB fridge, some LED lights, and charging phone/iPad.

    I use a 120W folding solar setup to recharge/maintain charge, which is adequate unless I get maybe 3-4 days of little sunlight.

    I chose not to put the aux' in the rear of the D2 as I didn't want to loose the space there. I try to get everything charged whilst driving, and run the fridge at -5deg. When I arrive at the destination, I raise the fridge back to 2deg ... and usually, it won't cycle on again until sometime the following morning ... depending on how often it's opened, and how the ambient temperatures running. This can give me an easy extra 1/2 day or more of run time before hitting 50% SOC.

    I do the same with the Kamper ... While the engine is running and your travelling, pull the temp of all your fridges down, letting the alternator do all the hard work. I've has a few cases where, in lower ambient temps, we've pulled in around 3pm, I've raised the fridge back to 2deg, and it hasn't cycled back on again until around midday the following day (fridge in Kamper, not D2)
    Kev..

    2004 D2a Td5 Auto "Classic Country" Vienna Green
    2015 Kimberley Kamper "Classic"

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