Keeping our cool

[LGM]

I live on a farm in the mid west of WA....Up until we sold our D3 (getting a bit long in the tooth so to speak) it was the general duty vehicle for my wife. We have a D4 which is kept back for the heavy duty stuff, caravan and the like. None the less the D4 already has 310,000+k's on the clock! Our recently purchased used 2014 Freelander 2 is now the vehicle used for our weekly shopping trips into the nearest major town (110km round trip) which brings me to the point of this post and my quest for information.

During these shopping trips, especially in the summer months, to keep some of the food purchases in good order we use an Engel 12V fridge in the back of the vehicle. Rather than continually lifting the Engel in and out we leave it semi permanently in the vehicle or at least that what we did when we had the D3. This approaching summer will be our first use of the Freelander 2 for this duty. To power the fridge so that it remains 'on' whilst we do our rounds of the shops is the outcome we are looking for. Preferably without returning to a vehicle with a flat battery!

I believe we need to run a second battery system?

Such a system may also make the Freelander 2 suitable for small camping trips! We are well aware that when you chuck in a 32L Engel or even worse a 40L fridge and the second battery box, most of the rear luggage compartment is taken up but even so its still something that we do want to take a serious look at.

That said I was wondering if anyone has experience with a continually powered fridge in their Freelander 2 or better still a dual battery system in their Freelander 2?

[Xtreme]

The simplest and cheapest dual battery system is to use a 30amp lighting relay to connect the starting and auxilliary batter and activate the relay from your accessories circuit. Whenever your ignition is on batteries will be charging and when ignition is off, batteries will be isolated - thereby avoiding being caught out with a flat starting battery.
I ran this system in a D1 for years without a problem.

Systems such a Traxide are much better and offer numerous other advantages but are also a lot more expensive.

[LGM]

The simplest and cheapest dual battery system is to use a 30amp lighting relay to connect the starting and auxilliary batter and activate the relay from your accessories circuit. Whenever your ignition is on batteries will be charging and when ignition is off, batteries will be isolated - thereby avoiding being caught out with a flat starting battery.
I ran this system in a D1 for years without a problem.

Systems such a Traxide are much better and offer numerous other advantages but are also a lot more expensive.

Thanks Roger for your comment......tis worth a look.

I was wondering if others had tried this mod on a Freelander 2? I had some initial thoughts on a traxide system (have one in the D4 and had one in our D3) and reckon a modified version might be the go.

[Graeme]

Our fridge is always in the vehicle unless temporarily removed if the space is needed as it gets used for the weekly shopping, running from an aux battery charged via a VSR.