New Fridge

Agree with Pedro here - you're not going to see the voltage rise much when the fridge shuts off as it's only drawing a couple of amps while it's running. No way I would risk running my cranking battery down this low. You got room for a second battery and a battery isolator? The low battery cutoffs are designed to protect your house battery from being overly discharged, so a good life can be got out of them, not designed to ensure your car starts when you've been out all weekend. Either that or get a solar panel IMO.

The following is not actually helpful information; just a bit of gratuitous gloating. :)

When the battery in my Defender was on its last legs and needed to be topped up with the battery charger if left unused for more than a couple of days, I tried measuring the voltage before attempting to start it.

It seems that the 300 Tdi doesn't need as much as some other engines. I was able to start it with just 10.5 volts. The weather was quite warm at the time and I realise that helped.

In the Series III, low battery voltage was even less of a problem. On a couple of trips to the NT with an old 15 litre Engel and just a single battery, it coped if I drove every day. On the occasions when I stayed two nights in one place, I simply got out the crank handle. :)

I know that running the battery that low is not good for it, but in both cases, the battery was due for replacement anyway.

It seems part of the price of progress is that a higher voltage is needed to get started in the morning. :)

Ok i will do an experiment and run mine down for the sake of science and cold beers...my bet is that 10 mins after fridge shut off it will be 12.5 or more...we will see though.

Cheers

If the voltage recovers to 12.5 volts, would the fridge not simply restart? Let us know your test results when the fridge has turned off - and stays off due to low battery voltage.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ozscott

Ok i will do an experiment and run mine down for the sake of science and cold beers...my bet is that 10 mins after fridge shut off it will be 12.5 or more...we will see though.

Cheers

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need a hand?:angel:

I'm all for science:p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

and again, no.
ask me how I know this--;)

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That's surprising ... no where near the compression of a Td5. Should take less to turn over the V8.

Lets see how Ozscott's test shape up ....

Thanks all for the input!
As I said in my original post, this is just a short term measure for a xmas & new year camping trip, until the dual battery system goes in in the new year. Would have liked to do it before the trip but time and funds just don't allow me to do it the way I want before, without doing half a job and then going back to finish it off later.
The lithium jump pack appears to be a useful bit of kit in general. Can anyone recommend a good unit at a good price?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KarwashD2V8

Thanks all for the input!
As I said in my original post, this is just a short term measure for a xmas & new year camping trip, until the dual battery system goes in in the new year. Would have liked to do it before the trip but time and funds just don't allow me to do it the way I want before, without doing half a job and then going back to finish it off later.
The lithium jump pack appears to be a useful bit of kit in general. Can anyone recommend a good unit at a good price?

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This sort of thing?
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Don.