Thread: flat second battery

thanks all for the comments, and thanks Tim for working with me to go through the testing.
I agree gut feel is the fridge, but having run it for two weeks straight previously with no issues, I didn't expect it. However, I will test all the accessories plugged in to that battery....

The fridge manual didn't give amps as a figure, but lists 43 watts at 12v, therefore I calculate 3.8 amps. It does also state "If the device has reached the set temperature range, then it will automatically switch over to the energy save mode. In this mode only the energy is consumed which is required to reach the temperature inside the box."

Whatever caused it, I wouldn't have expect it to take the battery all the way down to 5.8v!!

For the specs of the D34, it is listed as 55ammps. So that is 55/3.8 = 14 hours fridge running flat out? Is that right????

Andrew

I have the Traxide D4 kit & the yellow optima as well.
Last weekend we were camping,ambients were very high,37c for one day,32c the other.The battery lasted 48 hours,then it was down at 6.58 volts.The Engle is 25yr old so probably uses more power than a newer one.It was on the refrig setting.

Voltage at the D4 cranking battery was at 11.88v & it started no worries.

i had another battery that was bench charged and used it for the Engle after the Optima went flat.

What i should have done is put the Engle on the other battery before the Optima was completely flat.

I have a Traxide kit with 2 x 55ah deep cycle wet cells, my landrover cubby box fridge (thermo electric) will run this whole lot down to the point where the car says "low battery start engine" in about 14 hours. I can run my 40l engle for days and still not get a warning, I've only just installed the engle in the past few weeks so don't know its' limits yet. To protect the deep cycle batteries I have placed a low voltage cutout in line set at 10.8v, niether the engle nore the cubby box offer low voltage protection.

Hi kenl

What cutout switch did you place in your system?

I too am running the traxide plus optima yellow top and find the 40l engel runs for the couple of days that is reported.

A little bit of fridge access discipline and leaving one vehicle door slightly ajar reduces vehicle systems cycling and enhances battery longivity whilst camping

OK folks and getting off subject here but kenl, as ARGO requested, what is the LVD you have and a type, set it to no lower than 11v for an Optima and 11.5v for all other types of deep cycle batteries.

If anyone is using a cranking battery as their auxiliary, then 12.0v is the lowest you can safely take a cranking battery of any type.

Next, I am finally in the last stages of producing an LVD and would appreciate any input on what people would like them to do.

BTW, my new SC80+A isolator, to be supplied with all new dual battery kits with contain TPSE kit, ( the D3 Kit-b and the D4 Kit-2 ) and this isolator has an ACCESSORIES output which is an LVD set up.

Originally Posted by AGRO

Hi kenl


A little bit of fridge access discipline and leaving one vehicle door slightly ajar reduces vehicle systems cycling and enhances battery longivity whilst camping

Or better still get the engle out of the car, into shade so some sort of breeze can flow around it.Also get a wet towel and wrap it over the fridge being careful not to hinder airflow around the motor and condenser.

On that 37c day the engle was in the D4,all the doors were open,the car was in the shade,the fridge was not cycling.I moved the fridge out of the car,onto the ground,in the shade,and after wrapping a wet towel over it,it started cycling within 10 minutes.
Luckily we were camped near a river,so getting water was easy.

And as said,a bit of fridge access discipline is also good.

I also need one of Tims LVD's once they are available,particularly as my Engle does not have a built in LV cutout.

The device I'm using is M148A Battery guard 12 V/DC
From what Drive safe is saying though I may have it set too low? The manufacturer (supercharge) state that the batteries will handle 10.5v discharge no prob (not that I can find that web page now) anyways at $120 each it's a risk I can take, I also read a boating forum from the USA and there are not many good things said about optimas'. So I thought the $340 risk was too much.

Back to topic though. Traxide covers my cranking battery great and the low voltage cutout makes up for the short comings of the engle and landrover cubby box.

Hi Kenl and if you don’t mind me asking, how much was that low voltage cutout unit.

They don’t give a price unless you log in.

If the battery is a standard lead acid battery, then 11.5v for a deep cycle is as low as you can take them and still get a good life span from the battery.

Optima Yellow Top batteries had a bad name for a while, after they moved their production down to Mexico.

The teething problems seem to be long fixed now and so far they seem to be pretty good, especially with their much lower prices.