Thread: Ark pak battery box

Hi the_amors and while I was just interested in reading this thread and had no intentions of getting involved in the discussions but there is a problem in that we live in Australia and Australia has the most pathetic consumer protection laws of any modern country.

This means unscrupulous companies can make some of the most ridiculous claims they can dream up and they are protected by the pathetic consumer laws.

For a start, here are a few sobering facts that have been conveniently left out of the advertising hype.

They claim their charging system will result in a better charged battery.

Well yes this maybe so, but what they neglected to mention was that if you have a 130Ah battery, thats what they say you can fit, and you have been camping in one spot for a few days and you have discharged the 130Ah battery down to 20% SoC, which is quite safe to do with most deep cycle batteries.

You are now moving to another site and you want to recharge your battery with their DC/DC device, you know, the one that does a better job than the alternator can.

Well unless you intend to drive non stop from Brisbane to Adelaide, you have not got a ghost of a chance of even partially charging that battery with their gear because to get that battery to a fully charged state, you will need to charge the battery for at least 25 hours.

Amors you need to do a lot more research before you part with your money.

These battery packs do have some advantages “IF” you have a specific need for any of those advantages.

They also have disadvantages, like weight, how often do you think you can lug around a box containing a 40Kg 130Ah battery, and then there is the lost space, and this may or may not be a problem.

Where as if you need some decent auxiliary battery capacity, you could get a system like Tombie’s.

He has around 135Ah of “USABLE” auxiliary battery capacity, all mounted in the engine bay of his D4.

To get that sort of “USABLE” capacity with one of these battery packs, you would need the equivalent of a 170Ah battery.

But whats more important,, if Tombie has used all of his available auxiliary battery capacity by the time he decides to move from one camp site to another, a drive of around 3 hours will see him replace at least 90% of his used capacity. For that system you are looking at, it would take at least a 30 hour drive.

His set up is more expensive but it is also a lot more realistic.

Amors, as posted above, you need to do a lot more research and match a system to your real needs and expectations.

Originally Posted by BDB

I have one in a D3 , As I have customised and serviced up my Dr including the 160,000 timing belt changes and replacing gearbox oil this has become a keeper. I initiallybthought the transportable functionality was a winner, and it still is.

I have had it for 3 months
You need a $99 12v charger extra to the $460 box and then the battery but it has a great 240V inverter great for long distance 7 stage charger and the only time I have only needed 240v charge when the car has been just doing short trips and a long week end was next. It was still 100% charged after an overnight lights and fridge supply. Should last 3 days also the display of charge etc is built in and excellent.

The only input that supports the 7 stage smart charger are Ark Pak 240v or 12v charges you v=can charge from any inout eg anderson plug , 240 or 12v cig plug but this is raw input and will shorten the life of the battery .

i have mine behind the fridge in an original spec designed drifter Drawer and fridge set up, it is behind the 50l Waeco in its own cubby with a self fitted basket for charging gear above and fits great , but I did have to cut the side of the unit to allow cord access .

BDB off to the North for 9 weeks in July

I just shot question to ark to replace cig plug with Anderson so that way utelising smart charger also hooking in the solar also thru Anderson would be utelising the smart charger . Im just hoping also it would juice it faster thru thicker Anderson from battery but not killing the charger makes sense to any thoughts? input to the fridge using arkpak Anderson plug. if they come back with wrong answer it is a definetly overpriced overlooked black box . guess they will say its still only going to get you 6amp thru charger HMMMM thanks any suggestion would be appreciated on my theory