Thread: Charging a Portable Power Station

double post

Problem is with one of those is that if the fridge flattens the battery in the pps then I am guessing it draws on your cranking battery so if you don't monitor it you may end up with a flat cranking battery.

The pps you mention is $10 more than a Traxide sc80 which will isolate the two batteries once the cranking battery gets down to 12v. So you still have enough to start the car.

No matter which way you go you are still going to have to buy an extra battery as well. As long as you or a mate is ok with wiring up 12v then for the extra cost of a battery tray and some wiring you can get a dedicated dual battery system that won't let you down.

The rear factory power outlet is isolated when the ignition is off so no chance of draining the main battery.
Its rated at something like 180w/15amp so it may take some driving to fully charge the powerpack whilst the fridge is going.
You could look into the power feed from the white plug,I believe that is 30A,which in theory should double up the charge available.Beware,it could be a live all the time circuit which will flatten the main battery without some sort of switch.
Andrew

You might need to disregard my earlier post, I only just realised what section it was in, was thinking earlier Discos.

Originally Posted by pprass

I have decided not to install a second battery under the bonnet to run our 39 litre fridge, but instead to get one of those Portable Power Stations (Ridge Ryder 12V PPS from Supercheap) to run the fridge. The reasons for this are cost of full installation and the fact that we will not be needing the fridge that often, so the cost of a full installation is not warranted.

My question though is in regards to the charging of the battery via the 12v socket in the back compartment of the vehicle. Is the wiring ok to handle the charging of say a 75 ah deep cycle battery, or do I need to upgrade the gauge of the wires?

Does anyone have one of these PPS's?

Thanks
Peter

I had my D4 and fridge set up exactly as you are describing for almost two years until I finally got around to installing the Traxide DBS (which had been sitting in my shed waiting for me to get off my arse and do it for a long time). Only difference was that I used an Engel Battery pack plugged into the 12V outlet in the rear of the vehicle, rather than the Ridge Ryder unit.



You will not flatten your vehicle's cranking battery if you use this set-up. The power supply to the rear 12V outlet is switched off when you shut the vehicle down (same as the two in the front) so you cannot draw down the vehicle's battery if your battery pack in the rear goes flat - you will only draw power from the main cranking battery / alternator when the engine is running.

I had no problem at all running a 40L Engel fridge this way - the Engel battery pack is easily big enough to run the fridge for a couple of nights without charge (not sure if you will get this much out of the Ridge Ryder though). The trick is to keep your power supply fully charged at all times, and do not use it on its own to bring the fridge and contents temperature down from "room temperature" to cold. When going on a trip, I always plug the fridge in to 240V overnight the night before leaving so fridge and contents are already cold before going onto battery power only.

Even with the Traxide DBS now working in my vehicle, I still use the Engel Battery pack in the back for the fridge (and can plug other things into it as well) - but I have the supply for this battery now plugged into one of the two Traxide sockets I have in the rear, so there is constant power supply to the battery pack even when the engine is not running. The original Land Rover 12V socket in the back now only gets used rarely for jobs such as charging camera batteries / iPads etc.

Originally Posted by LandyAndy

You could look into the power feed from the white plug,I believe that is 30A,which in theory should double up the charge available.Beware,it could be a live all the time circuit which will flatten the main battery without some sort of switch.

Not for later model years, 15A only. There is an ignition switched and permanent live but both are 15A.
Refer this thread: Rear Socket Amps
There is conflicting information between Topix/Wiring Diagram/Owners Manual but the actual fuses are both 15A.
But this should be ok for the fridge in question anyway.

Cheers
Scott

Thanks all for your comments. They are all very helpful to me.