Thread: D3 Traxide DBS question

Originally Posted by loanrangie

Ean, whats the brand and model number of the aux battery ?

That's the box it came in. I got it on sale just before chrissy under $200.

You need to do some slight trimming in the battery box to make it sit flat as its 8mm longer than the Optima , but not hard to do. You also need to make a new battery clamp as its higher than the Optima but some 6mm threaded rod and some flat bar covered in heat shrink and a couple holes drilled in it and bobs ya fathers brother.

With some reworking the earth leads on the other side there is enough room to mount 1 there as well which will be my plan when the Optima dies.
PS - you cant fit the cover back on , but I have removed mine anyway so doesn't bother me.

Cheers Ean

So today I put the 95 ltr fridge/freezer into the car today , straight out the shed and not pre-cooled. Freezer set on -15 and fridge on 3 and after 6 hours the in-cab monitor I have tells me both the start battery & both Auxillary batteries are at 12.3V. Opened the bonnet and the SC-80 still shows the main battery is not isolated , which makes sense as it switches at 12V. Will see where we at come morning.

Admittingly I haven't been opening or closing the fridge , but the Optima struggled to run it overnight so time will tell how well it works.

Cheers Ean

Just an update , 24 hours fridge is still running and the 2 Auxillary batteries are at 11.9V - Start is at 11.98. That will do me.

Cheers Ean

Hi Ear, if you have not disconnected the load yet, can you keep your test running a little longer.


My isolators have an error margin of no more than 0.03v and the set point for cut-out voltage is 12.00v.


So the isolator should cut-out at or above 11.97v.


BTW, you can start your motor with a cranking battery voltage of 11.5v, so you have quite a lot to play with yet.

Originally Posted by drivesafe

Hi Ear, if you have not disconnected the load yet, can you keep your test running a little longer.


My isolators have an error margin of no more than 0.03v and the set point for cut-out voltage is 12.00v.


So the isolator should cut-out at or above 11.97v.


BTW, you can start your motor with a cranking battery voltage of 11.5v, so you have quite a lot to play with yet.

Gday Tim,

At 11.97V the isolator had already cut in and the Start battery was isolated. I put the 0.03V down to the fact the isolator is powered off the car battery and I had opened and closed the doors a few times.

I Started the car after 25.5 hours with the battery at 11.96V and it fired like normal. Remember I have 1 of the early SC-80-12 and even when I had just the Optima and the fridge had shut off due to its own low voltage cut off the main battery always had more than enough to start the car. This was a regular occurance on my last trip away hence the reason for more power

Its a great product and thanks for the honest advice that it was capable of adding the extra battery. I in no way want to steal your idea of having the 2nd auxillary battery, my goal was to find a bigger Ah battery then the Optima, but I also realise the trade off will be battery life of the cheaper battery.

Cheers Ean

Originally Posted by Ean Austral

That's the set up , will put the fridge/freezer in this weekend and see how well it goes. Second battery is an 85ah AGM , so if all goes well it should give me 140ah plus whatever the main battery puts in before the 12V cut out.

Cheers Ean

So here's an idea Ean, take that big lump of a diesel V6 out, a couple more batteries (you will have lots of space) and voila, electric D3

Impressive how you have made it all fit.

Not sure about this thread, are you telling me I need 3 batteries just to run a fridge? I have a system that works without trickery and keeps everything cold. DC 27 + solar panel worked fine for last 7 months.

Originally Posted by orville

Not sure about this thread, are you telling me I need 3 batteries just to run a fridge? I have a system that works without trickery and keeps everything cold. DC 27 + solar panel worked fine for last 7 months.

He is running a fridge and freezer, 55ah from optima doesn't cut it.