Redesign of Dual Battery System

[MidLifeCrisis Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close MidLifeCrisis]

My recent trip to the Vic High Country showed my dual battery setup is not adequate. That's putting it lightly.

I am considering putting a 135Ah AGM battery housed in its own holder behind the fridge slide and using the 3or 6 B&S wires ruuning from the from to the rear in reverse back up to the redarc etc under the bonnet.

This is the unit i am considering: http://www.aussiebatteries.com.au/ba...tery-box-combo.

Importantly I will be running a 78 Litre ARB fridge and a 47 litre Engel as a freezer for my l0ng haul trips. The battery will also power the two UHF radios and other charging paraphernalia for ipad/iphone etc.

I welcome any constructive feedback first then let the payback follow.

[rogjil Find all posts View Profile Close rogjil]

I have used one of their 120Ah AGM Batteries for a couple of years now in a couple of vehicles and it now sits in the back near the fridge slide and also originally purchased the battery box which I no longer use, mainly because I wired up my own system, and then my son in-law borrowed the battery box and proceeded to destroy it by not tying it down properly.

My brother in-law also has one of their 125 Ah AGM batteries and their battery box, but since he had a drawer system installed he is no longer using any of the wiring.

Both of us run VSR systems and as long as you do enough driving we don't worry about any using anything else, however we both have these

http://www.aussiebatteries.com.au/so...rp-solar-cells

they don't take up a lot of space and are great for those trips were you don't do much driving.

[D4Dforme Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4Dforme]

Mate honestly I had a 3 battery system in my old 100 2x120ah AGM's and a start battery...........Running a 70 Trailblazer and 60 Engle.........3 days max with small 5 min runs each day to drop the boat in..........I bought a Honda 1kva.......run it at camp during the day charging/running fridges and battery power at night.........Problems completely and utterly solved.

Dan

[Guest Close Guest]

How about this battery and box combo for a lower price
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DEEP-CYCL...item417a8c7a48

I have bought from the same seller before i.e. the SSB AGM.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

In your case Rob I would consider going a different route, given your talking long haul trips and will have your Tvan with you.

You have a couple of decent batteries in the Tvan that currently only power lights, fan, water pump and a few charging points, correct? You also have solar on the roof of the Tvan, not a huge system but better than nothing.

What about fitting the Engel in the Tvan, it has a spot and slide already installed, run that off the batteries in the Tvan, these can be topped up when connected through your Anderson Plug, when its unhooked you have the solar, if your stopped for multiple days its likely to be around civilisation so connecting to mains power or running your genie as a final last resort.

This way its not costing you any $$, not adding any weight and not costing you any space.

You still might want to get your second battery tested and replaced if its as bad as it seemed, but you will need to do that anyway.

Cheers Andrew

[BlakMoth Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close BlakMoth]

That sounds like a better idea. Replace the battery currently under the bonnet with as big as you can get and just leave the rest alone. Savadamoney


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[Fred63 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fred63]

not sure how big the solar is on the tvan.
I think AJ is on the right path.
Solar panels are getting cheaper.
Just add to the van or get a portable panel.
I run in the van 200ah of batteries with 250W total of panels run a 40L inefficient fridge as a freezer + other stuff with no problems.
Fridge running from the car while driving, solar topping up the batteries at the same time.

[sapradogxl Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close sapradogxl]

Funnily enough, AJ seems to have come up with the better suggestion. MLC, you could learn a bit from this bloke, rather than constantly staring at his rear end!

[Guest Close Guest]

How come AJ knows more about your equipment than you do, MLC?

[MidLifeCrisis Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close MidLifeCrisis]

In your case Rob I would consider going a different route, given your talking long haul trips and will have your Tvan with you.

You have a couple of decent batteries in the Tvan that currently only power lights, fan, water pump and a few charging points, correct? You also have solar on the roof of the Tvan, not a huge system but better than nothing.

What about fitting the Engel in the Tvan, it has a spot and slide already installed, run that off the batteries in the Tvan, these can be topped up when connected through your Anderson Plug, when its unhooked you have the solar, if your stopped for multiple days its likely to be around civilisation so connecting to mains power or running your genie as a final last resort.

This way its not costing you any $$, not adding any weight and not costing you any space.

You still might want to get your second battery tested and replaced if its as bad as it seemed, but you will need to do that anyway.

Cheers Andrew

SWMBO suggested the same thing. I often wonder how she and you come up with same same idea at the same time....?

The solar is a 60W permanently fixed panel with 25A 7 stage battery charger and 2 x 105Ah AGM batteries.

The idea is logical and we may well put the Engel in the camper as a freezer BUT:

I don't want to rely on that setup. The rig needs to work independently and frankly the current setup doesn't cut it. Moving the battery will free up space for another fuel filter and wont add much more in weight. The area behind the current fridge slide is not really utilised either.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

What you are proposing is pretty much what I have except I only have a 90 a/h battery in the back, 6B&S through the SBI12 isolator but I don't have the jump start function hooked up due to the long cable run.

As you know I run a fridge and a freezer off that system but have the advantage of a Eutectic freezer.

You will need to secure the battery very well if its in the rear, not something you want flying forward in an accident.

As for Lea and me coming up with the same plan, what's the saying about great minds

Cheers Andrew

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

mlc I can supply anything from 15MW through to 1300MW with a variety of fuel sources though you have to get your own licenses, especially if you want to go nuclear. Just let me know and I will price it up for you. Can do 25MW and 75MW in a multi fuel mobile pack.

[Fred63 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fred63]

if you decide to put the freezer in the van and go solar as a stand alone rig.
it is pretty easy to work out real world power (AH) requirements with some simple test gear.
As you know a 60W panel will not work. you will get about 4 days with the current panel and batteries.

The 25MW unit sounds good with multi fuel. Can that be towed?

[Heath74 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Heath74]

All good options, if your need 100 litres of fridge space, you are going to pull some serious amps. Further it seems you must park up for 2-3 days without driving? In which case a 3 way fridge would be worth considering, those things are great on gas, and will set you back about as much as a decent battery!

[Hazza Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hazza]

How about this battery and box combo for a lower price
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DEEP-CYCL...item417a8c7a48

I have bought from the same seller before i.e. the SSB AGM.

Andrew,

How did you find the SSB brand? Up for two batteries and was considering these but can't find any real feed back (sorry a little off topic).

Cheers
Harry