External Battery Charging suggestions

Submitted: Tuesday, Mar 27, 2007 at 20:51

ThreadID: 43704 Views:2241 Replies:7 FollowUps:3

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Phil P

Hi all,

I have a GU Patrol with an ARB Dual Battery system installed. Both batteries are Exide Extreme. We always leave the Engel 40L running. I have recently killed 2 of the secondary batteries (within a 2 month period) due to the fact that they have been let to discharge too low. Lucky for me they were purchased from KMart and replaced under warranty.

The problem is that the car only gets driven for 2 * 10-15 minute trips a day throughout the week, obviously not enough time to charge the batteries. Turning the fridge off is not an option (the wife loves using it!).

I'm thinking of purchasing a low cost 4 stage charger from DSE to provide additional battery charging when the car is parked at home. It usually sits in the garage from 4pm to 8:00am.

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The question is;

Would it be better to connect it to the primary battery? I'm hoping that once the primary battery is charged then the secondary battery will start to receive charge.

Or would it be better to charge the secondary battery?

I will hook up an external connection to make it easy to attach the charger when parked at home.

Thanks in advance

Phil P

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Reply By: Pterosaur - Tuesday, Mar 27, 2007 at 21:16

Tuesday, Mar 27, 2007 at 21:16

Disconnect the fridge from your battery system - run it on 240v (extension lead) while parked at home - if the car only gets used for 1/2 hr. a day, then being switched off for that long will not allow fridge contents to warm up too much.

If you're still concerned, wrap fridge (while travelling) in a reflective "space blanket" for additional insulation, or freeze a couple of "ice bricks" or similar to place in the fridge.

regards
Terry

AnswerID: 230109

Follow Up By: Robin - Tuesday, Mar 27, 2007 at 21:41

Tuesday, Mar 27, 2007 at 21:41

So simple , So effective

And I'd charge the second battery.

Also - not so sure about "cheap 4 stage chargers"

Robin Miller

FollowupID: 490909

Reply By: Eric Experience - Tuesday, Mar 27, 2007 at 21:16

Tuesday, Mar 27, 2007 at 21:16

Phil
Two approaches here, if you install a relay so that the fridge is only running when the ignition is on, your wife will find the fridge is cold by the time she gets to the shops. Also get your automatic charger and hard wire it to the fridge battery you will be able to use it in caravan parks as well. Eric.

AnswerID: 230111

Reply By: Willem - Tuesday, Mar 27, 2007 at 21:41

Tuesday, Mar 27, 2007 at 21:41

Phil

I have read your post a couple of times and it just does not make sense.

If your wife is only driving the car twice a day for 10-15 minutes what is the point of having the frige running all the time?

If she needs it for shopping once a week then she could switch it on when leaving for the shops and off once home.

Alternatively if the fridge HAS to run 24/7 then make an external 240volt attachment and plug in to mains power when vehicle is stationary at home

Cheers

AnswerID: 230115

Follow Up By: Phil P - Tuesday, Mar 27, 2007 at 22:16

Tuesday, Mar 27, 2007 at 22:16

In the fridge we store drinks & snacks for the kids. Usually yogurt & milk drinks.

It's not critical to leave the fridge on, however we spent over $2,000 on the fridge with the dual battery setup & fridge slide. So having the luxury of cold snacks after sporting activities really makes good use of the money spent.

FollowupID: 490915

Reply By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Tuesday, Mar 27, 2007 at 22:55

Tuesday, Mar 27, 2007 at 22:55

Your situation is VERY similar to mine.

I solved it by installing a 3 stage charger in the back of the Patrol and the 240v cable of the Engel. Both are plugged into a power board, the input power for which is provided via a caravan type input terminal (you know, the white flip-up flap you see on the side of a caravan into which is plugged a 15amp power cord).

Whenever I have the Patrol parked at home in the carport, I plug the power cord into the inlet plug and it (a) takes over the running of the Engel and (b) recharges the Fullriver 120a/h Gel Battery.

Toooooooooooo easy.

AnswerID: 230130

Reply By: Redback - Wednesday, Mar 28, 2007 at 07:46

Wednesday, Mar 28, 2007 at 07:46

240v extension lead from the garage is the cheapest, or take the fridge out and leave it plugged in at home and give it to the kids before you leave or buy a drink for them when shopping.

The other way is to buy a Battery Fighter slow charger/monitor, mount it permanately in the car and run a lead to an outlet on the car, they are available from Supercheap and there only 100mm x 100mm square so not too big.

Baz.

AnswerID: 230156

Reply By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Wednesday, Mar 28, 2007 at 10:45

Wednesday, Mar 28, 2007 at 10:45

Change your family's habits. We stopped giving the kids drinks in the car when we worked out that the wee stops doubled. We always have water bottles in the car though - they only use them when they're thirsty

AnswerID: 230202

Follow Up By: Member - Peter R (QLD) - Friday, Mar 30, 2007 at 13:51

Friday, Mar 30, 2007 at 13:51

When I get my Prado this is what has been suggested to me.

Run heavy cable from auxilliary battery to an Anderson plug adjacent to plug for lights on van etc.A Redarc 13.2v is installed to link with cranking battery.

This Anderson Plug connects to caravan trailer to charge the battery inside of van whilst travelling.
Piggy back off the cable with another Anderson plug in cargo area of vehicle.
Put an Anderson Plug on the Frige cable .
Put an ordinary plug adjacent to this for powering lights etc.

Whist using vehicle have fridge cable connected via this Anderson Plug to fridge.
When at home, connect fridge to 240v via a separate fridge cable.
Convert existing connection of my Ctek7000 battery charger to an Anderson plug connection.
Use this connection to connect to the Anderson Plug that normally is used for the battery operation of fridge and, connect battery charger to 240v, and charge the auxilliary battery.
If a charge to cranking battery is needed , start car and once Redarc is activated turn car off and the charger will deliver to both batteries.

The benefit of the Anderson Plug set up is that if fridge is out of car it can be plugged into van Anderson Plug (normally used to receive charge while travelling) and van battery can be used to power fridge .
Similarly if charging of van fridge is needed connect battery charger to Anderson Plug on van.

Or something like that!!!

Pedro

FollowupID: 491471